Allied Agents Association

Spring Meeting Announcement

The AAA Spring Meeting will be held on May 1-3, 2012 at the Lisle/Naperville Hilton with May 1, 2012 and the afternoon/evening of May 3, 2012, as travel days. The Lisle/Naperville Hilton has an outstanding reputation for food, meeting space, and has recently upgraded their facilities.

Agent input received regarding the AAA meeting supports the selection of a convenient location at a reasonable cost. Agents also desire that the meeting should focus on specific AAA committee based activities of Allied Van Lines and SIRVA, Inc. The meeting will include an update on the May 1, 2013, Agency Contract in addition to all Committee Reports.

Registration will be open from 2-5 PM on May 1st and again before breakfast on May 2nd.

A formal opening reception will again be held May 1, 2012, from 6-8:30 PM allowing for agent socialization. An off-property dinner will be held for AAA attendees the evening of May 2, 2012, which will include food, beverage, and round-trip transportation.

A competitive room rate of $99.00 has been negotiated along with a superior meeting set up with classroom seating and separate space for food and beverage privately selected for our group.

Also this year we have again restructured to accommodate more participation by vendors who support AAA and the moving industry.

Online rooms and AAA meeting registration can be found at the following links:

Hotel Room Reservation - http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/N/NAPHIHF-CAAA-20120430/...
or (630) 505-0900 under Group Code CAAA (2012 Allied Agent Spring Meeting)

AAA Meeting Reservation - www.alliedagents.org/email.php or REPLY E-Mail with Name, Agency, City and State for Badge purposes.

NOTE: AAA waives the registration fee as a Member Benefit.

(A publication of the Allied Agents Association) September 2011

Merchant Credit Initiative

At the May 2011 AAA Annual Meeting the Allied Agents Association was charged with the responsibility to research various merchant credit opportunities for Agents as a group. With that goal in mind AAA conducted an agency survey to determine the amount of merchant credit within AAA, the Merchant Service Providers, and an approximate cost of aggregate processing charges.

The survey supported $126 million in merchant credit transactions with 18 service providers which is significant. AAA selected 9 vendors to participate in an “RFP” (Request for Proposal) process. AAA received responses to seven of the “RFP’s” and the ad-hoc Committee below is in the final stages of review. The proposals fell in two broad categories, Fixed and Interchange Plus. Overall, the four Interchange Plus had greater potential savings than the three Fixed proposals.

AAA is pleased to report that the proposals to be selected contain substantial savings to Agents in the Merchant Credit area. In addition to savings, AAA will develop a “Best Practices” forum to manage and control Interchange charges and other fees.

Periodically AAA is asked, “What do you do for members?” and “Why should I pay AAA dues? We believe that this Merchant Credit Initiative is an example of what AAA does for members and “Agents Helping Agents.”

Special thanks to the AAA ad-hoc Committee!

Bill Dircks, Jr., Chair Jeff Coleman
Neil Holder Norm Clemmer
Stuart Morrow

The actual selection of Merchant Providers and other information will be provided via e-mail shortly.

Meeting Comments July 2011

On May 2-4, 2011, the Allied Agents Association conducted its 20th Annual Meeting in the Chicago area. The meeting had record attendance. The only time AAA has had higher attendance is when the meeting was held on a resort property with additional attendees for social purposes only.

The meeting successfully reviewed and discussed isssues of importance to the Allied family. The take aways from the meeting were support to various IT initiatives in addition to exploration of an Association credit card program.