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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

to ask the managing director of a removals firm for half an hour of their time, August has to be the worst. The weather is fine and hot; the kids are no longer at school; and the roads are packed with holiday-makers. And those who are not on holiday are probably moving house. At this time of the year Bob Clarke, managing director of removals firm John Mason International, becomes the Scarlet Pimpernel. He divides his week between depots in Liverpool and Croydon; he is constantly on the move and, though he would love to talk, he has a business to run. And, like every other removals business, it's all hands on deck during the summer holiday period.

It takes CM more than a week to pin down Clarke. Calling 10 minutes after the appointed time will not do—he has gone. We have missed our slot and there are too many other duties for him to perform. But when we finally speak, Clarke is surprisingly calm and collected. How does he cope?

"We can't," he says, laughing. "The trouble is we never learn from our mistakes in this industry. It's always the same at this time of year, but our problem is that we have finite resources," With demand rising and falling each year, companies like John Mason International have to be flexible. Even so, each summer the whole industry is stretched to its elastic limit.

"It's feast or famine in this industry" says Philip Pertoldi, managing director of removals firm Abels. All the school holidays are busy, but especially the summer. September is when the children start at their new schools, and it is often when families move, so they can be settled before the start of the new term."

Upward trend

The removals business follows a regular yearly cycle, says Period, starting the upward trend at Easter and then falling away in October and November. "In June, July, August and September it is chaos but, come late October, it is like someone has just turned the tap off.

"There is another quick rush before Christmas, and then it is dead throughout January and through to March."

Both Pertoldi and Clarke say that, if they could wave a magic wand, the first thing they would do would be to banish this feastand-famine cycle. "You get this huge peak in the summer, and we just cannot service it," says Clarke. "The only people to benefit from this are the cowboys."

Anybody in the road haulage industry will know how harmful a small number of illegal operators can be to the reputations and businesses of legitimate firms. But Philip Pertoldi suspects that the removals business suffers more from cowboy operators than most others.

The problem is that there are no real barriers to entry," he says. And not all the cowboys are operating illegally, either. Anybody with a normal driving licence and a Luton van can call themselves a removals business, and what local paper does not carry small ads placed by the ubiquitous "man with a van"? The problem with this is that these are neither illegal operators, nor

are they professional removals operators.

"Some of the stories we hear are spine-chilling," says Pertoldi. "There are hundreds of people offering removals and storage services, but the customer seems to lose all business sense when they're moving house.

"Would you hand a complete stranger £20,000 cash to look after without checking them out Of course not; but it's not unusual for someone to hand over £20,000 worth of their personal possessions for a complete stranger to store somewhere, without even bothering to see where and how it's going to be stored."

Leading the fight against cowboy operators is the industry's trade association, the British Association of Removers (BAR). With an estimated membership covering almost half the removal firms in the UK, the BAR is currently campaigning for a zero VAT threshold which it believes will discourage one of the most widespread abuses in the sector.

Customs & Excise last year issued a consultation paper inviting comments on the proposed review of the VAT registration threshold. At the time the threshold stood at £50,000 but the BAR responded with a recommendation that the threshold be reduced to zero.

"This high threshold encourages small firms to under-declare their turnover, or try to subdivide their businesses in order to avoid VAT," says BAR spokesman Stephen Webb.

"Some firms even cease trading when they approach the VAT threshold, only to start up again under a different name."

The threat of such sharp practice to legitimate operators is clear. If you are competing against a rival who continually evades VAT registration, that rival can always undercut your rate by at least 17,5%.

Highly stressed

The removals industry is also at the mercy—dare we say it—of its customers. Domestic removals account for most of the business, and here firms are dealing with private individuals often highly stressed by the upheaval of moving home.

"They often forget to tell you about something vital to the move—you find out on the day," says Clarke. He adds that the stress of moving can make customers behave irrationally. "It is one of the most stressful things you ever do. So our people are working with highly stressed customers every single day and, of course, our people get stressed as well."

Clarke backs up Pertoldi's claim that in the turmoil of moving house many customers seem recklessly willing to entrust all their worldly possessions to just about anybody willing to undertake

the job—an opportunity seldom overlooked by the cowboy operators.

Although it is perhaps unfair to generalise, Clarke believes that it is usually the private customer who is most concerned with price. "You will always find a customer who goes for the lowest price, and sadly you will always find a company that will offer a lower price."

He tells of a recent international move for which his company was invited to quote. The customer was a private individual moving overseas and John Mason International found itself just one of nine companies asked to quote.

"That Mahon is just ridiculous," says Clarke. "We estimate that it costs on average about 1120 to assess each job and supply a quote. These people were just after the lowest price, but it has cost the industry more than 11,000 to supply it, and the customer probably won't get a very good service as a result."

He has instructed his estimator not to bother quoting. "But I'm thinking of writing to this particular client anyway and saying 'thank you for doing your own survey of the removals industry; I'd be most interested in seeing the results'."

Corporate moves

Few of the leading removals firms rely wholly on the private domestic market. Many specialise in industrial or commercial moves, international moves and corporate moves. Clarke says it is noticeable that companies that need to relocate staff are perhaps the least likely to opt for the lowest price.

"They can usually see the hidden costs. They want their employee settled and back to work quickly, so they look for a fast, efficient and professional removal job," says Clarke.

Another benefit of corporate or commercial work is that much of it is repeat business, so you are not stepping into the unknown each time you undertake a move. Plus, of course, you are dealing with other business people, not emotional and stressed members of the public.

Pertoidi's company, Abels, is famous for having the ultimate repeat customer: the royal family. Pertoldi readily admits that having the royal warrant is a huge benefit because it confers prestige on the firm: 'Tut it this way: there will always be people who like to shop at Harrods," he says. Pertoldi is also proud to claim that his company will not slash its rates to win work, but he admits that holding your price can be tough at times.

This industry is its own worst enemy in many ways," he says. "Some firms seem to fix a price and then look for a way of doing the job within that price. Usually it is health and safety, training and staff that get cut."

Rates are always under pressure— even in the height of summer, says Pertoldi. "We struggle to get £15 an hour. I have no idea how people car charge less and still provide a decent service."

Staffing is a particular problem for an industry so much at the mercy of yearly peaks and troughs. Besides drivers, removals firms employ estimators to do the crucial work of pricing each job, porters and packers who are usually highly trained in handling bulky or fragile goods, and warehousemen to oversee storage. Abels operates on the basis of 2.5 "man-units" a vehicle, averaged over the year.

Training is therefore a major issue, "Most of our training is done during the first quarter of the year," says Pertoldi. While many removals firms take on casual staff during the hectic summer months, Abels maintains a full complement of staff year round. "One of our biggest problems is keeping our people occupied during the winter, so we do our training then."

Abels, though currently not a member of BAR (see "Speaking for the Industry"), operates one of nine BAR-approved training centres at its depot in Feltwell, Suffolk.

It comprises a suite of rooms, fully furnished and decorated, and designed as a remover's obstacle course. Among the artefacts are a grand piano, a mercury barometer and a chandelier—the three items that comprise the acid test for an aspiring packer or porter.

Fully furnished

At John Mason International's Liverpool depot is a another of the BAR-approved centres, a fully furnished flat that, says Bob Clarke, "you could start living in tomorrow". It too has the barometer, piano and chandelier, plus what Clarke describes as "a nasty, narrow little staircase" to carry it all up and down.

"We spend massive amounts on training," Clarke says. "All reputable operators do. If our customers could see our overheads, they'd never take the lowest price." Vehicles are another major expense. "Our vehicles are purpose-built," says Clarke. Most of the John Mason fleet are from specialist firm Marsden Vanplan of Warrington and are drawn by a mixture of Scania and Leyland Daf tractors. The company operates eight drawbar trailers, or roadtrains as Clarke prefers to call them, as well as a number of artics. Because more than 75% of John Mason International's business involves moving people across the Channel, the firm operates few large rigid trucks, preferring artics and drawbars for the long hauls. The fleet totals about 15 large vehicles plus a smattering of light commercials.

Unlike staff, though, a fleet of trucks cannot be flexed to follow rising and falling workloads. During the summer months, the depots are always empty and the vehicles are driven hard.

Unwelcome element

Just to add more stress to the operator's life, a sudden shortening of the period between house-buyers exchanging contracts and completing has introduced an unwelcome element of surprise to the business of removals.

"People are pointing the finger at the solicitors, who seem to be able to do things much more quickly now, probably because of developments in IT," says BAR spokesman Stephen Webb. He estimates that this trend began only about five years ago, but it has spread rapidly. "They do everything at the last minute now so when people want to move, they want to move now."

Clarke agrees: "There have always been short-term bookings, but we increasingly find people are exchanging contracts and completing on the same day."

Somehow, though, they seem to cope. And as property values rise and the number of property transactions increase, companies like John Mason and Abels welcome the boost in business. "We're 10% up on volume compared with this time last year," says Clarke.

With people needing a removals firm at such short notice, especially in the summer, you might expect a good service to command a premium. But it does not work that way and, like Pertoldi, Clarke laments the industry's inability to raise rates.

"It is rare for a removals company to after its castings seasonally. The holiday industry does it and no-one complains, but it would be commercial suicide for us to do that."

The removals industry is simply too fragmented. "There's always someone prepared to undercut you," Clarke says.


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