Movers Search Group's National EMail Newsletter
August 2007 
The Country's ORIGINAL And Most Widely-Read EMail Newsletter Published Exclusively For The HHG Industry
 
Brought To You By:
 
MOVERS SEARCH GROUP
A Professional Staffing and Recruiting Firm Serving The Moving Industry
 
 
"Moving Companies And Careers Forward"
Dear Household Goods Industry Professionals:
 
What is there to say about the "predictable unpredictability" of this summer's busy season?  For the most part, we're hearing that this has been a sub-par year business-wise.  A slow start in June, followed by an optimistic increase in activity into July and now, an apparent precipitous drop off in August has many of us scratching our heads.......For those of you reporting volume equal to or just below the levels of last year:  count yourselves as lucky---you are in the minority.
 
When asked for predictions as to what the moving industry can expect for the rest of this year and beyond, the majority of you have expressed a pessimistic outlook.  Although the economy appears to be relatively strong, the real estate and housing markets currently don't bode well for those whose livelihood is premised, in great part, on the ability of people to sell and buy homes......
 
On an up note, we're seeing fewer agency closings this year than in years past....many of you are telling us that due to recent "good" business years many agents were better prepared to weather the bad times that were encountered this summer--let's hope that this is the case.  This is NOT to say that there haven't been layoffs, pay cuts and hiring freezes this summer, because these indicators of a "down year" have been all too evident in 2007.....It is our sincere hope that you will perservere and thrive in the months and years to come.
 
There's been some "buzz" out there, so let's get to the fun part of this thing.....
 
MARK GRAY
Movers Search Group
HEARD ON THE STREET
 
 
LOTS OF TALK about legal battles, firings, ownership tug-of-war and fallout from the problems of a certain Chicago area UniGroup agent.........
 
SPEAKING OF CHICAGO, we've heard that a major ATLAS VAN LINES agent will soon expand it's presence in the Windy City from a sales office to a full fledged agency operation....
 
BUDD VAN LINES has opened a new facility in Arlington (Dallas) TX, something that has been in the works for a while that has finally come to fruition......MORE NEWS FROM BUDD:  Congratulations to MIKE HAASE on his recent promotion to VP of National Operations...a good guy that is well-deserving of this post....
 
WATCH THIS SPACE....where we will reveal next month the identity of the well-known industry veteran (from a well-known industry family name) who has just inked a deal to own his own HHG agency in the Nashville market.....
 
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO? DEPT.    CHRIS NOBLIT and his very popular and widely-read AVATAR's MOVERS FORUM (the ORIGINAL Movers' Chat Room on the Internet)......Chris shut it down last year but is planning on bringing it back sometime in the future...We are certainly hoping for sooner rather than later....We miss Chris and his never-ending efforts to educate, improve and inform the Moving Industry.  Chris is a great guy who has earned the respect of many in the business.  We can't wait 'till he's back on the 'net......
 
We're patting ourselves on the back because of the fact that the "Today's HOT JOB" page on our website at www.MoverRecruiter.com has become the industry's most frequently visited web page....
 
GRAEBEL recently announced the promotion of BOBBIE HILL to Senior Vice President of Graebel Relocation Services Worldwide......
 
More From Graebel:  GRAEBEL VAN LINES has become the first moving company to earn certification coast to coast from the INTERNATIONAL OFFICE MOVING INSTITUTE (IOMI)...........
 
SPEAKING OF IOMI (Industry Office Moving Guru ED KATZ' brainchild)...Ed and IOMI have been making waves....read more about ED and his company later in this Newsletter.....
 
CAREY MOVING & STORAGE, the SC-based agent for ALLIED VAN LINES, recently announced the opening of their new office in Knoxville TN...CAREY has now expanded to 5 offices covering three states......
 
NEW HAVEN MOVING EQUIPMENT has hired well-known industry veteran ERIC MAJOR as Director of New Business Development for their O&I Division.........
 
IN MEMORIAM....We are sad to report the passing of BILL COLWELL, former CMSA Chairman and Industry Leader; GREG SIZEMORE, Graebel GM and Executive who was killed in a motorcylce accident and DEBBIE MARTIN, wife of industry veteran STAN MARTIN, of liver failure.....Our thoughts and prayers to their families and friends.......
 
AFTER 80 YEARS AT THEIR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA LOCATION......A.C. WHITE UNITED has finally moved in to their new northern Atlanta suburban (Alpharetta) home.....Best thing about this is their office is now only minutes from mine...gives me a chance to work the White's for a "free lunch" more often........
 
NOVEL NAME OF THE MONTH DEPT.:  "MEATHEAD MOVERS" of San Luis Obispo, CA....a pretty cool success story...type their name in your search engine and read about these guys who have a refreshing take on the moving business.......
 
ATLAS VAN LINES has named STEPHEN WATSON as their Corporate Training Director.....
 
G&M MOVING & STORAGE, Atlas Agent in Cincinatti, OH has been purchased by DAVID WISSEL and DAVID REED....the company was purchased from VIRGIL MILLER.....
 
LAST NEWSLETTER we reported in this column some complaints we were receiving from movers that a certain unnamed box  rental company was starting to compete with movers for business.....WELL, we received an immediate response from MICHAEL SHANLEY, the original founder and now a Director with RENTACRATE, the crate rental company, stating unequivocally that Rentacrate was NOT the company referenced....Shanley responded:
"...any crate rental company gets most of it's business from the moving industry.  It would be financial suicide to try to do both businesses.  In fact, evidence of this can be found in the reverse.  To date almost six moving companies have tried to start a crate rental business and failed badly.  Perhaps this rumor, which comes up from time to time, is based on these facts and got twisted around as it went through the grapevine.  For the record, we at Rentacrate, the original and largest crate rental company in the country, have never been and will never get into the moving business"......We appreciate Mr. Shanley's input and we're glad to print his response....We want to stress the fact that RENTACRATE was NOT specifically named in our original report........
 
ACE WORLD WIDE in Fallsington, PA and Orlando, FL have made a number of new appointments:  DOTTIE DIXON has joined Ace in FL as a Sales Exec. in the national account arena...ROY STEWART works out of the PA office in the capacity of Dir. of Relo for the AT&T account...JOHN HARTMAN and STEVE PUPO have joined ACE in the third proviso arena.....
 
ARPIN VAN LINES has formed an interline agreement with GREAT CANADIAN VAN LINES in an effort to improve service and coverage for their cross-border customers.......the new interline alliance will allow smaller cross-border shipments to gateway through larger hub centers in Vancouver and Toronto.....
 
A-1 FREEMAN NORTH AMERICAN has won their 2nd "Consumers Choice Award", premised upon a comprehensive and objective survey recently conducted by SURVEY SAMPLING INTERNATIONAL......
 
APPARENTLY THERE IS NO TRUTH to the rapidly-spreading rumor that a major Connecticut SIRVA agency is currently in the market for a new GM......This, despite the fact that a competing headhunter (NO, NOT MY FORMER COMPANY!) is spreading the word that they are searching for candidates on behalf of this agent.....This from the lips of the agency's owner (via email) to yours truly.....
 
Next month (or as soon as the official announcement is released), we will report on the major United Van Lines agent in Southern CA who has purchased an existing Mayflower agent in the CA desert.........
 
COULD IT BE TRUE?  One of UniGroup's top 10 is up for sale?!?!?!?!?!.......
 
If you have news of interest to the industry, won't you please share?  All submissions are kept in the strictest of confidence....Please email any "Heard On The Street" material to markgray@MoverRecruiter.com ........
INDUSTRY NEWS U CAN USE
 
Kudos to ALLIED VAN LINES....they've injected some humor into the normally-staid HHG industry....Take a look at their new ALLIED EXPRESS website (www.alliedexpress.com ).....Particularly the page where they offer a comparison between using the new Small Move Service of Allied Express vs. utilizing a rental truck....pretty clever stuff......
 
ON A SERIOUS NOTE, KUDOS to DAVID HOLLANDER, SANDY WENDLAND, PATTI FAIRMAN, CINDY SAUNDERS, JIM HOLLANDER, DEAN BARKER, ROB WENDLAND, BILL STEELE and JEFF WAICHKMAN, all of HOLLANDER MOVING UNITED/MAYFLOWER.....They are all participating in this year's Accenture Chicago Triathlon as members of  the "MOVING TOWARDS A CURE" team...This year they are dedicating their race to GORDON BORSKE who lost his battle with leukemia on April 24th, 2007.  Their goal is to raise $15,000....help them out:  You can contact them at MovingTowardsaCure@gmail.com or donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by visiting thier donation website at www.active.com/donate/tntil/tntilSWendla1. .......
 
MAYFLOWER LAUNCHES PODCAST SERIES.....hear the "Your Best Move" podcast series....go to mayflower.com/moving/moving-tips/mayflowers-your-best-move-podcast-series.htm. (You may have to cut and past this into your web browser)......
 
See how ED KATZ and MCCOLLISTERS hooked up to educate the Insurance Industry's Who's Who on the shipping of electronics....go to
www.officemoves.com/tabeu/2007NYSeminar/ShippingElectr
nics.html    (Cut and paste this address into your browser).....
 
"GOING GREEN" is popular nowadays, again ED KATZ is at the forefront for the moving industry....go to
 
Air Van Lines International Inc. plead guildy to criminal charges involving the Military's Program for Shipment of Household Goods.  See:
www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,150311
.shtml  (Again, cut and paste this website address into your browser)....
 
BEKINS A-1 / BMS has announced the official launch of their newly-updated and nationwide consolidated website
www.bekinsa1.com .  Bekins A-1 has grown to become Bekins Van Lines' largest and most successful agency family with 19 strategically located full-service offices around the country.  They represent about 1/3 of Bekins' total fleet capacity, with one of the largest agency fleets in the moving industry today....
 
SCAM AGAINST MOVING COMPANIES...Moving companies are receiving letters from what appears to be the DOT requesting them to submit financial info....This fraudulent email warns that the contractor has not submitted a "financial information release form" and request the information be submitted to a fax number to be eligile for future procurements.  DO NOT COMPLY WITH THIS REQUEST...for more info, go to
 
The FLORIDA MOVERS AND WAREHOUSEMEN'S ASSOCIATION will hold their 2007 Annual Movers Conference  September 13-14 at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay...
 
MOVERS:  DON'T FORGET DRIVER APPRECIATION WEEK:
August 26 through Sept. 1 !!!!!
 
ARPIN VAN LINES will hold it's upcoming Annual Agent Convention from 10/21 thru 10/25 at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, Tucson, AZ......
 
Do you have an article that you would like published in "Industry News U Can Use" ?....email us at markgray@moverrecruiter.com .
Picture of the Month
 
 
 
 
 
This piano was dropped from the second-story....And you thought that YOUR summer was going badly!
HELPFUL HEADHUNTER HINTS (CONT.)
 
CANDIDATES:  Avoid all headhunters who ask you to remove your resume from internet job boards.  Why would a recruiter want you to remove your resume from a job board, you may ask?  It's so they won't have a conflict with the hiring authority, many of whom will not pay a recruiter's fee if the candidate's resume was found off the internet and readily accessible by the hiring authority on-line.
 
While I personally don't think it is prudent for anyone to float their resume in cyberspace (it's somewhat reckless and could become problematical in terms of your relationship with your present employer), nevertheless, if you have already done so, MOVERS SEARCH GROUP will NOT ask you to remove your posted resume from an internet job board.
 
HIRING AUTHORITIES:  Use your current employees as "in-house" recruiters.  Most of your current employees came from another agency....ask them to recommend quality candidates from their former place of work....Pay them a small "finders fee" for successful referrals----a fee that is much less than what a recruiter will charge!
 
SPEAKING OF RECRUITER'S FEES, Hiring Authorities should not be forced to sign an exclusive agreement with a recruiter, especially when that recruiter wants to charge you between 20 and 30% of the candidate's first year salary!  At MOVERS SEARCH GROUP, our MAXIMUM FEE is 15%.....even less for sales reps and account coordinators.
 
If you currently have a search assignment with a recruiter at a fee that is more than 15%....we should talk.
 
Call Mark Gray at 678.373.3634 or email at markgray@MoverRecruiter.com.
Don't forget to visit our website at
 
View today's "HOT JOB".
 
See ALL of our current job openings.
 
Looking to fill an opening at your agency?  Submit your job order on line!
 
Until Next Time....
 
Mark Gray
Movers Search Group
"Moving Companies And Careers Forward"