As we begin the final month of 2025, we can reflect on a year that was challenging for many movers. The economic conditions that encourage residential mobility continued to be less than ideal, and our biggest customer, the US Department of War, refused to understand basic economics, which continues to be troublesome. With that being said, I go back to one of my core values, that there is no benefit to being pessimistic and that optimism will always win the day!
With that, let’s review some of the good things that we will remember about this year. The number one event for all movers, not just those who directly participate in military moving, was the collapse of the Global Household Goods program and its effort to consolidate the control of the program to one company. It was an initiative that CMSA opposed from the beginning, and one that we are pleased to see fail so dramatically.
Your Association continued on its long path of successful and impactful lobbying and advocacy. We charted another legislative year of successfully navigating regulatory and legislative issues with the support of our Advocacy partners, Matt Robinson and Lizzie Cootsona of Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer and Lange.
Since the establishment of the Bureau of Household Goods and Services Advisory Board, I have been one of 2 industry board members; the other current member is also a CMSA member. CMSA continues to foster a regular and trusted relationship with our regulators. A relationship that serves our membership well.
CMSA fields daily calls and emails supporting members with their individual questions and issues. A trusted resource that has not been replaced by AI. By the way, we see that many AI answers specific to our industry, brought forward by our members, are incorrect. We also assist Chapter leadership in setting up and promoting chapter meetings and fundraising events. The purpose of chapter fundraising is to continue to support the extremely successful CMSA educational and vocational scholarship program, as well as our annual financial contributions to Special Olympics and our Chairman’s Choice Charity program. We also launched a new website that is also functional on mobile devices.
As this year comes to an end, we look forward to 2026 and successes for our membership and the Association. On behalf of the CMSA staff and board, we wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season and good things in the year ahead.