As we turned the page from 2024, I wrote my theme for the New Year, Dynamic Environment, on top of my 2025 Business Diary. And if January is any kind of a harbinger for the year ahead, I really understated what was ahead. The very beginning of the month had us traveling the state with Dan Bradley, Vice President of Government and Military Relations, at the International Association of Movers (IAM) and JD Morrissette, President of Interstate Van Lines, also former AMSA Chair. Additionally, Bill Lovejoy of Republic Moving and Storage and current Chair of the ATA MSC and Tim Helenthal Chairman and CEO of National Van Lines provided insight at our meetings. We had well-attended and informative meetings in San Bernardino, San Diego, and Lemoore, California. Thanks to the CMSA chapter presidents who set up and ran the meetings, Ed Coelho, Andria Skiff, and Jeanette Homan and Rhonda Stephens. Special thanks to the presenters Dan, JD, Bill, and Tim for their support and participation. Your efforts made these meetings a not-to-be-missed event, as it has been year after year.

While we were starting our trip on January 7th, once-in-a-decade winds ripped through Los Angeles. Many areas, my home included, are not used to the 70 mile an hour gusts we were experiencing, in some areas even greater. We had major tree damage and started to see transformers sparking at the top of our power poles. As I left to pick up our guests at LAX, I saw a wicked plume of smoke from what I would soon find out was the Pacific Palisades. By the time I got to LAX I could tell it was a catastrophic fire. That evening as we were presenting in San Bernardino, I received a concerned message from my wife informing me that a new fire, much closer to our house was raging in Altadena which became known as the Eaton Canyon fire.
Less than a month after these tragic fires with significant loss of life and almost unfathomable property destruction, many are still in shock, but there will come a day when our services are needed. I won’t go into detail at this time on what I believe is ahead of us, suffice it to say the effort will be herculean.

Let me share a story with you that may be helpful at this time, or if you ever suffer a disaster in the area of your business. I have not vetted all the details, but this is the gist; it’s a story/allegory anyways. A salesman for a very successful and significant mover in the Bay Area wanted to win the business of a local bank. He made several visits to the President of the bank, explaining why the smart move was to sign an agreement to do business with him and his company. They were a far larger mover than his current mover, with even more experience and his pricing was very competitive. Each sales call the banker politely said that he had no intention of switching from the movers who already had the business. Finally, the banker told the large company salesman that no matter what he offered he wouldn’t be switching movers. The banker told the salesman that he had lost his home in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. He recalled that several weeks after the fire his mover, Karl Anderson of Anderson Bros. Movers, showed up at his office with paperwork. Karl shared that he had moved the banker and his family and had inventories and other documents that might be helpful in an insurance claim or some other need. Anyways, he was sorry for the man’s loss and wanted him to know that he was there to help.

Karl did this because it was his nature to do the right thing and help people. Some of us may need a nudge every now and then, but this story shows that doing the right thing can pay off. I know that many of us are hesitant to reach out in times of disaster, but our life script as a mover is that of a rescuer. Doing hard work in difficult situations is not uncommon in our industry.

February 2025 - CMSA Communicator