What the Election Means to Movers

Another summer is coming to a close and as fuel prices are again on the rise, the rates are starting to fall. This is as expected as it is ridiculous. It is sad while knowing how flawed things are we continue down the same path - in the moving industry and in America as well. What happened? Since when has it been acceptable to allow everyone around you, to reach so far into your pocket that when you finally get to stick your own hand in your own pocket there is nothing left? As owner operators or even contract drivers, everything we need has gone up almost exponentially and yet we are working for wages drivers in the 80's would chuckle at. Meanwhile, the carriers in this industry are profiting like never before. It has come to my attention recently that some carriers are not paying their agents nor their drivers the billable GBL rates. This is ridiculous. A last minute shipment was offered up at a 54% discount and accepted. A short time later, another carrier (who was also awarded the same shipment by the wonderful DPS system) offered up the same shipment but at a 67% discount. This was obviously questioned and the response from the carrier after a long time on hold was that they made a mistake quoting the rate. Do you think their "mistake" what have been corrected when it came time to pay? Why are the rates a secret now between the carriers and the government? The DoD is huge portion of the moving industry so why in an administration of 'transparancy' and Freedom of Information, is everything so secretive? We are now expected to work for what we are told we are worth. We can trust them I guess. We have no choice in the matter other than to quit. This has been continually happening and the actual household drivers in the industry are few and far between. At the same time, carriers are holding seminars trying to recruit service members into the moving industry to try to recover drivers. This is a joke!

The unemployment in this country is out of control, and at the rate the moving industry is going, you can expect more agents to close and drivers to quit. The moving industry is taking the same route of government - taxing, over regulating, overcharging, over penalizing and underappreciating what made them what they are today! It has to stop. Moving companies that used to thrive with good paying national accounts have been reduced to fighting over work that doesn't pay. The mega-corporation moving companies are so out of touch with the moving industry, they don't even realize their experienced drivers made them a mega-corporation - when they're gone, how long do you think your time at the top will last? When the government finally gets it way and forces "black boxes" in every truck - how will your drivers make money then when they aren't prospering now? When no one in your fleet will be able to enter California because their trucks aren't new enough? Have you not thought of these things?

Now what does any of this have to do with the election?

Well, as every driver knows, diesel is not cheap. It hasn't been cheap in a long, long time. Will it ever be cheap again? Of course not - but what I can tell you is that this administration has not helped keep the cost of diesel down. In fact, it has done nothing but help drive it up. The Keystone Pipeline wouldn't have been any kind of immediate relief but it would have been a step in the right direction. And with it would have come jobs. People would have been RELOCATING to get to these jobs. Some of them would use a mover.
The energy secretary, Chu, stated “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” (Politico). How is this going to help our business? If people are spending $9/gallon of gas - how many of them will be able to afford to move? Better yet - many won't even be able to afford furniture! Alternative energy is a great idea that needs to be researched and developed - it can't be forced upon the market. Ask Solyndra.
The president has suggested veterans should have their combat injuries covered by their private insurance, possibly making it impossible to get coverage after joining the private sector. If he doesn't want to pay for combat injuries, how long do you feel he'll think it is necessary to pay to relocate them? Under this administration we are looking at the DoD being cut by $492 Billion! I can guarantee you tanks and generals' salaries will not be the first things to go..
Taxes. This administration feels anyone making over $200,000 (or $250k married) should be taxed more to "pay their fair share". Wake up - this should mean YOU! Most owner operators can't afford $4/gallon fuel - can you really afford a tax increase along with $9/gal fuel??
Health care - if you do not choose to (or can afford) health care, by 2016, you will be taxed $695 or 2.5% of your income, whichever is greater. This means if your income is just say $225,000, your penalty will be $5,625. That's nice - especially on top of your new tax increase and $9/ gal. fuel.
Jobs - you have to agree things are bad when movers are out of work. Movers are a convenience people enjoy when they have a job and they have money. When consumer confidence starts to fade, movers are the first to be shed - as corporate perks and in peoples homes. People that are at work have money and no time - thus they need a mover. Unemployed people can't afford movers and probably don't need one when they sell their furniture and pack all their belongings in their car and move back with their parents. It's simple - prosperous people use movers, not people without jobs.
This administration was giving an economic crisis, true but unemployment rates promised below 6% are still over 8% and that number is a gimmick..
Department of Homeland Security. Yes, that's right. This administration feels the TSA is now necessary in weigh stations throughout the country. So now on top of working for free, we can expect to give up our rights every time we enter a weigh station! It bad enough, the ridiculous fines and penalties such as a $2700 fine for talking on your cell phone, but now - when you enter the weigh station the TSA will have authority to take your phone to see if you were on it! It's gone too far my friends. There's a company out there that is marketing a video recorder to be mounted in the cab of YOUR truck for a view of everything in addition to your black box. When are we going to say enough is enough?

We may be able to quit our jobs to avoid all this crap from the carriers and the DOT, but why should we stop doing what we love to do to appease someone else? We shouldn't - we should demand answers and real reform of regulations. Stop going along with the flow for the "greater good" while we are suffering!

It's time for movers to take a stand and Americans to take a stand and make informed decisions in November!

Be safe out there my friends and God Bless America!