Comments on the "grumpy old mover" posting..

Kelly, here (mover extraordinaire)... Great blog. I have been one of the beta test people with the new system. For the past several years I have been doing my inventories using the TechMate system. My bottom line has insured my continued use,of doing inventories electronically. The end result has been, reduced claims due to more accurate descriptions, less time tagging and a more professional appearance. The customer watches me tapping away on my Ipad and taking pictures, with the same device, and all thoughts of bogus claims leave their head. I believe, once the system has seen it's final tweak, the efficiency will be apparent. It will be the difference of walking or driving a Ferrari.

From our prime, elite agent in Illinois, Mordue...
Really like your blogs, this one is dead on.  The drivers are nervous about the changes, but give them a couple of months and they will wonder how they managed without the electronic inventories.  And they will be SO much easier for all of us.  The bar code scanning for delivery, weather into sit or destination will be fantastic.

From Anita in Safety...

You are right!

From Ron Sample, agent driver for Studdard Moving..(and driver of the year for Arpin)..
To say that I am not computer minded would be an understatement. A few months ago I started to test out the computer inventory system. I inventoried a 10,000 lb job on the iPad while my helper did the inventory the old fashion way. I was done in a third of the time as opposed to him and my inventories printed clean and easy to read. I will only get better at it ..and my customer was very impressed.

Grumpy Old Mover...

We recently had a comment from a self proclaimed "grumpy old mover". He states that he's been in the moving business for 30 years and doesn't need or want a computer to do his inventories. He said, "some things you 'need' to do by hand" and that he does not have the time or the money.

I hear ya and I can certainly appreciate where you are coming from.

I am 54 and have been in the full time working world for over 30 years, and like you, I was not brought up in the computer world. The fax machine with the thin, curly paper was tops in technology 25 years ago.
The dispatch system that I have used for 26 years is about to go fully automatized and it will take some major adjusting and learning on my part but I also know that in the end, it will help us communicate faster and better with all parties: agents, drivers, other departments and our customers. It will also capture data that will assist us in accepting tonnage so we can better dispatch you (the driver) with less down time and more profitable shipments.

Sound good?

Well in order for us to get to our goal, we need to embrace whatever tools can get us there the best.

Change is not only good - it is necessary.

The computer inventory system is not new.  It has been out there in the form of Tech Mate for years and drivers that use it will tell you that it saves them time and money.

What Arpin did was invest their money to build a better product, one that will tie into the home office and all prime agents.  One that will significantly increase our total communication with each other in addition to providing a faster, cleaner inventory with bar code scanning to expedite delivery.

And the best part is, unlike Tech Mate products that you need to purchase that only do inventories, we came up and invested in a method that can be used on any smart phone or iPad that can be downloaded on the device free of charge to you.

If you do not already own a smart phone or iPad,  you will see that it will assist you in all facets of your life, both business and personal. Watch movies, listen to music, use Face Time to call and video chat with loved ones, record video, take pictures, email.  You will also use it as a file cabinet to keep business information and much much more.

As a matter of fact, going to work with a smart phone or iPad would be the equivalent of a carpenter going to work today with a bag of nails and one hammer versus an air compressed nail gun.

Who would build a house more efficiently and more profitable?

I am sure that Paul Arpin's grandfather was not happy when somebody told him that he would need to invest in a truck because his horse and carriage was going to be obsolete.

Change will happen with or without us.

Soon all third party companies will mandate computer inventories, so will the government and our cod customers. Why would they except hand written documents that need to be mailed that you can not read without pictures attached to them?

Technology is here, embrace it, go with it, want to learn it.

Just hand an iPad to a 6 or 7 year old and you will see that this technology is only going to keep progressing.

JUMP ON.....

YOUR WORD

Your word is your BOND.

As we use technology more and more the one thing that will never change is be successful in life your word MUST mean something.

Both in your personal life and in business to gain trust you have to be known as a man (or woman) of your word. Nothing beats a handshake and eye contact and a promise.

You need allies , friends and relationships in order to succeed, NO ONE can do it alone.

No matter what business you are in you will need help and to have people want to work with you they need to know that what you say is exactly what you will do.
They also listen to you and if you are constantly bad mouthing others and do not back up the people around you than they have no reason to believe that you will not turn against them.

Be consistent, be honest and ALWAYS keep your word.

FOCUS

FOCUS ON THOSE WHO LOVE YOU AND WHO NEVER BELITTLE YOU.
AND DON'T LET THOSE WHO DON'T MATTER TOO MUCH, MATTER TOO MUCH.

Clarence and the Boss

Below is what Bruce Springsteen wrote on the passing of his good friend and sax player Clarence Clemons but is more than that ,it is the definition of love and true friendship...

...Standing together we were bad ass, on any given night, on our turf, some of the baddest on the planet, we were united, we were strong, we were righteous, we were unmovable, we were funny, we were corny as hell and as serious as death itself. And we were coming to your town to shake you and to wake you up. Together, we told an older, richer story about the possibilities of friendship that transcended those I'd written in my songs and in my music. Clarence carried it in his heart. It was a story where the scooter and the big man not only busted the city in half, but we kicked ass and remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship would not be such an anomaly.

...I'll miss my friend, his sax, and the force of nature that was his sound. But his love and his story--the story that he gave to me, that he whispered in my ear, and that he gave to you--is going to carry on.
Clarence was big and he made me feel, think, love, and dream big. How big was the big man? Too fucking big to die. You can put it on his gravestone, you can tattoo it over your heart.

Clarence doesn't leave the E Street Band when HE dies.
He leaves when WE die.

From one of our professional movers on our team...Skip Austin

An Aging Bedbugger

10 years ago I had a job out of Brunswick,Georgia,17,000 pounds with a HUGE driveway(500 feet)and 3 inside flights of stairs....The agent down there(not ours)had nothing but green guys and only 3 of those,GOD,what a day....Nobody could pad,heck,one of them even refereed to a 2-wheel dolly as”that wheeled thing”....Mistakes looking to happen....Needless to say,I had to be EVERYWHERE(sound like Dave?)to make this bad situation work.......Started at 7 am,closed the doors at 7 pm.....LONG FREAKING DAY!30 minutes back to the truck stop(I had nothing to eat the whole day and it was the T/A)found a place to park. I just wanted something to eat,and my bed.......The restaurant was full of tourists and the only place to sit was at the counter. At this point,I need to say...I LOOKED ROUGH,needed a shower(mainly sleep)shave and plastic surgery to look presentable....The waitresses were real busy and after 15 minutes,I gave up....Got the buffet,I was almost done eating when the waitress asked me what I wanted to drink,,,,,unsweetened tea.....She then brought my bill,which I did not look at expecting $14 for the buffet,dropped $3 on the counter for the tip,and headed out to the cashier....Only to find out........I was charged for the SENIOR CITIZENS BUFFET!....Must have looked worse than I thought....

Thank you Skip, I think you look rather young.. for the miles you have traveled....thanks for all you do !

The driver

I have mentioned in past postings that a " Driver " does a heck of a lot more than drive and that referring to them as a driver does not truly due them justice especially in the eyes of the general public.

Any of us associated in dispatch or operations certainly knows what a driver truly does and what they face every day but even people in our industry but not in the operations side really do not know or at least it is not on their forefront of their minds.

It is much harder today to be a professional household mover than it was in the past.

With the involvement of third party companies taking over our industry it has taken a lot of the rules and controls out of the hands of the individual Van Lines and therefore out of the hands of our drivers.

The Department of Transportation has tightened up many of their regulations and just within the past few years introduced very strict rules and fines to go along with log infractions and roadsides. Some of which can result in immediate suspension of a driver's licence or even termination.

Paperwork for each line of work has increased ten fold and if a document is missing or not signed the driver will have great difficulty getting paid for the services that he has provided.

People are moving more than they ever did and some because of economic reasons may be moving against their will. Moving is stressful enough and when  a driver has to move a customer who is unhappy about the move to begin with their job is nearly impossible to truly please the customer.

A professional household mover is a business man, no different than the store down the street from you. The only difference is his store is on wheels. To run his business he needs assistance so he needs to hire labor while out on the road. This too has become very difficult. First off can you imagine having to hire strangers every day to help you in your business and to trust them when you are not looking? It is hard enough to train and trust the same employees that show up to your workplace every day so imagine having to hire new people every day or on every move. And you are responsible for each and every one of them.
Restrictions on what labor you can even bring in a home has increased making it even more difficult for drivers to find good labor, as if it was not already difficult.

Add in that the driver is a away from home and his family for weeks and months at a time and he needs to do most of his traveling at night and early morning hours and must keep his his log book and hours current and legal at all times and still do all that is asked of him and you get a little glimpse into what is like to be a
" Driver " in  2012.

Still with all that added burden and responsibility the " driver " is professional and every day they are out there helping somebody else through their stress. Because at the end of the day they like what they do, they like making a difference in some body's life. They take pride in being a professional and being able to do what most can not.

All that said I hope everyone can have a bit more respect for what you, "the driver" does ,
I salute each and every one of you .