Inside

• CAM National Office on reduced service in April
• President's Message
• Deducting moving expenses
• New items For Sale
• CAM Golf Day
• CAM Annual Conference & Trade Show

The National Office will be operating on reduced service from April 4 – 26, while Marian takes her well-deserved vacation and Nancy is away at meetings. We won’t have phone coverage but we will be checking email messages from time to time.

I considered myself very fortunate to have been invited to attend the 100th Anniversary celebration of the American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA) three weeks ago in Houston, Texas. What an eye-opener and an inspiration of ideas that we can consider for CAM to make us that much stronger than we are today.

There wasn’t much downtime, with over 85 exhibitors to visit, dozens of sessions to choose from, several committee meetings to attend, and various state moving associations to meet with. It was three long days with wonderful conversation and interesting information, both learned and shared, that I will be putting in the next few newsletters.

It was great to meet some of our American suppliers on their soil, and to be introduced to many who are interested in bringing their product north of the border. It was also interesting to talk to, and to offer advice to, several of the American moving companies and state associations that are also in the process of onboarding ELDs and are preparing for impending cannabis legislation. Like our country, nothing is easy, nor straightforward in the U.S. either. Of course, there was lots of discussion around dealing with common disruptions – rogues, labour shortages, social media and bogus online reviews – to name a few.

AMSA has many committees, and two that I am following closely are the 40Below group (chock full of Millennials) and the Independent & Small Movers Committee. I will talk more about them in coming issues.

One committee that I am going to be sitting on is AMSA’s new “Workforce Committee.” This committee will be looking at the challenges, not only with the labour shortage, but also at strategies to hire and retain young professionals – women, people of colour, and various
abilities – to seek a life in the moving industry where there will be continual training and advancement, with the ability to fulfill social obligations. Several CAM members were at that initial meeting and I’m sure they’ll agree that it is THE critical component of our industry going forward. This committee will meet regularly and I will share updates often, as we can all learn from the discussions at that table.

I still haven’t got through all the things in the conference bag, and have since participated in the annual MoverOne conference and exhibit, so will have a full report for you in the next issue. Thanks again to Scott Michael and everyone at AMSA for making me feel welcome and being patient with the hundred questions I was asking.

CAM has some tax information that you can share with your customers. They may be able to use their moving expenses as a deduction against their taxes.

The tax information and the required forms are linked under Deducting Moving Expenses on our website.

Want to add to your fleet? We’ve just posted some used furniture trailers for sale in the Toronto area on our website.

It's actually happening! Golf is beginning again!

Kaneff Golf tells CAM that our 2019 Golf Day course, Royal Niagara, is open for business. Why not check it out? To book your tee time, check in at Royal Niagara Golf.

And don’t forget … book now for your spot with us at CAM’s golf day on Friday, September 13th and get your name put in for a draw for an additional foursome. Imagine that you can bring four clients, or colleagues with you to enjoy the fun. For more info and to register now, click here.

Mark your calendar for our Annual Conference which will be Sunday-Tuesday, November 17-19, 2019 at the Westin Trillium House, Blue Mountain, ON. Come for the conference – stay for the fun. Click here for registration details.