In speaking with moving companies over the past several years it has been made very obvious that times have not been good them. Although that’s no surprise, the most recent edition of the quarterly publication Industry Trends put out by the American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA) reveals exactly how tough it has been.
According to their research the number of shipments from individuals (COD) is down a significant 26% from 2004. It probably needn’t be said that the factors believed to have the greatest affect on the industry are the housing and jobs markets.
The rust belt and interestingly the Los Angeles area have been most affected and had the highest percentage of outbound versus inbound moves. Conversely southern areas from east to west, and primarily North Carolina, generated the most interest and had the greatest percentage of inbound moves.
It’s no surprise that the trends of the moving industry mimic the greater trends of the US economy but it is an interesting indication of the cascading effects of the market meltdown. However there is one last slightly more positive trend that average shipment size continued to see an increase. So even though money is tight people continue to accumulate possessions.
