Moving Words – Working together to solve the van operator shortage

Written and submitted by Timothy Brady.

In business, to be successful, rates and prices quoted to customers must reflect all costs required to produce goods or service, plus a reasonable profit margin. Those costs include the fixed, operational and variable costs of the relocation company, the van line, the agent and the actual service provider – the van operator.

If any listed entity’s costs are excluded or not correctly figured, then that entity is going to be out of the profit loop. Half the solution to the van operator retention problem is simple. Include them in the profit loop or they’ll be gone.

I’ve conducted a non-scientific survey, and my findings show that eight out of of 10 seasoned van operators are intending to leave the industry soon if revenue and net income don’t improve.

The other part of the solution is education, education, education. Just think back to our high school education. How many units of accounting and business management did we take or were even offered to us?

Unless we were on a college prep track, (and most van operators were not)  we might have had a couple of weeks learning how to balance a checkbook, or how to do a household budget: not even close to the business management and accounting skills to run a moving van as a business.

Drivers (both seasoned and newbies) need to know how to manage their business. The better they manage cash flow, record keeping and proactive preventive maintenance, the more everyone’s cash flow up the ladder improves. The same thing occurs with profit; as the van operator’s profit potential improves, so does everyone else’s profit potential.

Hence “Trickle Up Economics.” It’s up to the agents and van lines to make sure each newly-recruited and experienced van operator has the necessary tools and skills to be successful, thus ensuring success for all at the same time.

Not providing van operators with the education to improve their business management skills is a formula for disaster for the van operators and the agents.

The problems are not solved by finger-pointing and blaming each other. They will be solved through honest, frank, and direct communications, along with valuable and useful information and education with a focus on Win-Win-Win for everyone.

All of us involved in the moving and storage business  ̶  van operators, agents, van lines and relocation companies  ̶  must work together to solve our industry’s problems.

The van operators, agents, van lines and relocation companies who succeed in the new moving environment will:

• Know their van operator’s costs: ownership costs, cost per mile, and shipment-specific costs.
• Figure these costs in their rates.
• Van operators will manage cash flow and operate within a budget.
• Plan loads to maximize the equipment and skills of the van operator.
• Eliminate unpaid deadhead miles, and keep the trailer fully loaded.
• Manage the van operator’s 14-hour days and 70-hour, eight-day week efficiently.
• Balance equipment costs with expected earnings.
• Develop a special niche, and become the best within that niche.
• Forge a commitment to making efficiency, load density, lane density, and customer service key objectives to success.

Remember the old saying: If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. We all have that choice.  All we have to do now is make the right one, and stick to it.