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SARASOTA - AAA Auto Club South Inc. intends to shutter a local call center by April 30 and consolidate operations within its national headquarters in Lake Mary.
All 30 Sarasota member services call-center employees will be offered the chance to either work from home or move to Lake Mary, outside Orlando, an AAA official said.
The rest of the local AAA operation -- including membership, roadside assistance and insurance and travel services -- will remain open and are unaffected.
"It's a matter of efficiency," said Kevin Bakewell, an auto club senior vice president. "With improvements in call technology, you can do as much at home as in a physical work setting. This gives us the chance to save the costs of occupancy.
"But we're hoping not to lose anyone, and we believe a good number of people are excited about the opportunity to work from home," he said.
Bakewell said he did not know how much money Auto Club South, the nation's third-largest AAA affiliate in North America with 4.1 million members and 3,000 employees, would save in the consolidation. The group also has not decided what to do with the second floor space the call center occupies.
Auto Club South serves members in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and parts of Tennessee.
Employees were told of the pending closing on Friday.
With the move, Auto Club South will have a single members service call center in Florida, Bakewell said. A backup call center operates from Nashville, Tenn.
Bakewell said the members service call center is distinct from AAA's roadside assistance and emergency call center, which is in St. Petersburg.
Registered: Mar 2008
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