The Chairman's Corner

By Vince Cardinale

January 2025

I would like to extend my personal wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2025 to all our members and their families.  As we welcome in the new year, I look forward to the year ahead, as I love new beginnings. As an optimistic person, I have always preferred to look forward and to put my focus and energy on what new and exciting things the future will bring.

Chances are that in 2025 we will continue to face many of the same challenges of last year, and we will also encounter new ones. The beginning of a New Year is a time to focus on the future, but in doing so we can also learn lessons from the previous year.  Now would be a good time to take a hard look at our operating budgets, to tighten our belts, to become as lean and streamline as possible. I believe we can realize success in 2025 by strengthening our core business lines while being creative in finding new and diverse ones. If we have confidence in ourselves, our personnel, our businesses, and continue to do what we do best - provide excellent quality services for a fair price without compromising our high ethical and moral business standards - we will overcome any challenges that could be ahead.

I also want to give a shoutout and huge thank you to former Chairman John Chipman Jr. Thank you John for the very informative and excellent column in the December Communicator updating us on the GHC and HomeSafe Alliance global contract.  

In November, Chairman Steve Weitekamp and I continued our chapter visits, visiting the Twin Counties Chapter, San Diego, and Orange County/Beach Cities chapters.  What I enjoy about visiting the Chapters is also visiting the warehouse facilities of fellow mover members.  Thank you to Bill Lovejoy for allowing your Team to give us a tour of the Republic Moving & Storage Facility in San Diego. It is quite impressive. I was really impressed with the use of technology in all departments that we visited from operations to dispatch to the warehouse Team. Thank you, Andria and Tim, for taking the time to give us a tour of your Facility.

We also visited McCarthy Transfer in San Diego. Thank you, Tim and Thomas, for your time & hospitality. Following the San Diego Chapter meeting on Thursday, November 14, President Weitekamp and I flew from San Diego to Sacramento to attend the meeting of Bureau of Household Goods Advisory Council, of which President Weitekamp is a Council member.

It was impressive to see President Steve in action. What an awesome advocate and representative Steve is for the CMSA and all its members. Following the Advisory Council meeting, we flew that afternoon from Sacramento to Orange County to attend the Orange County Chapter meeting that evening.  

The highlight of the November Chapter visits for me was attending the Orange County chapter meeting on November 14th. This was also the 95th birthday celebration for former chairman Joe Hammer. What a privilege it was to celebrate with Joe and his lovely bride Marie on Joe’s milestone Birthday.     

As we begin this New Year, we also begin our CMSA Chapter Events, many are already happening around our state. 2025 may be the year for some of you to make the decision to become more active in our Association and take on a more active role in your Chapter or maybe a leadership role.

Many of you are currently leaders in your business, church, or civic organizations, and I encourage you to consider becoming an officer in your local chapter. Please support your local Chapter by attending chapter meetings and volunteering to help with fundraising events. You can find all the current Chapter Meeting and Event notices on the Events page of the CMSA website. 

In closing, please know that the CMSA staff and board of directors are always working and continue to work hard on your behalf. Whether it is following the progress of the GHC, or keeping us updated on the new CARB rules, and all the most current information affecting our Industry. 

I look forward to meeting and visiting with many of you during my chapter visits over the next couple of months.  Cheers and Happy New Year!

January 2025- CMSA Communicator