RELO Roundtable…a gathering place

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) for 2013 on March 3-9. NCPW is a coordinated campaign of more than 60 participating federal, state, and local government agencies and business partners that encourages the general pubic to make more informed buying decisions by taking full [...]

Beginning on October 1, 2011, rogue movers operating illegally in North Carolina will have to think twice before advertising their services to the general public. In an effort to protect inexperienced, uninformed consumers from hiring non-professional moving companies, the executive committee and board members of the North Carolina Movers Association (NCMA) worked in conjunction with [...]

“Realtor of the Year” takes aim at the moving industryThe following is a copy of a recent entry that a well-intentioned realtor posted in the Report a Scam forum at the popular trash-your-mover site at MovingSCAM.com. Tim Walker, the owner, created the 'consumer oriented' venue to let others “know what is going on in the [...]

It appears it’s now the movers who are fighting back!   Perhaps it's the hectic summer schedule created by too many customers and not enough capacity that's getting on people's nerves. Then again, maybe it's just the overwhelming heat that's creating the rancor. Whatever the reason, it appears that there's an industry backlash developing at [...]

One of the more frequent complaints that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) receives from consumers involves the unexpected and supposedly “arbitrary” increase in cost that an interstate household goods motor carrier and/or move broker tries to negotiate on loading day.

  New York based Budget Van Lines, a five year old household goods and property broker has sued the owner of MovingScam.com for allegedly endorsing some full service moving companies and vehicle brokerage services while “disparaging” Budget's 'mark' on the site's popular and very active community message boards. Budget Van Lines is licensed by the [...]

  Yesterday I received a note from a reader in the Bay Area who’d apparently read ‘Is shopping for a mover in a virtual marketplace safe?’ He wrote to say he had learned a lot from the five part series and thanked me for taking the time to research it.   As a token of [...]

It appears there might be another big casualty of the real estate mess – Florida.  In an article released Sunday, veteran Associated Press newsman Mike Schneider explains what many national van lines already know – the Sunshine State is losing its longtime appeal for many relocating American’s.  Using data obtained from Florida’s Department of Highway [...]

  This morning’s Inbox contained a timely warning from Patricia McLaughlin’s IMAWA Bulletin Board. Pat’s a long-time friend of the moving industry, small business mentor and advocate, and the veteran Executive Director of the Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Association. Above all else, she’s involved.    The note said that her office had received numerous reports about another [...]

In keeping with her goal of making Reader’s Digest a more useful media channel to help “average people getting by”, Mary Berner, the magazines new CEO, is changing the look, feel and content of the “stodgiest of media companies”.    Recently the popular family magazine took aim at the moving industry with a piece entitled [...]