We’re gearing up for PCS season and exploring the ins and out from start to finish in our Ultimate PCS Handbook. Check out Part 1 and Part 2.

If moving is stressful, moving day is likely the pinnacle. After last summer’s PCS season, I did some digging. We saw the moving industry seem to collapse. But what I’ve found might surprise you: Our military moves contributed to “the perfect storm” scenario. 

Peak PCS season is pandemonium

Peak PCS season falls into about 100 days, slightly more than a quarter of the year. The industry goes from about 5,000 military moves per day to 15,000 moves per day during June, July, and August. Moving companies available to service military moves are compressed into that time frame to meet US-TRANSCOM requirements and industry regulations, while also balancing their employees’ health and safety.

“More than 65% of moves occur during peak season,” reported Deloma Miley to Military.com. She’s a Global Logistics Support Household Goods Program Analyst for for the Naval Supply Systems Command.

The same article reminds us that it isn’t just the military moving during the summer. Federal employees are also scheduling their moves during this timeframe, putting additional stress on moving companies to provide high-quality service over long hours and often in high temperatures.

We aren’t even taking into account non-governmental moves. Check out this “heatmap” calendar. We can see that the overall U.S. moving industry demand is at the highest during our peak PCS season.

Moving companies are feeling stressed, too.

“We go from having one job a week during the winter months to slammed,” said a truck driver near Fayetteville, North Carolina. He asked to keep his name anonymous. “It’s hard to run a business and keep good employees when it’s a feast and famine industry.”

Keep this in mind when the packing and loading crews get to your home. Do they look tired? Are they not using enough packing paper? Maybe they’re running low because you’re their fourth pack of the day and didn’t have time to get back to their home station.

BE KIND. Be kind with your words. You’re stressed. They’re stressed. You can always gently talk to the crew leader and let them know if you have questions or concerns.

Be kind with your actions. Consider having water and Gatorade on-hand, and make it easy for them to stay hydrated. I recommend that you have some light, easy-to-eat foods like sub sandwiches, packaged cookies, and individual bags of chips available. I avoid pizza and other greasy, heavy foods because, personally, I wouldn’t want to eat pizza when it’s hot and humid and I’ve been working all day.

If you notice something happening—maybe you don’t feel like enough packing paper is being used or you notice that the vase your husband gave you on your fifth wedding anniversary is being packed with some heavy books—speak up, kindly! Ask them if they need more paper, or ask them to pack that vase into a box with something that is less likely to damage it. A little kindness and grace go a long way in ensuring your HHGs are delivered safely.

You can always ask them to stop working and contact your local move office if you see something that doesn’t seem right.

Truck driver shortages

In addition to moving companies that are stretched thin with demand during the summer, there’s a nationwide truck driver shortage. The average age of a truck driver is 55. The industry is struggling to recruit new, experienced, younger drivers.

Competition within the industry is high. Some companies are moving away from military moves because they aren’t as lucrative as other opportunities. Trucking companies are offering better salaries, bonuses, and better hours to try to attract drivers.

The Washington Post has interviewed truck drivers to capture their point of view. I highly encourage you to read the article because I think you’ll find some similarities to our lifestyle. It makes me more compassionate to the crews. The drivers face:

• Long, lonely hours
• Weeks away from home
• Hardship on the families for having to keep the home going
• Low pay
• Stricter regulations, such as electronic monitoring systems in trucks

That’s just a snapshot. Do you see some of the similarities and struggles that we face as military families? 

The internet and Amazon may have altered our expectations

I read through hundreds of online posts from people complaining (some were downright nasty) about military moves. The age of social media has made it easier to find good schools and neighborhoods. It’s helped us connect more quickly with the best hair salon in town or find a trustworthy veterinarian. But, it has also fueled an awful underbelly of ugliness and hatred.

Sifting through the comments, I began to see a pattern in that families were frustrated with not knowing where exactly their HHGs were and when exactly they would be delivered. To be fair, there are some terrible moves. But not every move is terrible.

I decided to dig into this, too.

As it turns out, the military does not pay for a dedicated moving truck. A dedicated truck would mean that a single truck is contracted to pick up your HHGs and drive them to your next destination. This would make moving costs skyrocket.

Instead, the contracted truck picks up multiple shipments, sometimes delivering your HHGs to a warehouse to wait for a full truckload of multiple HHGs to ship to a destination or until you are ready for delivery.

Other times, your belongings are loaded as part of a complex schedule. That truck driver has multiple stops along the route. While you might be PCSing from Fort Benning to Fort Bragg, a mere seven-and-a-half hours by car, your HHGs might be taking a completely separate route with additional stops along the way, all to stay within the budget and meet the high move demands.

This is a very simplistic view of what happens to your belongings. This doesn’t even take into account warehouse storage if you aren’t ready to accept your HHGs. And we aren’t even beginning to cover what happens with OCONUS moves.

But what about Amazon?

Why can’t we know exactly when our HHG shipment is going to arrive? That’s an honest and great question.

Amazon, and many other online retailers and shipping services, have a tracking system that is complex and really amazing. Honestly, I wish they would share their technology with the military. Perhaps it could save everyone some stress.

I still don’t have an answer to this one. I’m guessing it would take a large budget to develop this technology and distribute it to a huge network of moving companies. Scanning every single item would take time, and add to the bottom line. I’m not holding my breath on this one.

Change is coming, but what will it look like?

I admire the milspouses who have stepped up to try to change the industry. I think this is a project that cannot be fixed in a single season. There must be room at the table for everyone: the military who require the moves to ensure staffing needs are met; the moving industry partners who have been in the business and are the experts at their portion of the move; and the military member and spouse who are the ones impacted by these decisions.

I fear that privatizing the moving industry is just a way to brush off responsibility and will cause our military families more issues in the long run. Moves aren’t going away, so let’s work to find a long term solution, so we can transform the industry for future military personnel and their families.