report the shocking and unexpected Thanksgiving Day passing of BEN GRAEBEL. Mr. Graebel, we are told, suffered a masive heart attack......
Also, since we last went to print in October, the moving industry lost another veteran, ART VAN HOUSEN, associated for many years with NORTHLAND CONTAINER and VICTORY PACKAGING, and a long time friend and supporter of the moving and storage industry......Our condolences and prayers for both families.....
Congratulations to PAT and MATT DIJULIO and their company WESTERN VAN AND STORAGE, on being named ALLIED VAN LINES' AGENT OF THE YEAR.........
SAY IT AIN'T SO DEPARTMENT: Word is that AMODIO MAYFLOWER recently ceased its moving operations.......We're hearing another New England carrier, MCKEE'S MOVING AND STORAGE closed their doors.....And the same holds true for SUBURBAN UNITED in the Chicago market...........
The NORTH CAROLINA MOVERS ASSOCIATION announced that ROBERT LONG of DEHAVEN'S TRANSFER & STORAGE in Durham, NC was named Mover of the Year.....also, the following were elected to the NCMA's Board of Directors: DEAN BARRETT, KATHY COX, TODD EBERHARDT, TODD LAMAR and NEAL MATTHEWS.......
Speaking of DEHAVEN's...we're hearing that they have taken over the operations of CARDINAL TRANSPORT in both Wilmington and Charlotte NC.......
The NEW YORK JETS footbal team not only got Brett Favre to quarterback their team this year, but they also secured the services of J.D. CARTON & SON, INC., agents for ALLIED VAN LINES, as their official mover........
COR-O-VAN, the well-known west coast based HHG agent, recently announced the launch of their new
www.CorovanRecordStorage.com website....check it out........
RANDY BROWNING, principal of UNITED VAN LINES agent BROWNING MOVING & STORAGE, of Lakeland and Tallahassee, FL, has been awarded MAYFLOWER affiliations for both locations......Browning's Mayflower offices will operate under the name of COMMUNITY MOVING & STORAGE. The Lakeland Mayflower office will be assigned Agent Number M1089, in honor of JEFF MCHENRY, an employee of Browning who suffered a heart attact while on the road earlier this year.....MCHENRY's driver number was U108-9......a classy move, don't you agree?..............
SPEAKING OF RANDY BROWNING, he is the current Chairman of the FLORIDA MOVERS AND WAREHOUSEMENS ASSN and Randy has advised us that 2009's February 5-6 annual FMWA convention has been moved from Orlando, FL to Gainesville, FL.....
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME? DEPT......BEVERLY BELL is back at GRAEBEL as Vice President of Business Development...she returns after 4 years away from her relocation industry roots...she had been with Graebel for over 21 years prior......KEVIN PISCITELLI has also returned to Graebel for his second tour of duty there as the GM of Graebel's NY/NJ office.......
TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has earned top honors in a recent J.D. POWER AND ASSOCIATES study measuruing customer satisfaction among full-service moving companies........ALSO, TM&A Trucks' safety assistant JEFFREY SCOTT has been elected to the Board of the INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & LOGISTICS COUNCIL (ITLC)......
ATLAS VAN LINES has announced the 63 agent winners of the Van Lines' prestigious MILTON M. HILL QUALITY AWARD....go to
www.atlasworldgroup.com and the "News Release" page for the complete listing of agents......
BEKINS A-1, the 19 location national moving and storage agency, is making waves with it's CLEAR THE CLUTTER (tm) program.....This program is designed to help home sellers temporarily purge a home of the personal items that make any house a home without interfering with the homeowner's daily life. According to the USA TODAY, residences with less personal "clutter" sell for 6.3% more and 41 days faster on average than those that don't "de-clutter"....BEKINS A-1 has now partnered with the REAL ESTATE STAGING ASSOCIATION (RESA), the trade association for professional home stagers, to promote their "Clear The Clutter (tm)" initiative....For more info, go to
www.bekinsa1.com ........
Speaking of clutter, MAYFLOWER TRANSIT is promoting their own version of "de-cluttering" by marketing to those individuals relocating from larger houses to smaller residences/housing due to economic conditions. Mayflower is offering six steps to help MAXIMIZE one's move to a MINIMIZED space....go to
www.mayflower.com and click on their "Newsroom" page for further details......
ACE WORLDWIDE, agents for ATLAS VAN LINES, has opened a new branch in Oklahoma City, AMERICAN ACE OF OKLAHOMA, INC....this is the 13th location for Ace WW.......
The WASHINGTON STATE UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION has pulled the operating permit of Kent, WA based ALL MY SONS, citing repeated consumer overcharges, inaccurate estimates and mishandled damage claims........
NORTH AMERICAN VAN LINES has announced the addition of MITCH BORSKE'S ELLIS MOVING & STORAGE, LLC of Nashville, TN as NAVL's newest full service agent.....ELLIS M&S has served the Nashville and surrounding area since 1918.......
BUDD VAN LINES was awarded the 2008 CARTUS CUP in recognition of a moving company that has provided extraordinary service to CARTUS' customers and clients.......
THE AMSA recently released it's landmark study on the size and impact of the Moving Industry in the United States....the first comprehensive study of the economics of the U.S. M&S Industry.....Interesting information incudes: The HHG Industry provides 122,600 jobs nationally; Although the HHG customer segment accounts for most of the industry's shipment volume, corporate customers provide the most revenue; The largest single industry "customer" is the Dept. of Defense: Half of all moving and storage industry jobs are in 8 states: The most in CA, followed by FL, NY and TX; and the HHG Industry accounts for nearly 8% of the total revenue of the U.S.. truck transportation sector......
PETER WEIL is SUDDATH RELOCATION SYSTEM'S new GM in Nashville......
We're hearing about some major cutbacks at PODS.....Same news concerning a major Southwest-based multi location SIRVA agent........
BLUE BIRD TRANSFER....long-time ALLIED agent, has switched colors and are now agents for ATLAS VAN LINES...check out their new website at
www.bluebirdtransfer.com .......
SIRVA has announced that it plans to centralize its national headquarters for moving services in Ft. Wayne.....SIRVA will invest some $16 Million to centralize its IL-based operations to IN...Indiana Governor MITCH DANIELS was pleased to join SIRVA execs in making the announcement that ultimately, should mean more jobs for the Ft. Wayne area......
PAUL STEVENS is GRAEBEL'S new GM of the Graebel Minnesota office.......
PAUL ARPIN VAN LINES announced ABLE MOVING & STORAGE of Amherst, NH as their 2008 Prime Agent of the Year....other Arpin awards stemming from their Annual Convention can be found on Arpin's website.....
www.paularpin.com ......
SIRVA has appointed LYN HUDSON as it's VP of Relocation Sales.....
MOBILITY SERVICES INTERNATIONAL (MSI) and PODS (Portable On Demand Storage) announced a new partnership making PODS an approved MSI GlobeSource (reg.) partner.......
And Finally.....
CONGRATS to two UNITED VAN LINES agents: ANDREWS M&S and FRY WAGNER as both agents mark the year 2008 as their 100th year anniversaries!
Do YOU have news and information of interest to your peers in the Moving Industry? If so, please drop us a line at markgray@MoverRecruiter.com . As always, your correspondence will be kept in the strictest of confidence..
REMEMBER, this column is only as good as the information YOU, the reader, provides us.....
