Q: How big is the company? How many trucks do you have and what is the size of the warehouse?
A: In regards to warehouses, we have a 30,000 square-foot facility, so it's pretty large and it gets pretty hectic in there. In the summertime we see as many as 15 trucks and we have about 60 to 70 people that we employ on a regular summer basis. On average, we relocate about 4,000 to 5,000 families a year.
Q: Are your staff members full-time employees?
A: Yes, so we don't brokerage things out. Everything we do from point A to point Z is strictly and independently our employees, our trucks, and our faculty. It is something we are very adamant about because a lot of times in the relocation industry, you see a lot of issues arise as soon as one job gets picked up by company one and gets passed off to company two, so we try to steer clear of that.
Q: Do they need any special qualifications to be a mover?
A: A mover, foreman, or even a helper go through a pretty strenuous training process with us for a three week period. You have to be quick on your feet, you have to be sharp, you have to be punctual, you have to know how to deal with not only heavy furniture, but also very delicate and intricate pieces of furniture. It's a very serious job, you have to be on your grind Monday through Sunday.
Q: What makes Olympia stand out compared to other moving companies? Why should a customer hire you over anyone else?
A: As a company, we set ourselves apart by offering the reassurance of an easy and smooth relocation. We are always maintaining economical and highly competitive costs. We employ new tools and technology that ensure accuracy in cost as well as in shipping and timing. At the end of the day, we are trying to take the stress off of our customers' backs.
Q: How does your company determine estimates?
A: There's two industry standards: binding and non-binding estimates. Nine out of 10 times it's not in the customer's or the carrier's favor to do non-binding estimates. Non-binding is strictly based off of weight. If I quoted you over the phone, I can only be so exact when it comes to weight. When they weigh the actual shipment, sometimes it can fluctuate thousands of pounds so the best option, that I push for all my sales reps to push, is a binding estimate which is based on items. If you tell me that you're moving 20 items and I get a general feel for the overall size, then I can assure you a guaranteed price on move day.
Option one is e-mail. Option two is over the phone and our trained sales reps can create a detailed inventory list. Option three, the best option, is to send out our in-home estimators.
Q: Any professional advice for customers planning their move?
A: In terms of making everything smooth and easy for all parties involved, I would suggest getting on the phone with our sales rep who was helping you because our sales team knows it all: what comes with planning, who to call, things to have on record. It's about building a relationship of trust. It's all about the vibe you're getting, is the sales rep being upfront with you, giving you the information you're looking for or is he just trying to sell? In our company we don't sell, we're here to give you a solution and offer the help you're looking for. Research, but research more than just one website.
Q: What was the most difficult job that you have done?
A: I wouldn't say that we have difficult jobs because our movers are so well equipped to handle anything. But we had a customer who, when their home was being built, got three armoires on the third floor through the roof because the roof was being built at the time. They weighed about 500 pounds each. For the extraction, I operated a scissor lift that went straight up in the air about 35 feet. We had two people on the scissor lift and four guys on the roof and we had to lift them up over the top three times in a row.
Q: What types of insurance does your company offer?
A: There's basic liability insurance that is standard all across the board. On a long distance move you have basic coverage of 60 cents per pound, and in a local move you have basic coverage of 30 cents per pound. But our company doesn't believe that that's enough, so we employ full value protection so you can get the reimbursement that you actually deserve and not get pennies to the pound.
Q: What type of packing do you suggest?
A: It really depends, because if you are trying to go the route of saving cost then it would best to pack the boxes yourself, but if you're going for saving time and you're not flexible with the amount of time that you're allotted prior to relocation then definitely having the moving company do it for you is better. We do an excellent job with it, and are very fast with it. At the end of the day, things that we pack are covered by us.
We have three levels of packing: no packing, partial packing, and full packing. Partial packing is the most cost-effective package that we have here. At that rate, our movers come in and as long as your boxes are packed they take care of everything else. They do disassembly, wrap everything up, and they use a healthy amount of anything they need to use to protect your belongings.
Full packing in the most versatile option, it covers everything. They come into your home and you don't lay a finger, you stand there like a king and they take care of everything.
Q: What if a customer needs storage?
A: We have a 30,000 square foot facility. We have your back. We have customers who have had their stuff in there for five-plus years. The only catch to it is it doesn't operate like a public storage. To keep it economical we crate everything off, so you don't have access to your things until the move out happens.