Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.bonus From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: bonus Tue, Jul 14 1992 Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 05:08:58 EDT Message-ID: 07-14 0000 BONUS: Thrifty keeps things light USA TODAY Update July 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network At 8:30 a.m., a time when many daysiders are at work physically but not yet mentally, a man dressed as a fairy walks into an office building in Tulsa. He's a big man - about 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds - wearing a knee-length, multicolored tutu over shorts, a tie-dyed shirt, red high-top sneakers, round sunglasses and a ragged Chicago Cubs baseball cap with long antennae attached. HOW DID THE WORKERS REACT? "It was like, `Whoa! What is this?' " says Karen Schoolcraft after the man she described as a giant firefly threw blue confetti into her office. "I was astounded that he was in a skirt!" Relax. The atypical is becoming typical at Thrifty Rent-A-Car. As it faces stiff competition, cutthroat pricing and a growing number of bankruptcies and mergers in the industry - a scenario that looks a lot like the airlines, in fact - Thrifty is trying a whole new attitude in the battle to land business. IS IT ALL FUN AND GAMES? Hard-nosed competition isn't dead. But let's mix fun with business, personality with service, it's saying. "Did you ever wonder how angels can fly?" Thrifty's Jim Philion asks. "They take themselves lightly." And since May, so does Thrifty. Dress codes have been wiped out. Employees in headquarters can wear shorts and tennis shoes if they want. Agents behind the counters at airports soon will wear shorts or slacks and short-sleeved sport shirts. Gone are the traditional blazer-and-tie uniforms. HAVE EMPLOYEE TITLES BEEN CHANGED? Fun, less-imposing descriptions titles are used. Philion's title is no longer chairman: he's Head Coach. President Don Himelfarb is Captain. Even their business cards will say so. Departments are getting new names. Silly names. Corporate Communications is now the Reputation department. Travel is Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Internal Audit is the Gumshoe department. Human Resources is Hire and Inspire. WHY DO IT? "There are a lot of car-rental companies, and they all look the same. It's like laundry detergents," says Meloyde Blancett-Scott, spokeswoman for Thrifty. "We're trying to differentiate ourselves and become a maverick." Of course, there's a serious reason for the upbeat Thrifty. The car-rental business has been in a rut the past two years as the recession has put the skids on traveling. HOW TOUGH IS THE MARKET? Competition is fierce, with the big four - Hertz, Avis, Budget and National - controlling the $10 billion (annual revenue) industry. And it's getting brutal. Fiesta Rental Car, based in Miami Beach, Fla., shut down this year; American International in Dallas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May; and two other companies have merged. In the rental-car business, prices are so close, - often only a $1- or $2-a-day difference, - that rental companies have to do something to appear different, says Gary Rubin, executive editor of Auto Rental News. WHY CAN THRIFTY TAKE SUCH A RISK? Thrifty is a small player in the market. It's the seventh-largest car-rental firm - seven times smaller than No. 1 Hertz - with about 3.6% of the market, according to Automotive Fleet 1992 Fact Book. Thrifty's changes don't stop at headquarters. It's experimenting with a way to energize the entire customer-employee relationship at the key point: The counter. HOW IS COUNTER SERVICE CHANGING? Newly designed counters, which allow customers to be on the same side of the counter as rental agents, will be placed in all new Thrifty rental offices. The first one will appear in Houston's Hobby Airport in four weeks. If the new counters are popular, existing rental offices elsewhere could eventually be renovated. "With many car-rental counters, there's this attitude that says, `Who are you? Why are you here? Are you going to wreck this car?' " says Philion, 48. "We want to give the customer a fun, more personal and less formal feeling." DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR? It should to anyone who has ever flown Southwest Airlines, Thrifty's model for its new attitude. "We've always said that when we grow up, we want to be the ground version of a Southwest Airlines," Philion says. Southwest attracts fliers by offering good service, cheap fares and a fun atmosphere with few frills. "Southwest has proven that you don't always have to have the best," Philion says. "What you need is something that does the job." DOES PHILION GET INTO THE ACT? Philion has been known to slap on a couple of fake tattoos, throw on his biker gear and ride around town on one of his two Harleys. He drives fast cars - a Ferrari and 1961 Jaguar - and recently flew in a Navy jet as it landed on an aircraft carrier. "There's nothing like going from 110 mph to zero in just a matter of seconds," Philion sighs. WHAT HAS PHILION DONE? Philion thinks nothing of dressing up Thrifty shuttle buses with paper ghosts during Halloween. Or having the driver wear a Santa Claus costume during Christmas. Or even waiving rent for customers traveling on their birthdays. "We want to give customers beyond what they expect," Philion says. ARE EMPLOYEES EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW ATTITUDE? "When you think of renting a car, it's boring. But we're putting the fun back in it," says Maryann Dally of the Reputation Department. "It's time to take off the ties and pantyhose and get to work." Even Philion, with his graying mustache and neatly parted hair, skips ties. The one time he did wear a tie to an employee meeting, his co-workers literally cut it off with scissors. IS THERE A PURPOSE TO THE SILLINESS? Everything serves a purpose - even the huge man posing as a fairy. The actor was hired to pass out fliers advertising an upcoming employee meeting. Quite a replacement for a dull memo that ends up lost on a desk or finds its way to a wastebasket. "You can rest assured that everyone knows about that meeting now," says Blancett-Scott. "You don't forget a sight like that." Bonus Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM