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Message from Jim!
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With so much uncertainty in the economy, I am pleased to
report that Alliance Relocation continues to be "on
Plan" in terms of the organizations 2008 performance
objectives for Sales Growth, Client Satisfaction, client retention and Claims
exposure. This has certainly not been easy, and I would like to
give kudos to the performance of the Alliance Management
team, the Alliance staff and also the field Service
Technicians.
As the cost of just about everything continues to rise, we are trying
our best not to pass these additional costs on to our customers and
technicians, by absorbing as much as possible. With the addition of
auto, boat, and pet relocation services, we hope to better aide our
customers in both convenience and cost efficiency. By merging all of
these services under the Alliance Relocation name, we hope to relieve
some of the stress that comes with outsourcing these services to
separate carriers by making status updates, and separate bills
available all from the same place. And as our services list grows,
updates to our main software "ABE" are necessary to keep up,
and we are fine tuning updates for every single department here at
Alliance, hoping to make our systems more functional and user
friendly. Hope everyone is surviving another chaotic summer in the
moving business!
Thank You for Your Business!
-Jim
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Industry Convention Dates
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NJ
Movers
October 7
- 8
American
Red Ball
October
8 - 11
Andrews
Van Lines
October
8 - 11
Atlas
Canada
October 15
- 18
Pennsylvania
M&S
October 15
- 17
Stevens
Worldwide
October
18 - 20
Paul
Arpin
October
19 - 23
Steven
Van Line
October
19 - 23
National
Safety
October
26 - 28
ERC
Global Workforce
October
29 - 31
Atlas'
61st Annual
October
29 - Nov 1
United
/ Mayflower
November
5 - 9
Wheaton Van
Lines
November
12 - 18
Indiana
Household
December
5 - 6
__________________
2009
__________________
CMSA
90th Annual
April
21 - 26
National
Relocation
May
13 - 15
ATA
Management
October
4 - 7
Arpin
Van Lines
October
4 - 8
2009
Global Workforce
October
7 - 9
HHGFAA
47th Annual
October
10 - 13
United
/ Mayflower
November
8 - 12
Fall
Board and Committee
National
Safety Conference
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The Top 5 Surviving Cities...
 News about the housing bust seems to abound everywhere
lately. We are constantly reminded by the media that real
estate valuations in many cases continue to decline, and homes remain
on the market longer than in recent memory. However did
you know that there are 5 cities which have done fairly well
throughout the housing bust and that have fairly strong and
booming economies despite all this trouble?
To the top 5:
1. Charlotte, N.C. - Charlotte has seen an increase of home prices of
36% between Jan 2000 and Sep of 2007, and boasted the only
increase in prices in the nation from Feb 2007 to Feb of 2008.
2. Portland, OR - Portland has seen an amazing increase in home prices
of 87% over the same time span as Charlotte, and saw only a drop of
2% over the past year alone. That's much less than the national
average.
3. Seattle, WA - With a 30%
higher average income than the rest of the nation in part due to
Microsoft being based in nearby Redmond, Seattle posted a stellar increase
of 92% in house values for the past 8 years, and only a 2.7% decrease
in value over the past year.
4. Dallas, TX
- Dallas, Texas posted a smaller increase than the two
above cities by increasing home values by a light 27% during the
years cited above. Values also fell only 4% over the past year.
5. Boston, MA - While
the Northeast and Boston were some of the first places to
experience the decline in home values, there has recently been
an a slight increase in values. What helps to contribute to this
is the amount of schools in the area and the large amounts of
young workers who come directly from these local schools. In the
past year Boston also posted a dip in values of only 4.6%.
>>>Full article
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Joke Time!
I think we can all relate to this...
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Employee Spotlight - Nicolle Demarco
 This Quarter's Employee Spotlight is on Nicolle
DeMarco. Nicolle was Alliance's very first employee, and she
helped Jim Walsh start Alliance in January of 1999. Nicolle has
worked in all departments at Alliance and is currently a Senior
Billing Associate in the Accounting department.
In May of 2007, Nicolle married Army Specialist George DeMarco in a
civil ceremony. George was then deployed to Iraq in September of 2007
and is expected to return home this December 2008. They have a formal
wedding planned for July of 2009. Every day, Nicolle uses her lunch
hour to speak with George as this is the only time he has available
to call due to the 7 hour time difference between Iraq and New
York. Depending on George's circumstances, once or twice a
month, Nicolle drives up to Fort Drum in Watertown, NY which is
an hour and a half each way, and assuming that the satellite
connections and equipment are working properly, she gets to spend
anywhere from one to two hours talking to him via video
teleconferencing on a 75" plasma television.
Nicolle is a great asset to Alliance Relocation and we
are extremely happy to have her on our team!
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What's new at Alliance - Pet and Auto Relocation Services.
 As we all know there are many changes taking place at
Alliance. In the past few months we have many changes such
as releasing the new "ABE" software platform for our
team, performed B-B integrations with many of our clients, and
released an exciting new option to the traditional crating of Plasma
and LCD TVs. To top all of that, we now offer Pet Relocation and Auto
and Boat services for our valued customers.
Starting in June of 2008 we have started to offer
these new exciting services to our customers:
1) Plasma TV Case: Our
new plasma TV case offers an unparalleled solution to the issue of
crating sensitive LCD and Plasma TVs. Our case is constructed of hard
impact resistant ABS plastic and conforms to ATA specifications. Not
only is our case rugged, but it is waterproof, endlessly reusable,
and carries some of the best protection out there for your valuable
high end televisions.
Call us today if you would like more information or
pictures of this crating alternative. We are absolutely sure you will
agree with the quality and innovation of these cases.
2) Pet Relocation: Alliance
Relocation Services and PetRelocation.com have announced their
partnership in early June. For those transferees with near and dear
furry friends, Alliance offers Pet Relocation, and more about this
new service can be read here.
3) Auto Relocation: Alliance also now offers Auto Relocation. Do you
have a customer who needs to bring their vehicle with them?
Contact Alliance Relocation Services for your quote on this
service today!
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Stories that illustrate the "Alliance
Attitude"
Creativity and Determination:
The hardware to the Ashley king size Martini Suite canopy bed was
missing for a VIP Morgan Stanley transferee in Jersey City, NJ. It
was a Friday and Mr. was expecting guests for the weekend. The bed
had to be assembled. The hardware would take 2 ½ weeks to be shipped
from Ashley Furniture.
Alliance technician, Kevin, exercised his creativity and
determination to take care of the customer. Kevin visited the Ashley
showroom a few miles down the road. He needed a few intricate screws
and bolts for this bed. The bed was on display in the showroom. After
explaining to the service personnel this delicate situation, Kevin
then partially disassembled the bed to get the hardware he needed to
get the bed assembled. This was a great demonstration of Kevin's
determination and creativity to "take care of the
customer"!
Commitment
to Service/Ability to cover last minute jobs:
It was a Sunday afternoon; Jim Walsh received a call from one of
Alliance's valued customers. The agent had an emergency crating job
in Rockfield, IL for that day. Jim immediately called Alliance
tech Tom in Sycamore, IL.
Tom was at his son's baseball tournament. Nonetheless, Tom committed
to get the job done. Immediately following the tournament, Tom went
to residence, built the six crates necessary for the shipper, and
the crating was done by 4:00 p.m. This scenario is the true
meaning of "commitment to service" and without doubt
"covering a last minute job"!
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Our contest winners!
Congratulations to our ten winners of the June 2008
raffle for a $100 Exxon Mobil gas card. As you may know, each of
these winners were selected randomly during the month of June. Every
order that they placed with our ABE Online system entered them for a
chance in the raffle. Congratulations to everyone who won the
$100 gas card, and stay tuned as we will be holding more
raffles again soon!
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