RELO Roundtable…a gathering place

The ol' Inbox has received more email in the last week than it has at anytime since I started publishing.

Some of the messages are sent from members of the full service moving industry lamenting the problems they've had handling the unexpected surge of new peak season business this summer. Several colleagues in smaller markets, however, want to know how I'm collecting the information. Apparently some of their local trucks and crews are occasionally sitting idle.

Meanwhile disappointed corporate, civilian and military customers wrote to grumble about lengthy service delays for both pick ups and/or deliveries. The more critical homeowners complain loudly about the severe inconvenience … and of not receiving timely communications or promised updates on the status of their move. According to their comments, no one in the industry apparently answers their phone or responds to messages or emails anymore.

Several prospective shippers asked who to contact when none of their preferred carriers could handle their moves during the period they want to scheduled them for. One inexperienced GenX shopper claimed no one is responding to the requests he and his girlfriend submitted online to have someone from the van line or local agency contact them with advice or direction on how to make alternate plans.

Anger On The Inside

At the same time I was digesting these notes, the 'Career Resources' pages at RELORoundtable started seeing a corresponding increase in visitors. Disgruntled agency sales staff and experienced household goods van operators apparently both started searching online for greener pastures after their difficult experiences in May and June.

Commissioned salespeople complain they can't write any new business because most of the major van lines or local dispatchers have been forced to cutoff or otherwise embargo certain types of tonnage due to the critical shortages of qualified and properly trained crews and licensed equipment.

Meantime, despite several months of long hours and hectic schedules, drivers aren't able to send money home because of high operating overhead and fuel expenses and even HIGHER discount levels and 'freebie' giveaways negotiated by out-of-touch management in recent corporate contracts and military rate filings.

Expensive, Long-term Collateral Damage

To get their due, more and more frustrated customers are posting their grievances online. Increasingly they're sharing their anger about their service failure with their neighborhood homeys, close buds, casual friends, family relatives and professional business associates in their online community and corporate social circles by posting and tweeting at their personal blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook and Linkedin pages. Popular 'rating and review' sites like MovingScam, Yelp, Epinions, Citysearch, and Kudzu are becoming filled with critical comments of former customers publicly lambasting the mover they selected for every small misdemeanors and unexplained or unsupported line item charge.

Mainstream moving and storage professionals, especially those without a dedicated customer service staff or full-time social media manager, appear to be behind the eight ball in knowing how to deal with the invisible fallout on their reputation in the local community or at anonymous virtual group networks. Many seem unable (or willing) to respond to the very public and prolific attacks on their corporate credibility within the online marketplace in a consistent, professional manner.

Take The Poll

What's your experience been this summer? During the next few days, a number of polls will be posted at RELORoundtable asking if your interstate, intrastate, international or local move shipment volume is up or down.

Feel free to post your thoughts and feedback about what's happened in your corner of the world so far. If you have additional comments you'd like to share, you can either post them below or send them in confidentiality to inforeloroundtable@gmail.com.

Related Articles:

New Jersey Mover BD Movers Reports Rise in Business for 2010 – NJ.com

Latest Moving Industry Data Reflect Improving Conditions – RELORoundtable