Q: Tell us a little bit about your company Triple 7 Movers.
A: We're family owned and operated, been in the business since 2007. We started really, really, really small, just me, my brothers, my dad. We have over 37 employees right now that are just in moving, and of course we employ people in the office as well.
We do have two branches: one in Las Vegas, Nevada and one in Sacramento in California.
All of our movers are our movers, they've been with us for a very long time, they've been background checked, they've been medically screened for drugs and alcohol and physically trained before working for our company.
So when we show up with a group and a crew and they have uniforms, they're not just day labor that we gave shirts, they're our employees on our payroll.
We do everything from start to finish. So from of course coming in, doing loading and unloading of the truck, any disassembly, reassembly of furniture that requires that.
We provide storage, anywhere from two days of storage to ten years of storage, it's completely up to the customer. Do everything on delivery as well. Put it back in the right places, if you need any help with packing or unpacking, those are definitely services that we offer.
Q: What specific services do you offer your customers?
A: We do everything pretty much move related. So anything that has to do with packing, of course loading and unloading, disassembly and reassembly of furniture.
We provide storage. It depends on the size of the move and the time that the move takes place, it could be anywhere between a month to two months of free storage and then anything after that is just competitive rates to any other storage place. The good thing about that is that whenever the customer is ready for delivery we actually take it out of the storage, reload it onto the truck and ship it out to them.
And then of course delivery services, so anything on the other end. If the customer wants to put it in certain rooms, if they want us to reassemble stuff, if they want us to even unpack everything. Of course everything depends on price, but it's definitely something that we do.
Q: What specifically sets Triple 7 Movers apart from other moving companies?
A: I think there are a few things. I think that with us, we really, really make sure our movers are background checked, they're medically screened for drugs and alcohol periodically, they are all physically trained in our warehouse before they ever start working in a customer's home.
So for me to sell a move right now it's not necessarily to get your business and screw you over and make profit off of you and you're never gonna refer someone to me, you're not just a number, you're a customer. I know your name, I know your family situation, I know everything about you. So whenever we move you, you're part of our family and you will definitely make sure you refer your friends, your family to us.
I think that's really, really huge with us being a family owned and operated. So when you call back, I can call downstairs and say, “Hey, you know what, right now I actually have so-and-so on the phone.” He knows your story, he knows what's going on and you always talk to the same people. It's not just, you're calling a 1-800 number and whoever picks up the phone picks up the phone.
Q: Can you talk to us a little bit about how your family gives back to the community?
A: I think that for us because when we started it was literally my two brothers on the truck and me in the office, so it started from just us doing that and slowly by building the reputation we now have over nine trucks, we have so many employees and we're so grateful. And all of that is because of customer loyalty. Over 75% of our customers are return customers.
So all of that being said, it's definitely important to give back, we really find a lot of importance in that.
There was one with the hurricane, now what we did, there was a community next to us that we actually knew a person that was in there. He did a drive, he said, “You know, whoever can donate clothes, food, whatever you can, I want to ship this stuff UPS.” He was amazed with the amount of people that actually came forward.
He contacted us seeing if we get any discounts and we were actually able to do a whole semi-trailer for free going out with the donations that they came up with.
Another thing we did which was actually a really fun project with Toys for Tots with Christmas. One of the high schools in Las Vegas, they came up, I think they had 300 bicycles that they came up for donations with for kids. So we actually sent a truck to Walmart, the kids got to pick out the colors. It was really, really fun.
Q: Did you get into the moving industry because of your family or was it something you previously had an interest in?
A: I am right now in dental school. Managing the office and going to dental school is definitely a lot of work, but when we kind of decided on doing this it was an altogether decision.
So when we came to Vegas we were actually from Los Angeles. So when we came here there were a few different opportunities and the moving industry was suffering so much. When we started it was a huge scheme of companies saying, “Oh, you know, it's $1,000 and we'll do it for $20,000.”
So there was such a demand for a company that was good and honest that would actually grow and we found an opportunity in that and we did smart small and thank god we are where we are right now.
Q: What's the most important piece of advice you can give to someone currently planning a move?
A: Be honest with your representative!
I feel like sometimes people when I talk to them on the phone and I'm like, “Hey, walk me through your house, tell me what you're moving,” they'll say, “Oh, you know, maybe a table, chairs and ten boxes,” knowing very well that the bed is moving and that the sofa is moving and they're gonna have 100 boxes.
Things like that don't make a change for me, you know, I'm gonna move on with my day. But when I tell you a price I want to know that I'm as straightforward as I can with you and I don't want to have any surprises because surprises for you on the day of the move are huge surprises for me as well.
Anywhere from scheduling, so if I have one team scheduled for five moves and one move grows from 200 cubic foot to 2,000 cubic foot, that's a really, really big thing for us.
Q: Is there a specific time of the week or year you would recommend customers move to save money?
A: Day of the week and time of the day, that doesn't really matter. Month and the year, I think that really the slower season kind of hits after December.
So I feel like for people that are really trying to save money, I would do it somewhere after the holidays, right after New Year's and maybe before the income tax comes back, because that's when people really start to pick up again and it's very busy and prices go up again.
Q: What is your most memorable moving experience?
A: So there was a lady, her husband had just passed away and she was going to New York to be with her children. She was elder, I think she was somewhere in her 70s, 75 range, and she wasn't very healthy, so it was a process for her to do the move. We couldn't really come one day, do everything and move.
We actually throughout two weeks would send two people at a time to kind of slowly pack the stuff because everything meant so much to her and it was her husband's stuff and she couldn't let go.
And after that whole process, we put it on the semi-trailer, shipped it out and when we got to her son in New York she had passed away. He didn't want to take the stuff, and he didn't want to accept it and it was just too much and overwhelming.
And for me it was so overwhelming because I had known her, I had been working with her for a very long time. So I think that was the thing that really hit me hardest, because when you establish a relationship with a customer and you really know what's going on and something like that happens it's really big.
Q: What is the strangest thing your company has ever moved?
A: We moved a sex therapist and she had some very, very interesting things throughout the house that she didn't pack before we got there. So when the men got there they had to deal with some very special and unique accessories I guess we can call them.
It was very interesting, some of them were battery-operated so when we brought the boxes back to the warehouse for a while there were some buzzing noises in the warehouse. It was very, very, very interesting.
Q: What's the most common mistake customers should avoid when hiring a moving company?
A: To hire someone with never meeting face to face is a huge thing.
I think when customers just talk on the phone with someone it can be someone in India, it can be someone in New York. When you're moving out of Las Vegas, when you're moving out of California, you want to know who you're dealing with. You want to know if they're operating out of their garage, or their house or if they have a business. You want to know if it's a person on the phone or if it's a company.
So I would say to go and visit the moving company, I cannot stress that enough. Go and see who your representative is, who the business is, if the representative works in a different branch (I know sometimes there are different branches) go and talk to someone that represents the company.
Take a look at the warehouse. Is it climate controlled? Is it 24-hour surveillance? Is it clean?
You know, you're gonna deposit your entire household goods in this company's hands, you wanna know who you're dealing with. I think that would be something great.
I would say first weed it out based on the Better Business Bureau, based on the American Moving and Storage Association, based on a .gov. So go on these places that are regulated, don't just Google it. Find something that people go in, regulate, check it, government or state places.
Once you weed it down based on that, don't even deal with price because price is negotiable. So once you weed it down to the companies that are reputable, the companies that you trust, then start building your relationship with three or four companies and I would say go and visit each of those. Go and take a look and that will really give you the vibe of the business.
Are they stressed? Do they answer the phone? If you're sitting there for 30-minutes and the phones are just ringing and no one's answering, that's an issue. So these are things that you can definitely pick up the tone of a company when you go in and see them.