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Q:What is the difference between a van line and an agency?
A:Depending on the van line, an agent is an independently owned and operated
business, usually licensed to represent a specific van line. A van line may be a
single company or a cooperative of agents operating nationally; or it may be a large
national operation with company stores. For example, Atlas is our van line, while
ACE World Wide is our agent. In our case, the agents own the van line, managing
all aspects of corporate moves.
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Q: Are all van lines and agent operations designed similarly?
A: No, some van lines are agency-owned, while some are publicly owned. Some van
lines operate company stores while others simply dispatch fleets nationally from
one location. It is virtually impossible to provide pack and load and self-haul
in these models on a large scale...too many miles, not enough trucks. It is best
to inquire with a specific van line as to what type of model they operate within.
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Q:What is so unique about an agent that "hauls" a lot of its own booked shipments?
A:Self-haul agents typically have better control over the quality of the
deliverable services since all service providers work directly for the agent.
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Q:With recent van line consolidation, how do you distinguish who is best qualified
to serve my needs?
A:Your needs, company culture and the type of business the van line specializes
in are obviously important factors. In determining the van line you need, ask for
quality metrics, service model success, driver satisfaction scores and who the van
line's clients are.
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Q:Are there advantages to having a third party manage my moving services? Is there
a cost associated with this service?
A:The third party company will manage many of the relocation details so that
you won't have to attend to these details. Whether hidden or direct, there is a
cost for this detail management.
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Q:Is there really a driver shortage? How can I find out more about this potential
trend?
A:Yes, there is a driver shortage in the trucking industry. Atlas has verified
there is a shortage of high profile, professional drivers available to our industry.
Like many labor trends nationally, statistically there are fewer drivers available
and fewer coming into our industry. You can access the AMSA website
to learn more
about this trend.
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