The moving industry has been around for decades, and naturally, it evolved so much over the years. Various new services are being developed each day, and the traditional meaning of professional move is no longer the go-to option. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the old way of doing things is bad or less efficient. It mostly depends on each situation. One common issue moving companies often encounter when analyzing the ways to improve their business is the dilemma of dedicated vs consolidated move. Our team at Verified Movers is here to discuss this topic, introducing you to the advantages and disadvantages of both options, so you can get a clear picture of what suits your idea of business the most.
Dedicated vs consolidated move 101
The first thing we should do here is defining dedicated and consolidated moves to avoid any potential misunderstandings. So, let’s start off with dedicated moves. When we talk about traditional moving assistance, chances are we’re thinking exactly about a dedicated move. It truly is the most commonly known way of helping people relocate. It means providing a whole moving truck to each and every individual customer. For so long, this was pretty much the only way of doing business in the moving industry, so obviously, everyone got used to it. That’s why any changes aren’t easy to implement quickly. Nevertheless, the idea of consolidated moves is slowly, but steadily, becoming more and more viable in the moving world, especially with the severe pandemic impact on freight transportation services worldwide.
So, what is a consolidated move? This method combines several individual shipments, and you transport them at once in the same truck. Therefore, by doing business through consolidated moves, you abandon the one truck-one customer principle. Of course, there are strong reasons for doing this, and consolidated moves became especially popular during the last couple of years, with the global shipping crisis in full force. Now, we’ll focus on analyzing the pros and cons of both these options.
Dedicated moves have been the go-to choice for decades
As we said, the idea of a traditional professionally-move has a dedicated move method as its pillar. Needless to say, when a method is present and most commonly used for such a long period of time, it has many benefits. However, eventually, other options arise. They exposed the disadvantages of the classical, dedicated move, so let’s take a look at where dedicated move stands in 2023.
Pros of dedicated moves
The main advantage of a dedicated move revolves around the importance of providing personalized services to customers. Customer satisfaction has always been the top priority to reputable moving companies. Giving each and every customer the opportunity to have their own truck was pretty much non-negotiable. Your clients would truly feel like they matter, as they should, and they would have their own personal team of movers. Then these movers would establish good communication with the clients. And, of course, when the same team helps you with the pickup and brings your things to the new home, you really get that connection that’s difficult to look past.
Cons of dedicated moves
Well, not so long ago we wouldn’t even discuss this, as dedicated moves were basically the only way of doing business. However, once the idea of consolidated moves firmly established itself as a proven method that brings its results, it became apparent that dedicated moves had certain disadvantages. For example, a dedicated move is more expensive, both for companies and their customers. With the ongoing EU energy crisis, prices of fuel are skyrocketing, and dedicated moves over long distances really cost a lot. On top of that, if the household isn’t huge, there’s more risk for damages. This is because items have more space in the truck. And, that isn’t ideal during transport because there can be many bumps, and eventually, breakages.
Consolidated moves are becoming increasingly popular
All the disadvantages of dedicated moves we mention can count as advantages of a consolidated move. This is a much cheaper option for both companies and their clients. This is especially popular in states that see a huge number of relocations such as Texas, Florida, California, etc. One of the best examples is San Antonio, where there are tens of thousands of moves on a yearly basis. Many of these moves are smaller households with insufficient items to fill up an average moving truck. That’s why many top movers in San Antonio use the method of consolidated moves to handle such relocations. The improved safety of each individual shipment is also a huge benefit of this option. And, when several shipments are in the same truck, it becomes much simpler to navigate the whole transport.
Are there any downsides to providing consolidated moving services?
Some disadvantages are to be expected of course, because no option is perfect. When it comes to consolidated moves, the first thing that comes to mind when speaking of disadvantages is the duration. Consolidated moves last longer than dedicated ones, simply because there are several shipments to deal with, which means that clients would have to be more patient. This can, sometimes, lead to a company having to deal with unsatisfied customers. The obvious disadvantage is also the fact that some people may not feel like they are getting the personalized services they should. However, this is becoming less and less of a problem. This is because the world’s moving really fast, and new generations are used to these ways of conducting business.
Things to keep in mind in order to make the choice
In the end, your decision should be made based on the very nature of your business. If your company deals with a lot of long distances moves that involve similar routes, consolidated moves could be the way to go. If that’s not the case, sticking with dedicated moves really shouldn’t hurt your business. Deciding on a dedicated vs consolidated move is not easy, but we hope that this article has helped you get closer to making that decision. Keep the pros and cons of both options in mind, and we’re sure you’ll eventually choose the option that suits you the best.