CDDHS Co-op Corner: The Rent Shop Inc.

By Liam Brown, Co-op Student

This week, Liam Brown from Centre Dufferin District High School in Shelburne shares a little bit about his Co-op experience with The Rent Shop Inc. in Alliston.

The Rent Shop Inc. has been open since 1985, renting out their equipment and services like mini excavators, skid steers, chain saws and other smaller equipment. The owner is James Morden, who took over the business from his father, and he looks after the maintenance of the equipment. One of the managers is Ken Laver, who is also Liam's site supervisor.

Liam's job title is technician helper, and he has had the opportunity to complete tasks like greasing and washing equipment, oil changes, and other odd small tasks. As the semester progresses, Liam may be able to start painting equipment, complete more oil changes, and help fix with supervision on bigger jobs. Some special equipment The Rent Shop Inc. uses at the workplace are hand tools and powered tools, as well as a variety of miscellaneous equipment needed to help, depending on the job. Liam received training on most of the equipment and learned the locations of all the safety equipment, like eye wash stations and first aid with a fire extinguisher, as well as how to use them.

Liam has identified four different careers that relate to his job and which would use the equipment available at Rent Shop Inc. Landscapers would use mini excavators, skid steers, and air compressors. General construction workers would use scaffolding, jump packs, and plate tampers. Arborists use the basket crane, and heavy equipment operators often rent skid steers or mini excavators.

The Rent Shop Inc. is very active in its community by supporting a wide variety of clubs and organizations. They include the Alliston Firefighters Association, Alliston Lions Club, Canadian Cancer Society - Relay for Life. and Banting Homestead Heritage Park. The Rent Shop Inc. also supports the Banting Memorial High School in Alliston by offering the Top Of the Class - Welding Student Scholarship. These are just a couple of the very many organizations they help. They support the learning of co-op students by teaching young people how to maintain and run various pieces of equipment. Through working with the staff at The Rent Shop, Liam has further developed employability skills, like problem-solving and good customer service.