The year 2021 saw the greatest rise in long-distance moving business in history. Moving companies opened up everywhere, and the news was spreading. The news of the flocks of migrants leaving states like California and New York, then made headlines in the mainstream media. Even big names like Tesla and Ben Shapiro made headlines for relocating. This was sponsored in part by the flaming housing market with bottomed-out interest rates. Economic mobility was commonplace with low interest rates, taxes, and costs. Fast forward to the third quarter of 2022, and moving companies are closing their doors. What happened? A few things:
Rising Housing Interest
According to bankrate.com, the average 30 year fixed mortgage rate is at 6.11%. This discernible trend has brought the housing market to a halt in comparison to activity just a year ago. With the housing market low and plenty of moving companies, new and old. this causes a high demand for moving customers and puts moving companies who can’t compete out of business. The majority of moving customers are homeowners, as they tend to have the most incentive to hire the services of moving companies. The increase in moving companies and the sudden decrease in moving customers have caused a vortex in the moving business. Owners are looking to cut costs wherever they can while maintaining high quality service.
Increased Costs and a Suffering Economy
Moving companies run on trucks, and trucks run on fuel. Another contributor to the hardship in the moving industry is the increased operating costs. Fuel and material costs are up due to raging inflation and a lower customer base. Then, this makes running trucks a more expensive endeavor than ever. The tanking economy makes it more difficult for consumers to be able to afford moving services. This makes the calendar of your average moving company relatively spread out, unless they’re a top company. If a company has holes in their schedule, it will be difficult to maintain a crew of employees. A lack of work will make retention a nightmare and eventually lead to the inability to perform jobs and going out of business.
New Regulations
The new DOT regulations have been rolled out to make a strong effort to guide the industry ethically. While this is crucial to maintaining a good practice environment, it unfortunately comes with a potential increase in cost and procedure. For example, you are required to provide, then receive back a signed BOL at least three days prior to the start of service. If you are the carrier of choice for a customer away from one of your hubs, this could be a predicament. You are also required to have media on file for the customer’s inventory. Organizing and storing all of that data can be complicated and expensive.
New Software With New Solutions
The team who built MoverXPro 360 did so with the concerns of the owner/operator in mind. The program was designed to cut costs and provide low cost solutions for compliance while increasing ethical practices in your operation. The system was built with a customer portal that generates digital BOLs, stores media files on each job, and allows for easy management of staff and digital materials.
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