Moving Scams – Moving Broker Companies

Moving Scams, Moving Broker Companies.

One of the interesting phenomena in society is to watch organizations and institutions that are subjected to legal pressure change their ways. They may try to continue their same evil routine, but initially, they will begin to find honest sounding justifications for what they do, as they seek to take refuge in an honest and legal explanation for their practices. You can see this phenomenon at work in the moving industry. In the last 5-10 years, moving brokers have been under more and more pressure from the courts to change their ways and stop some of their unethical practice. Today, in 2009, here is a blurb from a moving broker web site describing their “system”.

“SYSTEM: We use the main moving system program that enables us to match up your move to one of our available trucks across the nation, so we are able to offer you great discounts for your move. There isn’t a day that goes by when there aren’t hundreds of moving trucks on the road picking up and delivering individuals, families, and business goods throughout the United States. However, there are many times that these trucks will be going to their next destination with free space. Our moving specialists will locate these trucks with free space and fit the right one to your specific moving needs.”

This is real progress, because until recently, the online moving brokers would seldom give out the secret that they weren’t a moving company or didn’t work specifically for one moving company. But now you have to look between the lines and see what this broker is really saying.

The deal described in the sales blurb not only sounds great, it also sounds believable. You can just picture those half empty moving trucks chugging down the highway with all that wasted space. Now an enterprising broker has developed a system whereby he can fit your goods into that space. Since the truck driver would have gotten nothing, if the space were unused, he will be only too glad to give me a reduced rate for taking my goods along.

Now let’s see what really goes on. What the ad doesn’t mention is that this fleet of moving trucks is underpaid, because they are being hired by moving brokers who sell the deal for less money than it is worth and then take their commission. So the truth is they are not going anywhere with empty space in their truck. The truth is, they can only afford to make a trip when their truck is packed with more than one load. Frequently, in fact, in order to make more money, they will strap belongings onto the back of the truck so they can carry more goods in one trip.

The price a consumer pays for getting this “reduced rate,” is his goods will be placed into storage until they can be matched up with a truck. They will be subjected to the stress of the initial loading, then the unloading and storage, then the reloading and then the second unloading. Furthermore, once they are put in a truck in route they may have to be unloaded again, in order to remove someone else’s belongings. Not infrequently only part of a consumer’s goods can fit into one truck. His boxes will get separated and frequently lost, if the label falls off, or even stolen.

As a result of the stress of the move, when the goods finally arrive at their destination, they are often lost, or stolen, and what show’s up is damaged or totally broken goods. When the goods finally arrive at the destination they are frequently damaged, stolen or totally broken. And what’s worse, because, as the broker says, they are giving a reduced rates, the contracted mover will seek ways to raise the moving price to pay for his work. So the move may end up costing double what the moving cost estimate said.

A better way to save money, and protect yourself from a moving scam, is to hire a packing company with a Flat Rate Quotes and have company load your goods onto containers, which only you can access. Packing Service, Inc. is one honest packing company that is totally opposed to moving scams. They will not only give you good packing and loading help, they will also recommend an honest shipper or a Pods container company to move to its destination.