Sunday, October 03, 1999
GREATER CINCINNATI 100
Traffic woes creep into gripes
BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Traffic congestion has finally caught up with businesses on the Greater Cincinnati 100 list.
While government regulations and taxes have always ranked high on the scale of business annoyances, for the first time in 16 years, traffic congestion hit the list as an impediment to commerce.
Executives complain that at worst, traffic makes it more costly to do business by bringing higher payroll and equipment costs. At best, it makes it more challenging to get products to customers and workers to the workplace.
“On Fields Ertel Road, the area was overbuilt with structures before the roads were widened,” said Robert L. Brown, chief executive officer of CBS Personnel Services. “That is an irritant that would cause consumers not to go into a retailer in that area.”
Congestion clearly makes employee recruiting more difficult, said Mr. Brown, who runs a personnel staffing service company with more than 700 staff associates and annual revenues of $253 million.
“(Traffic) probably would not discourage a high-level executive because they're getting paid a lot, but someone with less income, they don't have to fight that traffic. There are jobs closer to home that do not have a traffic problem.”
Congestion is a bottom-line concern for William J. Rumpke, president and CEO of Rumpke Consolidate Cos., which has a fleet of 1,500 trucks for waste hauling.
When a truck has to pick up a container full of debris from a construction site, the price of the haul depends upon a Rumpke estimate of how long it would take for an hourly worker. If the hauler is stuck in traffic, the pre-job estimate is shot.
“If the price is based on two hours to run and it takes three hours because of a traffic tie-up somewhere, the next time around, the price is going to go up,” Mr. Rumpke said. “That adds to inflation. Payroll goes up because you have drivers in traffic. You're using more fuel, so fuel costs go up.
“The truck is idling, sitting there getting engine hours, and the new truck will cost more when the time comes to replace it. It's a backward trend.”
For J.B. Buse, president and chief executive officer of Loth Mbi Inc., a Sharonville company that employs 120 and narrowly missed inclusion on the list of 100 — but was ranked 101 anyhow — traffic is an irritant.
“It increases costs and inefficiency,” he said. “Your people are sitting around in their cars and trucks. Our sales force and delivery people get caught in traffic and have to work around that. It's not unusual for them to spend hours a day stuck in traffic.”
But the biggest indicator that something is wrong comes at quitting time for Mr. Buse. “It takes me sometimes a half-hour to get from the parking lot to the highway,” he said. “It should only take two minutes.”
One company dealt with the traffic problem in the suburban ring of Greater Cincinnati by staying put — by not fleeing to the suburbs.
Dennis O'Leary, president of F.D. Lawrence, a company that is a wholesale electrical parts and product distributor, said the firm's decision to stay on Beekman Street with a $1 million expansion in 1998 might have been the best decision the company has made in recent years — particularly from a traffic perspective.
“We didn't take any tax dollars,” he said. “We quietly invested in Cincinnati. ... It is a great location for us. You have great access to I-75 and I-74, and you are close to Procter & Gamble,” a customer.
Mr. O'Leary said he thought that traffic worries were overstated. Despite disruptive Fort Washington Way reconstruction and highway barrels everywhere else, access to the central business district and the neighborhoods around it is still good.
“I tell people that I live on the West Side. And for a person to leave home and drive to the riverfront and get in the stadium and at the end of the game get out and be home in 20 minutes' time, that's amazing.”
Top private firms show the will to grow
List of Greater Cincinnati 100
Execs bullish on outlook for area's economy
Notable locals investing in R&D and technology
Signs of softening economy showing
Skilled, loyal employees are precious commodities
Traffic woes creep into gripes
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Ris Paper Co. No. 1 for 3rd year in row
List has room for 11 newcomers
10 companies come close to mark, but lag in revenue pace
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New device keeps mileage for IRS
Employers can guard against suits
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