
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.
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