Dircks Provides Super Service and All-Star Treatment

PHOENIX – Dircks Moving, Logistics and Real Estate provided moving, storage and distribution services for the NFL’s Environmental Program following Super Bowl XLII and assisted the Phoenix Suns with boxes and delivery of canned food to New Orleans in honor of the 2008 NBA All-Star game.

The NFL choose Dircks Moving to supply collection and storage services for several donated materials following various Super Bowl events including the big game itself. Items such as decorative and building materials, office supplies and other reusable’s were collected and will be distributed to several regional non-profit groups. Some of these materials will be reused while others can be used as fundraising auction items.

“Running events while keeping the environment in mind is very important to the NFL. We are grateful to Dircks for donating their services to assist with this endeavor,” said Jack Groh, NFL Environmental Director.

Dircks Moving, a proud partner of the Phoenix Suns, donated boxes used to collect non-perishable food donations at the Suns vs. New Orleans Hornets home game on February 6, 2008 and provided transportation of the boxes to Southwest Airlines at Sky Harbor Airport. Several Suns players loaded the boxes onto a Southwest Airlines flight headed to New Orleans on February 11, 2008. The food donation was made to the Covenant House New Orleans as part of the Sun’s community service initiative during the 2008 NBA All-Star Weekend. “Dircks enjoys the opportunity to work for causes that help our environment as well as those that assist the less fortunate. Behind the scenes, the NFL and NBA do wonderful work and we are always thrilled to be included”, said Executive Vice President Rick Dircks. In addition to the Suns, Dircks Moving partners directly with MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, ECHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners and Arizona State University Athletics.

Scott Kiewitt of McCollister's earns the United Van Lines 2008 Sales Achievement Award

There are 450+ United Van Lines agents across the country. Most locations contain multiple salespeople. Only one person is chosen to receive the Sales Achievement Award. This is definitely an accomplishment to be proud of. Scott Kiewitt's proven sales track record not only contributed to the profitability of of his agency, but also to that of the van line.

Jack Griffin Named President of Atlas World Group International Company

Congratulations to Jack Griffin who has recently been named President of the Atlas World Group International Company in Seattle, WA. You may most recently remember Jack as the Senior Vice President of Business Development for Bekins Van Lines. His other past experience includes working for Allied Van Lines and Allied International. As global relocations continue to increase, we wish Jack the best of luck on his new venture.

Spring is Here - Get ready to hire!

March 20th marks the first day of Spring! The old saying about the month of March is "In like a lion - out like a lamb." If only that were true this year. Here in Illinois we are preparing to be slammed with another winter storm. While it is currently a beautiful 50 degrees, tonight's forecast includes temperatures in the low 30's and 1-2 inches of snow. Friday's forecast isn't any better - another 2-4 inches of snow, mixed with freezing rain. In fact 7 of the next 10 days will include snowy winter weather.

Many of you are of course in other parts of the country where the weather is fantastic and winter jackets are a thing of the past. For those of you, perhaps the reality of spring is more apparent. From what we have been hearing from our clients, there is a big need to ramp up right now. We have countless job orders for operations managers, dispatcher, coordinators, and customer service specialists. While we have seen 2008 remain somewhat slow, it is definitely stronger than 2007 and we have great expectations for this year's busy summer season.

Let us know what you think! How are you preparing for summer 2008?

Westerberg Goes West

Lido Van & Storage was founded in 1973 with a single location in Irvine, CA. In February of 2008, this location was purchased by Nelson Westerberg. Currently, the company is still operating under the name of Lido Van & Storage as a wholly owned subsidiary of Nelson Westerberg. Nelson Westerberg is based in Chicago, IL with other locations in Atlanta, Dallas, and New Jersey. Being one of Atlas Van Line's largest hauling agents, this new west coast presence will connect the other offices from coast to coast.

Chipman Relocation Sells their East Coast Facility!

The announcement has been made official. Chipman Relocation (a United Van Lines agent with multiple offices in California) has sold their office in Upper Marlboro, MD!!!

A couple of years ago Chipman purchased the MD branch from Greenmount United. Today, this branch is being sold to none other than, Ace Relocation.

What's that you say? Ace Relocation already has a branch in Baltimore? (for you moving and storage history enthusiasts out there - Ace Relocation's Baltimore office was the original Ace World Wide Baltimore office!) No, Ace Relocation will not be occupying two facilities in MD. Rather, the lease is up on their original location in Baltimore and they have decided to move into the old Greenmount office.

Chipman made this news public earlier this week to their staff, so we have decided to announce it to the rest of you. The good news is that many of the Chipman employees in MD will be picked up by Ace, thus not putting people on the streets as spring hits. Chipman will continue to concentrate on their west coast offices in CA, OR, and WA where they have years of positive successful history to build on. Good luck to Ace Relocation as they make their big move!

Sav On Moving & Storage Receives Three Awards at the National Van Lines 2007 Convention

BROADVIEW, IL - The theme of the 2007 National Van Lines Convention – Leading the Way – was fitting for Sav On Moving & Storage, who won three coveted awards at the biannual convention.

The awards, which were provided by National Forwarding Company, the military subsidiary of National Van Lines, were the 2007 Customer Satisfaction Award and 2006 & 2007 Million Pound Booker Awards.

This is the inaugural year of the Customer Satisfaction Award. The award was presented to agents who excelled at using their customer service skills throughout the move process. These agents were very highly rated by customers on an online survey.

“We were pleased that Sav On Moving & Storage was one of the recipients of the first Customer Satisfaction Award,” says Eileen Sherman, National Forwarding Company, vice president, operations. “Their commitment to customer service exemplifies the expectations we have for all of our agents and staff. It’s a standard we all strive to achieve!”

Sav On was also recognized for booking a million pounds of military shipments in each of 2006 & 2007. They were one of only ten agents to accomplish this high level of sales.
Sav On Moving & Storage, located in Corona, CA, has been a National Van Lines agent since 2004 and a National Forwarding agent since 2005. They service interstate household goods and military moves as well as local moves in the San Diego and Orange County areas.