February 9, 2010 -
The moving and storage industry of the United States is a complex assortment
of various businesses. The size of this industry is almost similar to that
of computer retail stores. It is made up of 8,100 companies with an annual
business of $16.5 billion functioning in 17,000 locations and providing
122,600 jobs. The industry comprises agents, forwarders, independent
carriers, international movers, suppliers and van lines.
The US Moving and Storage Industry
An average person in the United States makes nearly twice as many
residential moves as the average person in United Kingdom and Japan. In
fact, the moving and storage industry plays a significant role by providing
transportation and
warehousing
services for the
household goods in a
mobile economy where people move to new jobs and homes. This industry can be
called a collection or a network of the following
- National moving companies, also called van lines.
- Local agents, that are usually full-service moving and storage
companies operating in local geographic markets in alliance with van
lines.
- Regional and local independent full-service moving and storage
companies operating intrastate or interstate transportation without van
line alliance.
- Independent contractors, owning or operating trucks, tractors, and
trailers.
The US moving industry consists mostly of small businesses, where 47.8% of
companies employ less than 5 people and only 8.5% of companies employ over
100 people.
The Working of Moving and Storage Industry
The main focus of US moving and storage industry lies on summertime
transportation of household goods. However, it operates all the year-round
performing diverse functions. The services provided by the moving companies
in USA differ on the basis of client's requirement:
- All inclusive packing and
moving services, where the company takes the entire responsibility
of packing all the belongings of the client, transporting them to the
new location and if applicable, unpacking services
/un-packing-services.html for the moved in things.
- Only packing services, where
the company only does packing of client's belongings and the moving is
done by the client himself.
- Only moving services, where only the
mode of transportation is taken
care of by the hired company. All the other works including packing and
unpacking is done by the client himself.
- Moving
truck rental, where the client rents a truck from the company and
do all the other works on his own, including driving the loaded truck to
the new location.
Specialized Services of Moving Companies
The moving companies are specialized in transportation of fragile items. It
provides professional
freight forwarding
and warehousing services for general freight as well as office and
industrial equipment. They are really beneficial for relocations that
require special handling, such as
trade
shows relocations. As far as
corporate
relocations are concerned, van lines go an extra mile and provide many
extended services such as
- Real estate transactions on behalf of their clients, buying and
selling the homes of relocated employees.
- Job search for trailing spouse
- School search for children of relocated employees
- Pet moving services
- Cross cultural orientation
- Area orientation
- Visa and immigration services
In fact, the Moving and storage companies of the US can be termed as
complete relocation managers of their clients. They promote growth by
facilitating migration.
