RELO Roundtable…a gathering place

Some RELO Roundtable subscribers and Linkedin connections might be aware of my personal penchant for using relevant moving industry indices and uniform quality metrics to search for and select the most qualified relocation product and service providers. On January 1, 2012, MoversReviewed.com announced the beta launch of their new consumer oriented database of active moving [...]

During a recent Twitter #movechat, I posted a link to a comprehensive little tool that can be used by anyone shopping for quality moving services. The next day there were several requests for permission to use it in the in-box. A few came from industry; some from potential customers.  With this new Moving Cost Estimate [...]

  Moved the kid back to college last week. We stopped at a rest area half way home. As I finished my business, a voice behind me asked how long I was planning to stand at the wall. I turned to see the familiar face of a household goods van operator I'd worked with years [...]

  Related Articles Choose a local relocation service provider Insist that they be properly licensed Request and then verify the mover's credentials Check out the Better Business Bureau Do they have the required insurances? What kind of dispute resolution arbitration programs do they participate in? Does the company have a physical ‘bricks and mortar” business [...]

  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 [...]

     Related Articles Part I – Listen to the Marketplace Podcast Part II – Shopping for a mover online? Part III – How do you find a crook in the dark? Part IV – What does ‘Caveat Emptor’ mean? Part V – Who really needs the aspirin? Move It – Don’t Lose It Virtual [...]

  While researching this project, I contacted management at uShip, the virtual marketplace mentioned in American Public Media’s recent Marketplace report, Online competitors move in on shippers, to request help to determine either the USDOT or MC# of one of the small carrier’s included on their Regional Movers list.    According to the company’s sales [...]

  In a recent Marketplace article, Online competitors move in on shippers, Lenora Chu reports that traditional moving companies have fewer customers because of increased competition from virtual reverse auction sites like uShip, the popular shipping resource mentioned in the American Public Media’s (APM) podcast.    According to Matt Chassen, uShip’s CEO, that’s because “…people [...]

  Americans aren’t moving much anymore.   According to the information in a recent Marketplace podcast report, Online competitors move in on shippers,  “Dropping home prices and a dismal job market mean more people are staying put and moving companies have fewer customers.”   In fact the Census Bureau’s latest population survey “indicates that the [...]

  In Part I, we listened to the arguments presented in American Public Media’s recent Marketplace report, Online competitors move in on shippers, and asked if deregulation of the trucking industry put consumers in control – or jeopardy – when shopping for moving services online.     The household goods moving industry, which was developed around [...]