Moving Words – Van Operator

Written by Timothy Brady.

“Every serious nuclear [moving] accident involves [van] operator error, so you want to eliminate the operator altogether.” Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO at Microsoft

As we move forward in this seventeenth year of the new millennium, the entire face of the moving and storage industry is changing. The mandate of every Van Operator required to have an Electronic Logging Device to track his every waking hour while in charge of his truck, shipments and crews is causing the dynamics of the Standard Operating Procedures of the moving industry to be in a state of flux. In particular, the Van Operator’s role in the future.

Companies are continuing to pop up in larger markets, containerizing the self-move. The bigger moving companies are ever expanding their market reach into both large and medium population centers. Van lines are testing, using the railroads to transport trailers full of household goods. What part will Van Operators play in this new moving industry?

The future is here and we are the future. Most movers have dreamed of the day when a customer calls to have their household belongings moved across the country, and all they would have to do is flip open their communicator and command, “Scotty, beam the Johnson’s belongings to 123 Main, Hoboken, New Jersey—energize!” But until the technology catches up with our imagination, we’ll still have to rely on the old-fashioned method of estimating, packing, loading, hauling, unloading, unpacking and all of the associated peripheral activities required to transfer a family’s belongings from point A to point B.

One of the most important components in the moving process has always been the Van Operator. Van Operators are the front-line overseer of any move. They’re the individuals who establish the personal touch with each shipper, the familiar face to which the shippers entrusted their possessions. The Van Operator is more than just the move supervisor to the shippers: a good one is considered almost a member of the shipper’s family. This is an important relationship for the shippers, as they’re placing everything from a broom to their most valued heirloom in a complete stranger’s hands. In order for them to feel comfortable with this arrangement, they’ll attempt to establish a personal connection with the mover. This is only possible when the same person is in charge of the moving crews at both origin and destination.

There’s a movement within the industry that the Van Operator needs to go the way of the dinosaur: these proponents think Van Operators are too costly and if they could be removed, agencies and van lines would have greater potential to profit in a low profit margin industry. While great in theory, the dilemma is, what does the shipper want? The American household shipper has become accustomed to having a Van Operator present at origin and the same Van Operator present at destination. There are many reasons the majority of shippers desire this arrangement:
1. The Van Operator has a one-on-one communication with a shipper that sets the needed line between the shipper and the other moving assistants.
2. The Van Operator is familiar with their belongings and how they were arranged at origin, making it an easier transition to placement in the new home.
3. There is a sense of safety when at least one person in the moving crew, the Van Operator, is known and trusted by the shipper in the unfamiliar surroundings of the new neighborhood.
4. The Van Operator is more apt to know if something has been damaged along the way, and more likely to reduce the severity of any claims through this established relationship with the shipper. Or, on the other side, he or she has direct visual knowledge of the condition at origin if in fact the ‘damage’ is pre-existing.
5. A Van Operator is crucial to the quality of customer service provided each shipper. It’s the responsibility of the van line, agency and Van Operator to keep the stress level of the shipper low. This is best accomplished by the professional, caring relationship developed by the Van Operator with each shipper.

The shipper will have less stress when the Van Operator is dealing with issues concerning a move, and solutions that can only be accomplished with a professional mover on location. “If the shipper isn’t happy; then no one’s going to be happy.” Even if the move coordinator or salesperson calls the shipper daily from the estimate appointment to the completion of the move, they still won’t have as close a relationship with the shipper as a Van Operator, who is with the shipper during the entire course of a move.

If you remove the Van Operator and replace him with two move supervisors, one at origin and a different one at destination, you lose that personal touch shippers desire.

If you only provide customers with what they need and ignore what they want, you will find yourself without any customers. If shippers want to have a familiar person at both origin and destination, it’s best for business that this be accomplished. And since it’s not possible to beam the same move supervisor from origin to destination to oversee a move, it’s logical to rely on the tried and true Van Operator.

Now with all this said, what is the Van Operator of the Future going to be?

Most of all, a Van Operator with all the required skills and talents is the one on the front line responsible for the shipper and family settling into their new home in the shortest amount of time. A top Van Operator is there to ensure the shipper receives an event-free move. The Van Operator is the very core of the moving business. If he/she is allowed to fade into the sunset, the industry will suffer.

The profit base of any business is based on the value its customers receive, not the lowest rate charged. The American consumer who uses a professional mover is a smart consumer; looking for quality in the move, but value in the dollars they pay. Without Van Operators, the quality will suffer. The value will disappear, and so will your customers.

So, what does your future have, Van Operators? Or not?

“If you do not think about your future, you cannot have one.” – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1932

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of EWS Group or MoversSuite. They are presented in this forum to provide the reader with something to think about.