On Wednesday October 23rd, the Northern Region Chapter of the California Moving and Storage Association held a meeting at Amoura Restaurant located at 713 Linden Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Thanks to Jenna for the outstanding service! Our group of 37 enjoyed a delicious dinner and a knockout dessert platter with Amoura’s famous date cake and baklava. Thank you to the friendly staff of Amoura for their hospitality.
We heard from our current chairman Thomas McCarthy who was visiting us from San Diego, where McCarthy Van & Transfer is located. Thomas spoke of his introduction to the family business and the responsibility that comes with being a fourth generation mover. His company celebrated their 100th year anniversary in February 2019. He shared how his experience with being chapter president and leading some of the association’s largest fundraising events prepared him to his current position on the board. Thomas has been actively working with our association president as our industry faces the challenge of the upcoming Global Household Goods Contract. Though the contract is focused on military movers, we can expect local, non local and international movers will be impacted by the change in how moves are handled for our service-members and their families. Military moves account for about 20% of all domestic household goods moving, and currently over 950 carriers are approved, with total annual revenues estimated at over $2.5 billion.
Our industry has been successful in getting TRANSCOM to await for a GAO audit and business case analysis to be provided to Congress before they can award the contract.
In regards to the State Assembly Bill 5, authored by Lorena Gonzalez, our association met with her office representatives and had tried to advocate for our industry without success. As we know, AB5 was passed. The law is being challenged.
Thomas closed his remarks with a call to action to support the Pancreatic Cancer Network. The charity was chosen in honor to his mother, who suffered and passed away from pancreatic cancer.
Next we heard from our association president Steve Weitekamp. Steve acknowledged our Northern Region representatives to the CMSA Board of Directors, Karl Anderson and John Chipman Jr. He touched on our scholarship program and how it provides funds for college or vocational schools. Steve encouraged our members to look out for the application information and to share with our workers and their families. Steve also made a call to action to support events by other CMSA chapters.
Steve and the association keep working on behalf of the members as the transition from CPUC to BGHS continues. There is dialogue with the agency to adopt a maximum and minimum rate tariff.
In regards to AB5, it is appropriate to note that as a non profit trade association we don’t give legal advice. While AB5 seeks to address the gig economy, we can expect our industry to be impacted. The new law will effectively disrupt 1099 work for packers or loaders. It is our hope that in 2020 legislators will take a second look and possibly grant exemptions to the moving industry.
Steve touched on CARB rules and how it will impact many operators. As a piece of advice, don’t think you have to ship your vehicle abroad at fire-sale prices, instead consider looking at other states that may not have such strict diesel rules and you could potentially sell to operators there. As a reminder, DMV will not allow you to register your vehicles if they are not in line as per CARB rules. As always, please reach out to Steve or the CMSA office for more information on issues that affect our industry.
Don’t forget to check our chapter’s website where you can register for future events, including the upcoming Annual Holiday Dinner & Fundraiser. A huge thanks to Emily Thurston and Dennis Jenkins of Lulu’s Hauling and Lulu’s Cyclery for their generous donation of three bikes for the raffle.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available! Event tickets are not sold at the door, so make your reservations with payments early as this is usually a sold out event. As of the publication of this post, we have sold 45 tickets, in less than 24 hours. So don’t wait!
Here is the link to the chapter’s event registration website again:
https://squareup.com/store/california-moving-and-storage-association-northern-california-chapter
