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John Spangle

John Spangle (who's who), owner of Friendswood Texas based Partner's Rent to Own (6 locations), was recently elected president of The Rental Industry Buying Group (TRIB). RTO Online interviewed Spangle regarding his election, TRIB's plans for the future, and the affect of consolidation on groups of independent dealers.

RTO Online: How do feel being elected by your peers to this position?

JS: It's a real honor to be elected for this 1 year term. The TRIB President is elected by the board of directors. I've served on the TRIB board for 5 years. It is a nine member board and 3 members are up for re-election every year. I was up for re-election along with Harvey Whitehead (who's who) of Harveys Neighborhood Rentals and Geron Vail (who's who) of Furniture and Appliances Now. They both decided not to run so Darrell Tissot (who's who) of Countryside Rentals and Kit Knight of Central Rent to Own were elected instead, as well as Reid Sutton (who's who) of Fairway Ventures filling in temporarily for Tom Simon of Rent Rite (Rent Rite was acquired by Rent a Center in April, 2004).

*JS = John Spangle

RTO Online: What is your role as TRIB President?

JS: The president's role is to oversee the TRIB Office Staff (Dennis Shields (who's who), Laura Talley, & Karl Wicker) and make sure that everything is going according to the board's direction. In the last 5 years since Dennis Shields came on board, everything is running very smoothly. We're growing, and headed in a great direction. At this years convention, vendors wrote almost $11 million dollars in sales; up from $5.5 million in 2002 and $9 million in 2003 (See TRIB Show Summary and Image Gallery). Annual rebates given to members are also at an all time high.

RTO Online:  What are your top priorities?

JS: Priorities this year will be to enhance our vendor programs and increase members purchasing discounts. Our goal is 8-10 new members for 2004. We've also recently hired Karl Wicker. One of his projects will be putting all the vendor pricing and monthly specials on-line, which will make purchasing easier for members.

RTO Online: What is your background in Rent to Own?

JS: I was a finance major at UT and an accountant afterwards. In 1990 I entered the industry as a controller for Magic RTO and remained with them for 5 years. I stayed with Renter's Choice for two years after their acquisition of Magic. In 1997 my partners and I opened our first store and since then 5 more.

RTO Online: Do you have any particular new strategies you want to implement to increase TRIB membership?

JS: I find it hard to believe any small Rent to Own dealer would not want to join TRIB and take advantage of it's volume purchasing discounts. The initial $1900 initiation and $225 monthly are paid back almost immediately. TRIB gives members a $300 hotel voucher for the convention, plus 5 $200 vouchers for purchases orders at the show. For members purchasing from TRIB vendors the annual rebates more than compensate. I have 6 stores, and the last 5 years my rebates have been over $20,000! APRO dues are higher; I am excited, however, that APRO is trying to change to be more of a buying show, as it will be another opportunity for TRIB members to purchase from TRIB vendors and increase their annual rebates.

RTO Online: How will the Rent Rite acquisition affect TRIB group and the industry as a whole?

JS: Losing large members such as Rent Rite is always a setback for purchasing volume. We will have to focus more on attracting new members to replace them the same as we did in 1988 & 1989 with the Rentway & Rent a Center consolidations which took us down to just over 83 members. Today TRIB has bounced back to 122 companies. We'll grow back even stronger as we've done in the past.

RTO Online: Do you feel the Rent to Own industry as a whole is growing despite all the recent acquisitions?

JS: With Rent a Center, Aaron's, and Rent Way we will always face consolidation within the industry. But these consolidations always have fall out. Managers will quit to open their own stores. TRIB membership is growing and members are opening new stores just as I am.

It's a real honor to be elected president and I'm excited about 2005 and the next convention in Dallas.