The Chairman's Corner

By Thomas McCarthy

March/April 2020

Up California and back again, a Chairman’s tale, by Thomas McCarthy.

The time has come for my last communicator article as your Chairman of the CMSA. The moment is bittersweet. This has been such a challenging year, and believe it or not, I have enjoyed writing these articles and getting to share with you all my experiences. I very much appreciated hearing from those of you who reached out to me and asked questions or gave kudos for the things I wrote about.

This year has been tumultuous for our industry as we have had so many changes coming our way. Either our elected officials turning this industry on its head, or the military looking to outsource military moves altogether. I think my legacy as Chairman and as a business owner, along with the rest of you, will be what we do to adapt to our ever-changing environment. Will we go the wayside, or will we find ways to thrive?!

While this year has definitely been doom and gloom, I would be remiss in not pointing out one of the Association’s major successes; the work and partnership with the Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Household Goods, or BHGS for short. In this past year, the Bureau came into its own, not only have they been working with rescuing over 30 hostage shipments, but also was granted authority to cite violators and impose fines.

Last month, they were in San Diego doing a sting operation; and this month, they will be in the greater Los Angeles area doing more of the same. Hats off to Nicholas Oliver and his entire team for going after the rogues who have been eating away at our livelihood by cheapening what we do. Professional Movers are not the guys outside home depot or online labor. We are here to do a job and do it well as to represent ourselves, our families and our industry.

Another major success, well at least for me, was getting to visit all of you at the 12 Chapter Meetings with CMSA President Steve Weitekamp. Each chapter has their je ne sais quoi that makes each meeting so completely different, even if we are all generally speaking about the same thing–moving and storage.

As someone who has only ever worked for one mover, getting to go around and be invited to visit other moving companies and getting a look to see how they do things was one of my favorite parts of my tour. I enjoyed seeing how different people took a challenge and turned it into an opportunity–from a problem to a profit center. I hope that I can embody some of your vision of success now that I am back home and looking to the future.

I want to thank you for all your support this year, thank you for welcoming me to your meetings, thank you for welcoming me into your businesses and thank you for your help and support with all the challenges we face this year. I could not have made it through this year without the help of my staff here at McCarthy Transfer and especially my wife, Ayme.

To bring this home, I also need to thank you for contributing to the Chairman’s Choice Charity, which this year is PANCAN for pancreatic cancer research and patient care. As you know this disease took my mom (as well as Al Sidor of CDS this year). With your help, we can make a difference. There is still time to donate. You can send a check made payable to: CMSA, 10900 183rd St., Suite 300, Cerritos, CA 90703 and write PANCAN in the memo line. CMSA will send 100% of the money to PANCAN. With CMSA and your support we are planning to present to PANCAN  with over  $7,400 to fight this disease!

How can I finish out my last communicator article without some inspired words?  So I leave you one last time with this: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

March/April 2020 - CMSA Communicator