RELORoundtable...a gathering place - Latest Comments

Re: What does it mean when your mover adds a ‘shuttle’ charge to your move?

Sarah — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 08:03:47 -0000

This is an older article so I wanted to update a bit - There are now a few local moving companies with multiple locations that use smaller trucks completely eliminating the need for a shuttle ( or shuttle fee). http://mover-help.com/2016/...

Re: Share your moving industry expertise

Eric Anders — Tue, 24 May 2016 22:41:38 -0000

This site is no longer being maintained.

Re: Share your moving industry expertise

James — Tue, 24 May 2016 21:16:18 -0000

Do you allow Australian moving companies to post as well ? Some companies in Australia provide self pack interstate removalsservice , which customers can save a lot on their moving .

Re: Auf wiedersehen

Eric Anders — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 14:42:18 -0000

Thanks JD.

Unfortunately, just like DP3, I don't believe our political process will change until those hurt the most decide to collectively take their democracy back from special interests, dark money, and tax-exempt corporate citizens and social welfare organizations.

Re: Auf wiedersehen

Eric Anders — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 14:11:22 -0000

Thanks Mac! I will always appreciate your loyalty and support. I suspect, however, that quite a few disenfranchised voters will take serious issue with your wish that a 'man' lead our nation for the next four years. Particularly if he's blond!

Re: Auf wiedersehen

Mike McCarthy — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 09:05:45 -0000

Eric,

Thank you for the time, energy and the data gathered and posted over the years. Your information did make a difference in the transportation industry. Wishing you much success with future endeavors, enjoy the grand kids and may the best man win and lead our nation for the next four years.

Re: Auf wiedersehen

jd morrissette — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 07:37:43 -0000

Thank you Eric for your insightful viewpoint over the years! Good luck with fixing the politics.

Re: Avoid Moving Scams: An Easy to Understand Infographic

Moving Leesburg — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 05:22:44 -0000

Very useful the infographic

Re: RIP rubber band

Ron C — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 04:08:39 -0000

I used to lump (load) trucks at Jim Davis Arco T/S as a teenager back in the early '80's. For all of its rough edges, I miss the 'ol place. Many good, decent, hard working people passed through there trying to live their American dream while insisting on being free and unencumbered by conformist expectations, and I will fondly remember every one of them.

Few people remember those old rubber bands, but I do. I helped a few of the old "bedbugger" lumpers collect those inner tubes and cut some with them. Glad to see they're still being used somewhere. Another relic of a bygone era.

Re: Have Truck – Will Move You

ravi — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:24:42 -0000

great article . its good to be informed of whatsup in tech industry ...another way of saving on relocation is sharing your truck with someone else ... checkout www.movingmadesmart.com ...

Re: New rules for Americans moving to a foreign country

Cayman — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 17:30:40 -0000

I have been asked to procure an EIN for the purpose of moving from the US to another country. However the EIN application process is not designed for this purpose. Therefore to apply online for an EIN the applicant is required to lie to the IRS online as to what they are doing. EG: Sole proprietor (when you are not) and the purpose for obtaining an EIN does not include "moving my stuff overseas" as it is all about starting a business or employing people. How do you get an EIN without lying to the US government?

Re: Moving? How to manage your lump sum relocation benefit

Richard Tomlin — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 01:28:13 -0000

Exellent information about " manage-your-lump-sum-relocation-benefit". Make sure the list of what your company decides to subsidize is DETAILED. You would not want to get stuck paying for expenses you don’t need to be covering. You need to nail down, to the nitty gritty, what you will offer in your lump sum coverage.

Richard@CardboardBoxesMelbourne

Re: Alfred E. Newman/Mad Magazine lives at SDDC

James Doss — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 12:25:40 -0000

Lol, it is going to be an "interesting" summer....

Lots of people have very strong opinions on how things should work, having no real idea how things do work.

The van lines and brokers are going to have a fun time directing their moving professionals and assets this summer.... Oh wait, I forgot, the van lines and brokers dont employ but a handfull of moving profesionals and own very few assets.

Re: Smarter advertising

Pat Jennings — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 08:20:31 -0000

The IMAWA billboard is a simple and good example of how to promote professional, licensed movers to the public. It also promotes the association. Anyone driving by can at least get the IMAWA name and call for a mover referral. Simple.
As you point out, only some people might be ready to capture the QR code and use the latest technology. The important thing is that everyone including the driver can read the billboard message. Sometimes the best solution is the simple one. Go IMAWA! Pat Jennings, President, Moving Pros Network LLC

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

Eric Anders — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:01:57 -0000

When Joe Harrison merged the American Movers Conference and the National Moving and Storage Association to create AMSA back in 1998, the President and new Chairman of the trade association estimated the size of the full service moving industry at more than $22 billion.

After almost two decades of military 'best value' re-engineering, and forward-thinking, "fiscally responsible" corporate consolidations, the AMSA estimates industry revenue today at just $12.6 billion annually.

The same fate is happening to full-service movers that is killing bricks-and-mortar retailers like Sears, J.C Penney, KMart, Staples, etc.

Web-savvy shoppers can find their own 'best value' transportation service providers more quickly and easily in the palm of their hand.

Despite that well-known fact, movers still insist on trying to attract prospective customers with their age-old recipe of Same Ol' Same Ol'!

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

James Doss — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 15:38:28 -0000

I am a person who leans strongly toward traditional constitutionalism, but the fact remains the DPS system that is an arrangement of big business and government aligned against the interests of drivers and agents, DPS was largely designed and implemented under the Bush administration.

I am no fan of the current president, but nonetheless, in this case it is by in large true that "Bush did it" Truth can hurt sometimes.

That said, the entire industry has been being floated in large part by the US military for decades, although few in "the industry" will be quick to admit this.

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

Eric Anders — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 13:16:28 -0000

Sorry, Gordon, but this new policy has absolutely nothing to do the current commander-in-chief.

The re-engineering design plans and contract specs for SDDC's problem plagued DP3 "best value" internet-based personal property procurement platform were formulated during the Bush administration after the Full Service Moving Project failed at the turn of the century

No one at SDDC or the industry had any problems when the military was fighting two undeclared and unbudgeted wars.

Industry profits began quickly sliding south when the economy began to run out of fuel in 2007. DPS was launched despite the economic uncertainty of the Great Recession.

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

GordonFiddes — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 12:31:04 -0000

Comment withdrawn.

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

James Doss — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 17:56:47 -0000

Certainly money isn't the entire issue with DP3, but a slew of big problems seem much smaller and bearable when revenue is sufficient.. :)

I am betting that the software companies that support DPS are experiencing better margins than movers.. :)

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

Eric Anders — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 15:18:08 -0000

"Back in the day" I wouldn't dare ask you how much you were being paid, and you'd be too afraid of tell me for fear of legal repercussions.

After Congress deregulated the transportation industry in 1980, and movers began acquiring their competitors to improve "market share", the hammer in the Sherman Anti-Trust Act went out the door.

Today, Millennials not only don't have a problem telling the whole world how much money they make, who they love/hate/obey, and what they're going to have for dinner or do in life, but they can quickly and easily tell the whole world with a few keystrokes on their smartphone.

Pricing isn't going to save the moving industry. Process improvements and industry-wide collaboration are its only hope.

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

James Doss — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 14:38:08 -0000

What gets me is I remember in the beginning stages of DPS no TSP would commit to what the pricing was going to be until after the shipments started moving, and then once one TSP published agent and driver compensation it seems like all TSP's basically xeroxed the scedule and it became some kind of "universal standard".

I think it was known that agents and drivers were historically an "independent lot", and that the TSP's expected some push back and or negotiation to take place.

In my opinion, the initial "offer" was purposely lopsided in that TSP's expected push back and negotiation, but push back and negotiation never came... And so here we are...

Something happened to agents and drivers. The agents and drivers of thirty or even twenty years ago would have never be dictated to and accept a really bad offer as "that's just how things are".

Re: Force-feeding the moving industry

James Doss — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:24:28 -0000

We as agents need to realize that DPS has changed the game, and we need to start playing by new rules.

In my humble opinion one of these rules is this. If a TSP accepts a shipment, and offers an agent origin services, the TSP needs to be in a position to guarantee that they will make a direct pick up on THEIR shipment.

The days when margins were sufficient to provide APU's below cost are long gone.

When I provide origin services, an APU will not be accomplished except upon negotiated terms and pricing. The cost in manpower, equipment utilization, and warehouse space consumed are just too high in comparison to revenue generated to justify performing pick ups at a level that does not provide a fair return on our investment.

It is the Van Lines policy to make a profit on EVERY line of every invoice, agents and drivers not doing the same are facilitating the destruction of supply and demand which should drive pricing at the production level Additionally, performing APU's below cost consumes finite capacity and denigrates the value of this finite capacity.

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

Eric Anders — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 12:35:02 -0000

Their loss. That's why RELO Roundtable is a FREE forum open to anyone and everyone interested in joining the conversation.

Re: Force-feeding the moving industry

L D — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 12:16:11 -0000

The problem is that O/O's are independent contractors and they have voted for the last two or three summers to turn down cheap paying orders. Agent's and Carrier's can't force them to take the orders any longer. We have seen many shipments over 11,000lbs that the O/O's have turned down even in the winter months. They are now looking at their costs and hours of service. The O/O know what their Cost per CWT is can pick and choose their shipments. I am fascinated by the fact that the figured that out before the Van Lines and Agents did. It just shows us that they get it and we don't. Ask any O/O today and the will tell you they like the linehaul of a couple of 8K to 10K COD shipments vs. Military and N/A shipments. They get it and the industry doesn't.

Re: Will SDDC destroy 2015 peak moving season?

James Doss — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 12:15:45 -0000

That is probably it.. :)