In 1927, Conrad M. Gentry and Don F. Kenworthy founded Mayflower Transit Co. in Indianapolis, IN as an alternative to railroads for customers who were interested in moving their belongings across the country on the expanding network of paved roads. During and after World War II Mayflower operated 24 hours a day 7 days a week moving thousands of families. Imagine that you are 29-year-old Leonard "Sam" Shoen, mid-level manager for Mayflower in 1945. Your brother, who was discharged from the Navy that summer complained to you about trying to rent a utility vehicle to move his (and his family's) possessions from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore. It couldn't be done. They had to take only what they could fit in the car. Your brother noticed, however, that small luggage-type passenger automobile vehicles were being rented from 'rental lots' in Los Angeles. Each lot had from 20 to 40 units which were rented locally for approximately $2 per day. You begin wondering why people could not simply rent moving vehicles "here" in LA that you could leave off "there" in Portland. You begin to think that this could make an exciting new business - one-way rentals of moving vans where the customers would drive (and move) themselves from anywhere to anywhere within the continental United States. As a new 'Founder', begin to develop answers to the following questions for your new business: 1. How many vehicles would you need? 2. How many locations? 3. How would you go about building this venture? What would your first steps be? Note: Do your calculations in today's dollars, but make assumptions and other inputs to your new business as if it were 1945