Is Bigger Better?

As the President of Box Brothers Companies, I am often in the proverbial hot seat when it comes to issues

with personnel, customers or in the shipping business, matters to do with shipping damage, delays, as well

as all kinds of other issues.   Just part of running a robust and diverse company with multiple locations and a

very strong commitment to our customers, for the last and only 27 years of since our beginning in 1985.

Of course, with hundreds of packages shipped daily from our retail stores, and dozens of LTL shipments

being shipped daily to our crating services, where this week, we will complete and deliver over 100 crates

to our respective customers---there are bound to be some customers or employees who have issues that

go no further than my desk.

It is important today, to be accessible, as that is the one GINOMIS trait that all of the larger well to do firms

have in common, no matter what their industry segment is, that no one in senior management will purposely

engage any of their customers.  Ever.

While there are exceptions, if I were to be able to give out “academy awards for bad service or a Lip Service Award”

(which means they all talk service but do not talk to their customers), one would have to go to American Express, for

having the biggest phone room without any supervisor ever being present, let alone any corporate officer, as that

info is more than top secret, I know cause I tried…..but UPS wins one of those awards, so does Home Depot, and how

about Avis and Hertz and United Airlines, who is supposed employee owned……

On the contrary, when a customer has an issue, they want to take it to as high a place as they can, so they can

communicate how they feel to be one of your customers.   What I do not get, at all, today, is how they all get

away with it.   I think these firms, who undoubtedly use focus groups, but why imitate what you have already,

customers and why are you afraid to speak to them?   Again, why people patronize these firms when they have

options to patronize firms who are smaller and for whom, your purchase means so much more than just about

anything else.

Today, I got a letter sent to me by a customer in the top (upstate) corner of New York.   One of our managers in

the Bay area, received a letter from this customer after our efforts to get her a set of antique chairs, to her remote

residence, was something we undertook for a customer we did not know prior.   This customer was so amazed at how

personable and friendly and committed to get her this small shipment, at a cost less than any van line in America could

or wanted to do………that when she got the chairs—and even though they were purchased online and when she finally

got them---they turned out to not work for the area she intended them to go----she wrote to us that it did not matter

that they chairs would not work as she intended them to, but that our service and our outreach by our manager, Connie.

was so great, it did not matter, cause now, our customer, has a friend in the shipping industry.   A fan too.

I tell this story as it helps define what we do at Box Brothers and why how we do things, makes all the difference to our
customers and that is why each and every one of our customer, rich or poor, small or big, are crucial to our ongoing success,

and I would not have it any other way.   Any one of our daily thousand customers a day, can call me anytime, or any of our

managers, employees or staff, as customer service, the real customer service is alive and well here at Box Brothers, as that

is who we come to work for each and every day, and to the rest of the world, spend your money where it counts as true

value comes when someone cares about you as a customer and your needs, you are not just a footnote on a balance sheet

and you are not just a number.   To us at Box Brothers, you are the reason we are here.   May we help you?

Mark S. Frydman

Box Brothers Corp.

1-800-842-6937

www.boxbros.com

Another Problematic and Inadequate Moving Alternative: Atlas' Smart Move Program

As someone whose firm has helped over 100,000 customers with shipments less than 2000
lbs, moving from one state to another (interstate moving), I was shocked and surprised to see that one of the nation's leading Van Lines, Atlas, chose to embark on a unique Small Shipment
Program, aptly named, Smart Move.

I can't find anything smart about it.

As the first firm in the nation to actually interact with the Less than Truckload Freight Industry,
Box Brothers simply created a system that allows for small shipments to be transported across state lines, by utilizing the existing infrastructure of the United States Freight system.

At the time, everyone in the moving industry, simply felt that they had nothing in common with the freight industry, as plain and simple, the movers were specialists and the freight guys were just haulers. As is often the case, there has always been more synergy between these two industries than anyone in either industry has admitted.

After all, about 25 years ago, it was a railroad, Norfork Southern, who owned North American Van Lines, and who decided it was foolish to have drop frame trailers, as someone there theorized that if they had equipment and orders but not the right equipment to haul freight, even if they were going in the same direction, they could not capitalize on it, due to the fact that
drop frame trailers were not suitable for palletized freight shipments.

Conceptually, this was not a bad idea, but it never worked and North American Van Lines, never seemed to get up to speed hauling a lot of freight. It could be that the Moving and Storage Industry is sometimes, decentralized with agent drivers and agents, who did not want the freight and of course, there were those who argued that it would be penny wise and pound foolish
to have a van line driver miss a job to load 5000 lbs when the freight firm needed 400 lbs picked up and delivered in a few days--something that the household driver and industry was simply not prepared to work out--then.

So here comes Atlas with this idea to create these heavy duty plastic type containers, similar to what we call a lift van, but much sturdier, and I suspect, as a very high cost. Never mind the carbon footprint so often discussed today.

But then, Atlas did something new in its program, it announced that it would not use the Atlas
over the road fleet to help facilitate the movement of these units, instead, deciding to put the
whole program onto a freight platform, to most likely obtain the benefit of quicker delivery dates than the moving industry can deliver, due to its structure of utilizing owner operators for interstate service.

Of course, the problem here is the same problem with all of the other small shipment solutions
the van lines have come up with in the past, merely addressing the need to offer a small shipment alternative, but with nothing compelling to the customer or nothing that moves the service and price quotient any closer to giving the customer a good and valuable transparent service, which is just what the industry is lacking today.

How does one size fit all a good solution. If you have 200 pounds to move, it will cost over $10.00 a pound just to ship it through their system. How come they can't tell the customer that the coverage they claim to provide to the customer that is included with each shipment,
is bogus. I think you would need to have a spaceship land on your container for you to be able to make a claim, as the whole issue here as with all of these new alternatives, is that the customer, becomes self insured and two, he moves himself, but pays as much as he would for a
full service move and does not have insurance to cover any losses.

This is the crap we get from one of the nations largest van lines. No transparency, no value in pricing and they do not tell anyone that their coverage will not cover the customer for self loading or packed by owner boxes. If this is a do it yourself service, how come they can't just tell you the truth? Why do they need to lie. Do you go to the market and buy fruits and vegetables, do you have to pay for 5 lbs of carrots, if you only want to buy one lb?

How does this help the moving industry, to promote a non transparent and one size fits all service, when the entire industry is about being able to deliver good service for a fair price. In
this day and age of renewed called for more regulation, not less, do we get a service that only promises an 11 day transit, over the freight system.

Maybe someone should tell Atlas and their "Smart Moving" program that Fedex, for example,
will take LTL freight from my dock on Monday, 4/16/12, and have it delivered to someone's
new home by this Friday, in New York, on 4/20/12, with standard freight delivery.

I might be wrong, but when we created our Small Shipment Services Program at Box Brothers, over 20 years ago, we set out to create an environment that leveled the playing field for the
smaller loads and their customers: We gave them certain dates and specific times for our crews
to do the pick ups; we took professional inventories; we packaged their possessions like they were our own, utilizing more and better packaging (air cushioning, void fill, eps foam sheeting, ethafoam for very heavy and breakable items like stone, glass, and statues, piano's, etc, and we boxed everything in customized cartons that were made to fit the item, not the other way around, and finally, palletized the shipment so that the only way that the shipment was moved, was with a forklift or a pallet jack--so that no item would be moved individually.

We also worked to obtain a mutually beneficial insurance program with a third party insured,
who specifically covers all items which need to be declared and valued prior to the move. We offer different deductibles, replacement cost protection and in the event of a claim, 99% of them are closed within 30 days after a formal claim form is submitted by the claimant.

But the biggest factor in our continued success is that we have a top to bottom commitment to the customer and to rendering top quality service, no matter how small the job is. You turn your lemons into lemonade and and you do not mislead your customer, nor do you convince him or her that a one size solution is best for all.

Atlas is a fine van line, one of the best, but I think this program, including suggesting the use of stock boxes, not official moving boxes is also a mistake by Atlas here, as on the one hand, they tell people that dish packs should be used for packing dishes and glasses--the standard for many decades in the moving industry--and they encourage the use of a single wall carton if you do it
yourself. Why?

I just wish that sometimes, large firms do their due diligence correctly, as we seem to forget what we have learned over the years, that we need to be service oriented and we need to provide good solutions for our customers, not something that is only a partial and not a complete
solution for their current and future small shipment customers. At the same time, these efforts only ensure that firms like Box Brothers will continue to play a part in this segment of the industry.

LTL/Freight - Low cost move

LTL/Freight Can be a good alternative to a full service mover. One aspect is there is no minimum shipment. We specialize in small shipments. We pick up your items and pack them for safe shipment. We then palletize the shipment. Part of our process is to pack items as needed and then stretch wrap your items securely. We then band the items tightly onto the pallet. We then use black stretch wrap as the last step.

The shipment in the pictures went to the east coast. This 700 lb shipment was shipped much lower then a full service mover had quoted.

Items are sent on one or more pallets and are not broken down during shipping. This is safer as there is less handling of the shipment but also quite secure as well. The risk of damage is far less with palletized shipments.Many shippers send items as consolidated shipments were the boxes are sent loose with other shipments. We use an inventory system when we pick the items up and then again when we palletize the shipment. LTL shipments can be tracked as well.

Freight shipments are typically sent as curb side delivery this saves you cost as well. We do offer inside delivery though this can increase the cost significantly. We have been shipping household goods since 1985 and are "A" rated with the BBB - Better Business bureau.

LTL/Freight can be a safe and economical way to ship your items.

Box Brothers Redondo Beach We ship anything anywhere.Visit us at boxbros.com open 7 days park in rear.

thanks Bill keep up the great work

Bill, I have no words to express and after reading your blog, I am not only proud of you, but of me, too.
This is good stuff, and now, what can I say about you going away this coming month……I think it is
nice to read words like this, when we have to deal with bills, customers, employees, and
some of us have wives……too. Thank you, as I waited till today to read this, and it is a great way to
start the day.
http://www.boxbros.com/oakland-california
Now get to work and make some money so I will leave alone……You’ll have a great day.
Mark