{"id":51420,"date":"2019-06-17T20:35:28","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T20:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/17\/why-your-move-may-be-even-worse-than-usual-during-this-busy-pcs-season\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:05:09","slug":"why-your-move-may-be-even-worse-than-usual-during-this-busy-pcs-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2019\/06\/17\/why-your-move-may-be-even-worse-than-usual-during-this-busy-pcs-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Why your move may be even worse than usual during this busy PCS season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was updated June 20 to include the response from U.S. Transportation Command.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the moving season heats up, some service members are already having problems scheduling their household goods moves. And now a new technology problem has surfaced that\u2019s making things worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For two weeks, the computerized system that is the backbone of the entire household goods moving process has been \u201calmost at a dead stop,\u201d causing a traffic jam of sorts for service members who needed to get their moves scheduled, said John Becker, director of military policy for the American Moving and Storage Association, a trade organization representing moving companies, including many that are authorized by the Defense Department to move tens of thousands of military members\u2019 household goods. There were still problems as of June 17, according to Becker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe next two weeks could be ugly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described a \u201cmajor problem\u201d that began June 3, after U.S. Transportation Command officials implemented an upgrade to the technology of the system that awards service members\u2019 shipments to companies. Companies have been unable to see the shipments in the system, so they couldn\u2019t book the shipments. Personal property offices have been trying to get shipments booked, he said. TRANSCOM has oversight and responsibility for household goods shipments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this system problem is separate from the ongoing and growing shortage<\/a> of movers in some areas, the combination is exacerbating problems<\/a>, Becker said. Over the years, there has been an increasing shortage of commercial trucks and drivers to haul shipments, and a shortage of labor to handle the packing and loading. The shortages are getting worse this year, as workers leave the industry for other jobs in the improving economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRANSCOM spokesman Dave Dunn said there was a \u201cdecrease in system usability that resulted in a 26 percent slowdown. This began approximately June 3 and lasted four days as the program office updated servers, bringing new and more secure servers online and slowly removing older servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe system is now operating as designed.\u201d He said officials don\u2019t believe the slowdown caused a permanent impact to service members beyond what would be expected with the peak moving season. Service members who can\u2019t get the help they need from their local transportation office are in many cases getting information from the supporting regional personal property offices to consider providing alternate moving dates for July 8 or later. Those who are encountering issues might request an extension in their report date to the new duty station, or consider moving themselves under the Personally Procured Move system., Dunn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If service members need more help than can be provided by their transportation office, they can call 833-MIL-MOVE (833-645-6683).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRANSCOM and the military services have taken steps to ease requirements for moving companies and to spread out the military moves to ease the crunch of military moves. The services have gotten orders out sooner to their service members, which takes some pressure off scheduling the move. The busiest period is generally between May 15 and July 10, but about 40 percent of all military moves are made between May 15 and Aug. 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the volume of military moves scheduled as of June 7 \u2013 80,296\u2014was similar to the three-year average of 75,875 at this point in the peak season, more moves are being scheduled in advance, according to Dunn. But a faster pace of booking moves this year has possibly led to an earlier exhaustion of the moving industry\u2019s capacity to move military members\u2019 shipments, Dunn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the \u201cpeak of the peak season\u201d is also higher than normal this year, he said. As of June 19, more than 13,000 moves are being worked for the last week of June — 115 percent of the three-year average, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Army staff sergeant at Fort Meade, Md., said he has been waiting for more than a month for confirmation that his family\u2019s household goods will be packed up and moved. He has tried to contact the government regional Joint Personal Property Shipping Office at Fort Belvoir, Va., and the last time was on hold for two hours. \u201cOther families in my neighborhood alone at Fort Meade have had to change to a [Personally Procured, or do-it-yourself] move\u2026 they were unable to obtain movers to get them out of their house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Air Force member at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, was told that no company will accept the job of packing and moving her household goods, and she will have to change her move dates or move herself, according to her father, who contacted Military Times. During the first week of June, she told officials at the personal property office she could move any day between the next day and June 30, but they couldn\u2019t get a company to accept the shipment. They also pushed her move date into July, but still weren\u2019t able to get a mover. And she\u2019s not the only one in her area having those problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are seeing a few markets where there isn\u2019t enough capacity to take moves as soon as we\u2019d like them to,\u201d said TRANSCOM spokesman Dunn, adding that Fort Meade and Goodfellow AFB are among those areas that are affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other areas include North Dakota, Colorado and New Mexico, and capacity shortages are the norm for those areas, Dunn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In those areas, military service officials use alternative ways to get service members\u2019 household goods moved, Dunn said, such as using local Federal Acquisition Regulation contracts; using storage providers to get members\u2019 shipments packed and out of their residence for later shipment; or encouraging service members to use the personally-procured move process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn some areas, there\u2019s nobody to move service members \u2013 no trucks or agents [to pack and load],\u201d Becker said. \u201cJune has been a complete nightmare for anybody moving from Minot Air Force Base,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t