)o-it-yourself
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emovals threat
"I don't envy them their lot" was the mment made by Grp. Capt. Potter of the ames Valley branch of the Institute of the rniture Warehousing and Removing Indus, in thanking the guest speaker, Mr. A. W. me, at a meeting of the branch last week. Mr. Balne, licensing consultant to the
■ FVVR, had spoken about the legislation iding furniture removal and warehousing siness in the USA and it had taken almost hour for him to simply flip through the host statutory forms by which American operatare bound. There is a great deal of sophisation in Stateside removals but all rates are 'trolled by the Interstate Commerce Comssion. and operators must submit an official ider to each customer, said Mr. Balne.
Operators are compelled to supply details their financial situation, including what they ve earned, paid out, ploughed back and tributed as profits. These details become 3ilable to competitors and thus, with the Itrol of rates and general knowledge of N competitors operate financially, the sell
of service is all that is left to compete .h.
klmost 3,000 of America's 7,000 removal n are licensed to operate in every State of ierica. A large proportion of the tractive ts employed on the services are driver ned, the van trailers belonging to the wareJsing and removal companies.
1-haul—art organization just beginning to rate in the UK which supplies small lers or vehicles with which customers do ir own removals, picking the vehicle up are they start their journey, and leaving it are they finish--had already made vast lads into the professional American 'ovals business, said Mr. Balne. He could isee, in the not too distant future, the time an UK removal men would have to be Dared to provide the equipment for "do-it rself removals" if they were to continue to e a flourishing business.
third of American removals were created re-location of service personnel, a further J by re-siting of employees of big business the remainder were for private reasons. hroughout American history, children had oved from one school to another during f three months of the year. This had ilted in the removal men's equipment befully utilized for those three months only. the remaining nine months they were king at around 30 per cent of capacity.
he situation was made worse, said the iker, by the licensing system which ited all applications for licences during the < period.