Business View Magazine | July 2022

111 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 7 one that packed your home in California and is going to be the same one that delivers your goods to your home in Florida. Grund adds, “That makes for more consistency but also a level of connection that does not exist in the other model. We have had letters from customers who end up becoming friends with the drivers, they are such an integral part of the move.” The second unique innovation is the “Load it Once” modular moving system which Budd Van Lines developed, patented, and built their own trucks for. The idea came from founder, David W. Budd Sr., but sat on the shelf for a few years before it was dusted off and became particularly helpful during the COVID years. “Take the example of an average move, going to storage and then being delivered,” Grund says. “Your goods are wrapped and packed in the home, packed on a truck, then, unwrapped, re- wrapped, and stored in a storage container at the warehouse called a vault. Then they are removed from the vault, re-wrapped, packed on another truck, and moved to your home. That is like eight steps for handling. We invented a truck that keeps all the goods in one sealed container until we get to your new home. We have reduced the handling from eight steps down to two, and in so doing, we have seen our claims ratio drop from about 20% to 2%. Which is incredible. It is also way more efficient. No drivers are waiting at a warehouse to unload before moving on. So, you look at a big move, say an executive move with 25,000 pounds. It used to take four days to turn that around at the warehouse, and now it takes 17 minutes.” A third innovation from Budd Van Lines is the Eco Crate. This has been a great addition in terms of sustainability. Budd Van Lines developed reusable specialty crates and packing for artwork, televisions, and oversize fragile items – a large, multi-layered corrugated reusable box for each item. They are now going on 11 years with some of the original Eco Crates. The Eco Crate is conserving 300,000 lbs. of corrugated BUDD VAN L INES material a year contributing to saving trees, landfill space, and water used in manufacturing/ recycling cartons. “We are fortunate to work with several companies that have really stepped up over the last couple of years,” says Grund. “For example, we work with two car hauling companies, Reindeer and Blue Star, who had the same challenges as we did in terms of resources and retention of drivers, and they managed to stay on time while communicating every issue as it came up. They did the work to keep the drivers and customers safe while hitting the deadlines. We also work with MSS (Movers Specialty