Mover’s Edge, March, 2010

United Van Lines Honoured as One of the 50 Best Canadian Companies in 2009

Congratulations to Anne Martin and the United Van Lines team. United Van Lines was recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies for 2009. The award is presented to companies that have demonstrated business excellence. Recipients are determined through an independent evaluation process.

Committee Progress

At CAM’s 2009 Annual Conference, CAM established new working committees:

Conference – The committee has titled the conference as Times are Changing!...Are You Ready? Topics will include subjects that will serve you as you deal with Canada’s economy, social networking, aging populations, the latest hardware and software, and the regulatory environment.
Education – The committee is developing the video script for a packing/unpacking video training module. The video will include all areas of a home – living/family room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, garage and basement.
Government & Consumer Relations – The committee is working on optimizing workers compensation board rates where warehouse and driver/helper rates are applied to office staff. In addition it is looking at developing better information for informing consumers about what the moving contract is.
International – The committee has developed a code of ethics and standard operating procedures for Canadian international movers. These documents are in their final draft stages and will be circulated to the board of directors for input and approval.
Membership – The committee is working with our van-line members to develop a listing of agents who are not CAM members as well as a campaign to invite them to join.

CAM Attends AMSA

In late February, John Levi attended the American Moving and Storage Association’s conference in Phoenix. The conference puts CAM in touch with moving associations throughout the US as well as movers, suppliers and potential speakers for CAM’s conference. It was an opportunity for CAM to exchange operating ideas with its moving-association colleagues.

New Members

CAM welcomed six new members in February. Check out their goods and services in our online directory. These are companies and people you will want to do business with.

Movers

King's Transfer Van Lines Inc., Mississauga, ON
McMinniman's Transfer Limited, Oromocto, NB
Rent-a-Son, Toronto (North York), ON

International Movers

Hodori Express Canada Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada
Moving Star Moving and Storage, Fremont, CA, USA

Supplier

Kerr Global Communications, Dartmouth, NS

Van Line Agents Are Now Pre-Approved

In order to expedite CAM’s membership approval process, CAM’s board of directors has pre-approved membership applications from van-line agents. Applicants will still have to meet CAM’s membership requirements and submit the necessary documents.

Résumés Online

CAM has maintained an online database of job applicants to help members get staff for the summer season. The applicants are organized by the type of position they are looking for and their postal code. Watch the CAM website as we add new applicants to the online listing.

Compensation Survey

We are in the final edit process for the 2010 Compensation Survey. This year we will try to provide comparative information with previous years. Participate in this survey and get information that will help you as you staff up for summer.

Canadian Education & Training Offering

Now is the time to subscribe to CAM’s education system. A one-year subscription gives you unlimited access to the Canadian Professional Movers course for your sales and customer-service staff as well as access to the Helpers Video Training Module. The video provides basic information for helpers and gives you documented proof that the training has occurred.