The world of moving has its own arcane and confusing language:
* A tariff sets how much a moving company charges for a move.
* The contract you receive for your move on moving day is called a ‘Bill of Lading.’
However, your confusion about relocation terminology can start even before you start searching for moving companies.
For instance, what’s this thing called a ‘van line’?
In its simplest terms, think of a van line like a franchisor. Much as McDonald’s has franchisees that own and operate the actual restaurants independently, van lines use ‘agents’ in the same way — an agent is a van line franchisee that operates on a local level.
Moving companies that are not part of a van line are labeled ‘independents.’
There are advantages to using a van line:
* A van line agent can tap into van line’s tractor-trailers for long distance moving, which usually means greater precision in delivery dates, and fewer chances that your items will be offloaded en route and bundled together with another shipment headed toward your destination.
* Also, the van lines are pretty thorough on enforcing quality control at their agents, so an agent that gets a lot of complaints can be kicked out the van line system. You’ll be less likely to face a scam operator on the van line level.
However, because of the overhead associated with a van line, a van line move can often cost more than a move from an independent.
The van lines will say, of course, that the advantages outweigh the disadvantage of cost.
There are about 20 van lines around the country, including the biggies like United, Mayflower and Atlas, with agents nationwide in most larger cities.
Maybe your next customer will FIND you on Twitter or Facebook, but they probably won’t HIRE you until they’ve read a few reviews about your services.
And if you’re not trolling the review sites and responding to reviews, you’ve got a gaping hole in your marketing plan.
Most small businesses overlook this simple fact in the hyperventilating over Facebook, Twitter and the like.
Many people don’t think of online reviews as social media, because they can’t engage in the type of back and forth and outreach that you see on most social media networks.
That’s slowly changing, as more online review sites allow companies to comment on reviews. Most notably, Yelp allows it.
So small businesses, and most especially moving companies, can now take part in the conversation about their business in a way that was impossible before. If it’s a positive review, they can thank the reviewer. If it’s negative, they can explain their side of the story — and apologize if they were at fault.
Either way, it demonstrates a company that cares enough about their customers to take the time to reply to what a customer has written about their experience with a company.
Companies should also be actively encouraging their satisfied customers to submit reviews — good reviews are gold for a moving company, particularly heartfelt, obviously genuine ones.
I was recently reminded of this when a Relocation.com customer wrote a review about a moving company she used through our network. It shows that a satisfied customer can not only shower you with kind words; they can also become an advocate for your business.
So if you’re experimenting on Facebook and Twitter, that’s great — it can be a great way to find customers.
But those customers won’t choose you just based on a cool-looking Facebook page: they will search for online reviews about how you’ve treated previous customers. So get involved in the conversation and see what customers are saying about you.
Twitter and Facebook get the customer in the door; a review gets them to buy.
(I’ve removed the moving company’s name because we haven’t yet launched our reviews section.)
“Let me begin by saying my MOVING experience. I am a woman alone who is almost 70 years old and was leaving the residence where I had lived for more than 35 years to start over in a part of the country, in a town where I did not know anyone, and from the very first interview, the movers treated me with the greatest respect and never once tried to take advantage of my vulnerability as a woman; as a senior citizen, or as a woman alone.
“Quite the contrary, because I was a senior citizen, a woman and a woman alone, the staff did everything they could to assure that my move would go smoothly — and it did. After interviewing more than 40-50 moving companies which in and of itself was a nightmare, I finally narrowed my choice down to three, and even gave a $200 deposit to one, and actually was requested to pay the second one $2,100 in full. However, at the 11th hour based on several factors which seemed very unsettling to me about both companies, in the final analysis I felt there would be a negative outcome if I went with either of them.
“I was so pleased with everything about the movers that by the time the move was over, we were like family; and unbeknown to the staff, I am the founder, President and CEO of “A Woman’s Corner” and the Executive Director of www.awomanscorner.com, and decided to negotiate to have the moving company be the official movers posted on the AWC website www.awomanscorner.com so women all over the country could hire a moving company with the confidence to know that they would be treated with respect and dignity, and would not be taken advantage of.
“1. I moved from New York to Virginia, and I liked the fact that the movers were a small/mid-sized company that does all of their own moving, and does not subcontract or outsource their long distance moves to other companies.
“2. The movers gave me a quote on the telephone based on the Inventory List that I gave them, and then followed-up with an on-site in-home interview which they conducted on a Saturday afternoon because it was the only time I was available.
“3. Their salesman gave me a binding quote of $1900 which they honored, although they spent considerably more time than was anticipated; and the second quote was only $100 more than the initial telephone quote, although the inventory list was significantly more than I submitted online.
“4. The moving company provided extra boxes, wardrobe, mirror and other essential boxes needed at the time of the move at NO ADDITIONAL COST, as well as packed the mirrors, electronics, clothes and many other incidentals that I neglected to pack in my haste. Although I would encourage customers to disconnect their own electronics and take responsibility for the cords and sensitive items — bear in mind that they are movers are not electronic technicians or computer geeks.
“5. Because my move was a six hour drive, and would involve getting caught in rush hour in the Washington DC metropolitan area, the movers arrived at my apartment at 7:00 AM so they could complete the packing, load the truck and be on the road at a reasonable hour so we would arrive at our final destination by early evening.
“6. Because I had a shipment going into storage, which I would have otherwise had to hire a small truck to pick-up after they dropped it off at my Virginia destination, the movers dropped the shipment off at my storage unit for me at no additional cost.
“7. Several hours into my drive to Virginia, the sales personal who booked the move called me to assure that everything went well and to inquire if he could be of any other assistance, and assured me that he was only a telephone call away?
“8. At the end of the move as a token of my appreciation I gave the driver a 20% tip to divide amongst the crew which I hope expressed in some small way my sincere and extreme satisfaction that I felt for their efforts and a job WELL done.
When a group of movers complained to local politicians at an Oregon town hall meeting about a recently passed law, they got a rough lesson in politics.
The movers were objecting to Senate Bill 2817, which forbids moving companies from using rental trucks to haul household goods.
Intended to crack down on rogue moving companies that don’t have their own trucks, it also penalizes movers who might use rented or leased trucks to meet demand during peak seasons or don’t keep any fleet at all — it’s expensive to keep a fleet of trucks year-round, particularly for the small moving companies that were complaining at the town hall.
Aside from the fairness of the law, the whole episode offers a mirror into how government sometimes works — and why people feel so alienated from it.
According to a report from Southern Oregon Mail Tribune, when the smaller movers asked how they could fight the bill, State Rep. Dennis Richardson was candid:
They probably can’t, because the law has already been passed.
But he did offer some tough-love hindsight.
“You needed a lobbyist,” Richardson said. “You needed someone who was specifically looking out for you.”
Politicians everywhere lament about the plight of small-business owners.
But so often, that voice often goes unheard — because it’s never sought out unless you have the resources to pay someone to be your voice. Which is exactly what small-business people (not to mention much of the general public) often lack the resources to do.
“We’d be doing a lot better if these guys weren’t skimming from us,” Ron Montanez, director of operations for Aaron’s Reliable is quoted as saying in the article.
Unlicensed movers in Chicago enjoy the same advantages that unlicensed moving companies do nationwide: much lower operating costs because they don’t have insurance and don’t have the expenses of obtaining a license; fewer regulators enforcing existing laws; and shippers so enthralled with saving money that they’re willing to take their chances.
The situation is exasperated by a chilly economy, as more folks with a truck and a pair of arms get into the business.
From the Tribune: “An out-of-work carpenter named Tom is one of them. He wouldn’t give his last name but said he started posting a few weeks ago after carpentry jobs dried up and he needed another source of income. He had what’s needed to be a mover: able body, pickup truck and Internet connection.”
The authorities are trying to keep up with what seems like a spate of unlicensed movers. They’ve ticketed 80 movers in the six-county Chicago area, which is up from 65 in all of 2008 and more than any year in recent history, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Of course, going with an unlicensed mover brings up all sorts of issues, well catalogued by sites like movingscam.com.
However, I rarely hear about one of the biggest risks of all when you go with the unlicensed, uninsured fly-by-nighters: they don’t have Worker’s Comp. And if you’re moving to a new home, you might not have purchased homeowners insurance or renters insurance yet.
So if a mover hurts himself at your place, you could be on the hook for a huge legal bill.
It’s pretty rare to see even a few interesting moving-related articles in the media — most are retreads: how to avoid a moving scam, packing tips, etc.
These, however, are actually worth reading.
The New York Times profiled a young Serb, Vladimir Cvijovic, who came to the New York this summer to work for FlatRate moving company. He tells of his experiences moving, and reports that there are over 30 Serbs alone working at FlatRate this summer. He explains why that is:
“While all the SerbsYou can’t find a lot of guys to do moving jobs in New York because they think it’s very hard to do it. In Serbia, it’s not that kind of situation. A lot of Serbians, they do moving, and they are not afraid of physical jobs. It’s not hard for us.”
Just the day before, the Times chronicled Rabbit Movers, which tends to hire folks with a creative background as moving company employees. Company ranks include photographers, musicians and novelists. Rabbit Movers owner Shawn Lyons, a would-be writer himself, said he finds employees of a creative bent easier to work with because they more closely share his own values and background. “He decided that, for better or worse, he would hire only people who were passionate about art, as he was, and had creative ambitions, as he did,” the Times reports.
This morning, the Wall Street Journal came out with an interesting article about tax collectors combing through social networks for tax dodgers. They specifically look for any information that can give away where they can be found, and people talking about an upcoming relocation are good ways to get that information.
Minnesota authorities were able to track down one man who posted on his MySpace that he would be moving, giving the town he’d be moving to as well as his new employer’s name.
Mayflower Transit came out on top in a recent Customer Satisfaction survey from consumer survey powerhouse J.D. Power and Associations about moving companies, followed closely by Allied Van Lines.
Overall, J.D. Power said overall quality improved in its most recent survey of major van lines customers, saying there were ”considerably” fewer reports of lost or damaged items.
J.D. Power bases its rankings on evaluations from consumers who used a full-service moving company in the past 12 months. You can see the complete van line rankings at this link. The van lines were scored across five factors: shipping estimate process; packing services; loading and unloading; transportation of belongings; and insurance/valuation coverage.
J.D. Power says overall satisfaction with movers averages 804 on a 1,000-point scale in 2009, which is up 16 points from 2008. Satisfaction was up from 2008 in all five factors. Also, the admount of customers who report lost or damaged items has decreased to less than a third in 2009, compared with nearly one-half in 2008.
“In the current economy, consumers may be tempted to pack and transport their belongings themselves; however using a full-service moving company to orchestrate and execute a move can be a smart economic decision and provide them with valuable peace of mind,” said Michael Drago, director of the real estate and construction industries practice at J.D. Power and Associates.
“Whether a move is completed independently or through a professional full-service moving company, there is a risk that items will be lost or damaged. Moving companies have reduced their lost and damaged items rates, but if any does occur, the customer is typically protected or insured to some extent through the moving company, which can help mitigate a problematic move.”
Mayflower Transit showed much improvement from 2008 to rank highest in 2009 with a 831 score. Allied Van Lines came in second with a score of 812.
The survey found that moving estimates are a key consideration for people picking a moving company. The survey found that shipping estimate satisfaction is nearly equal among customers whose estimates are done in-person and online, averaging 807 and 805. Shipping satisfaction among customers who get an initial quote over the phone averages 12 to 14 points lower than that of customers who get their estimates online or in-person.
“Savvy customers recognize that the initial quote process provides more than just a price point to use in differentiating among the moving companies under consideration,” said Drago. “The process offers insight into what it will be like to work with each company, as well as how accommodating, comprehensive and proactive they are. The price that is quoted is important, but the process is equally as revealing.”
Other findings from the survey:
For customers who have loss or damage to their belongings, only 50% filed a claim. For those who suffered damage but didn’t file a claim, 60 percent said the items damaged or lost were not valuable enough to be worth filing a claim.
There is a 59-day window between the day when a customer decides they are moving and the day their possessions are loaded into a moving van on moving day.
Fewer people are asking for packing services. The percentage of customers that had their movers pack their belongings decreased by 10 percentage points from 2008 to 44% in
I’ve always been impressed by people who are more action than talk when it comes to moving environmentally — during the stress of moving, it can be easy to just take the easy way out and forego your green ethos.
That’s why I was so taken with some of the cool new environmental moving products out there, particularly those from Earth Friendly Moving, which is based in California (where else, eh?).
This company has gone beyond the reusable packing crates and found alternative products for just about anything you might need on your move. Most impressive of all, it says the products are cheaper than their non-green counterparts — which is key in an economy where price might trump environment.
When it drops off its reusable packing crates, Earth Friendly will create a bubble-wrap alternative called Geami Paper that it presses from something called ‘cardboard sludge ’ — which it does right on the moving truck into rolls of 100 to 200 feet. It claims the material is more protective than bubble wrap — and cheaper.
When you’re done with it, re-use it throughout the year, or Earth Friendly will take it off your hands and recycle it for another customer.
The other cool product is ‘Recocubes,’ which are a replacement for syrofoam peanuts. They’re made from newspaper sludge — only 40% of recycled newsprint is usable; this product uses the other 60%. Just as the name suggests, it’s pressed into a sturdy, card-board-like cube that will cushion your belongings.
When you’re done with moving, you can just toss the relocubes into the garden, water them, and voila! Compost for those new plants at your new place.
The video segment below shows the owner eating one, which I don’t know if I’d recommend in a daily diet, but hey, to each their own. Check it out for other cool product ideas for your move, and ask your own moving companies about ways to make an environmental move.
A recent report about moving holds some important glimmers of light for the moving industry.
The Boston Fed study found that housing prices have become a key determinant in whether people move - if people can not get the price for their home that they think it’s worth, they won’t sell and move. That’s a shift: before, if you needed to move, whether for retirement or a job, selling your current home wasn’t a roadblock.
Now that housing prices have fallen so much, that type of activity has stalled, and migration patterns have hit generational lows.
So where exactly is the good news in this?
The biggest hindrance to someone selling their home, or putting their home on the market, is the perception that they’re losing. The home that 4 years ago was worth $300,000 is now worth only $250,000. They sell now, and they’ve lost, even if they only paid $200,000 for it.
It’s a skewed way of looking at things.
Granted, there are many folks who are underwater on their mortgage, effectively shackling them in place unless they can either produce the cash to pay off the difference between the mortgage and the selling price, or convince their lender to do a short sale.
However, many people bought well before the housing boom. They’re not underwater. They have equity. They can move.
But the housing industry and government have beaten into our heads that your home is an investment. Expect a solid return year after year. Tap into your home to fund your retirement.
People are slowing catching a whiff of the the new reality.
That reality: Depending on where you live, that nice nest egg with a front porch is now 10%-50% less than what you thought it was.
That sucks, and you’re probably angry. But will that stop you from living where you want to live?
The longer the housing drag continues, this ‘I-shoulda-sold-in-2006 remorse’ will be less of a factor in peoples’ relocation decision. The regret over your ‘loss’ will lessen. You’ll feel better about selling.
The bursting of the housing bubble has been a painful process so far, and it’s still got a ways to go. But the sooner we get there, the sooner houses will be sold — and the sooner moving companies will see some daylight.
Now this is nothing new — there have long been reports of employees and business owners writing fake reviews, either praising their own businesses or dising their competitors’.
What IS surprising is that the major review sites haven’t really figured out a way to ensure the integrity of reader-written reviews.
Even Amazon.com, which seems to read my mind every time I visit by displaying products I’m likely to buy, hasn’t figured it out, even though there’s a lot of sketchy stuff in their reviews, like people reviewing several similiar products from the same company, as in the case cited by the Journal.
Many people are now using reviews to choose moving companies, which I generally applaud.
However, you need to make them just one part of your entire search for a moving company, not the sole factor. And you need to be wary if there’s an oversupply of positive reviews — there’s just no way to satisfy every customer.
We’re collecting moving reviews from our customers now, and hope to start publishing them on Relocation.com in the near future. We enjoy a bit of an advantage from other review sites because we can near-conclusively determine if the consumer used the moving company they’re reviewing. So be sure to check back later to see our moving company reviews!
Yep, residents of the independent-minded Canadian Province of Quebec are celebrating Moving Day today — I know, ‘celebration’ and ‘moving day’ normally not two words you’d find hanging out in the same sentence.
So, what is this moving day, anyways, and why is it something that might drive Canadian moving companies a bit out of their mind?
Summoning my vast research skills, and my ability to do a search on Wikipedia, I’ve learned that on July 1, everybody in Quebec moves — to be exact, everyone moves to the house on their right, slowly working their way around the block.
Actually, it’s less interesting in that. Fact is, many leases come up on July 1, so many people move at this time – moving companies work around the clock, and moving rates mysteriously triple.
But it’s not all fun and games and profits for Quebec movers.
First, many landlords in Quebec force renters to have their own refrigerator. This makes sense because most Canadians use their frig to store the moose they shoot during Moose Hunting Day on June 1. Landlords also don’t provide a stove. Either way, moving a frig and stove is a pain.
To make matters worse, many Quebeconians use exterior metal staircases to access upper-floor apartments. These are also curved and narrow. Just try carrying a refrigerator with a moose down one of them.
But back to the historical antecedents of Moving Day.
It goes back to the 19th century, when the government, concerned that ’semi-feudal landlords’ of the time would kick out tenant farmers in the snowy weather, decreed that no such forced moving would take place until May 1.
The tradition stuck, so all sorts of leases and kickings-out would occur on May 1 — this was later changed to July 1 to better accomodate students on summer break.
So if a Quebecian is a friend, impress them with your knowledge of history and Canada by wishing them a Happy Moving Day!
The ‘binding estimate’ sounds so final, so iron-clad – it’s guaranteed to be exactly what you pay for your move, right?
Not necessarily — and it could majorly mess up your moving day.
There are two kinds of moving estimates: a non-binding estimate, which is an ‘estimate’ in the true sense of the word: you might pay more, you might pay less. These are more common for local moves, where you pay by the hour according to the number of laborers you use.
The other estimate is ‘binding.’ It’s binding on both you and the moving company. A popular binding estimate is the ‘guaranteed not to exceed’ estimate – you won’t pay more than the estimated moving costs, but if your moving costs end up being less than the estimate, you pay the lesser amount.
You often see these offered up as a guaranteed estimate, or a flat-rate estimate.
However, don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Here’s what can happen:
The estimator from a moving company comes to your home, sees what you need to have moved, and gives you an estimate.
On moving day - surprise! - the guys loading your truck say you have more stuff than is included on the estimate. Your binding estimate is kaput, and you will have to pay more.
How’d that happen?
1. You added more stuff to your move after you got you estimate.
2. Your moving estimator made an honest mistake, and didn’t include everything to be moved.
3. Your moving estimator purposefully underestimated your move in order to win your business. (And is now letting the driver handle the dirty work…)
Either way, you have to come to an agreement with the moving company about what you will pay. And it’s moving day. And you’re stressed, and now probably a little angry.
So you thought you were getting a binding estimate – but now you’re in a bind.
How to avoid this predicament:
* When you get a binding estimate, scrutinize the Table of Measurements that the estimator uses to give you moving quotes. This is a sheet your estimator uses to tally up the items you need to have moved. Insist on seeing this, and make sure it’s accurate. If it’s not, you’re going to have a problem on moving day.
* Beware the low bid. Even if it’s binding, your moving company can still insist on more money on moving day if it says the estimate was incorrect.
* Make sure that you won’t be adding additional items to your load before moving day. This will nullify your binding estimate.
* Get your estimate in writing.
On moving day, the binding estimate is included as an attachment to the bill of lading, which is a document you will be signing that turns over your goods to the moving company. Make sure it’s there.
Mayflower Transit came out on top in a recent Customer Satisfaction survey from consumer survey powerhouse J.D. Power and Associations about 
I’ve always been impressed by people who are more action than talk when it comes to moving environmentally — during the stress of moving, it can be easy to just take the easy way out and forego your green ethos.
