Durham North Carolina Moving Company
$300 and a dream
Industry Pioneers
On October 22, 1976, with $300 and a lot of hope, two college friends launched Truckin’ Movers. Their goals were to provide high quality moving services, lower costs to consumers, and to bring free enterprise back to the moving industry.
At that time, the moving industry was heavily regulated by both State and Federal agencies. These regulations prevented competition and kept the cost of moving artificially high. A government license was required to do long distance moving, and new licenses were not being issued. In addition, the existing companies all charged the exact same rates.
Doug Carlton, one of Truckin’ Movers founders, worked as a mover during summers in both high school and college. He graduated from Duke University in June of 1976 with a double major in economics and political science. That summer Doug did some interstate moving for Duke faculty and graduate students. In the process he learned about the lack of free enterprise in the industry, and decided to do something about it.
During a cross-country move, on the way to California, Doug came up with a unique concept for long distance moving that legally avoided government regulations.
The new approach was simple: on a long distance move, the customer rented and drove the truck, and Truckin’ Movers did everything else. We brought the empty truck to the customer’s home and provided every element of a full service move; packing, loading, and unloading. A crew member even rode in the cab of the truck next to the customer. But with the customer at the wheel, transporting their own belongings, the move became unregulated. This idea was the genesis of Truckin’ Movers.
Shaking up monopolies
The Genesis of Truckin' Movers
To create this business, Truckin’ Movers entered into an agreement with a Ford Motor Company dealership and had them build the largest moving trucks that the public could drive without a special license. The dealership also gave Truckin’ Movers permission to use Ford Motor Company rental agreements.
As an extra service Truckin’ Movers often moved more than one customer on the truck at the same time. This resulted in further customer savings, and convenience, because only one of the customers needed to provide the driver. In its first three years, Truckin’ Movers moved approximately 500 families throughout the United States by this method.
The success of Truckin’ Movers quickly came to the attention of the established moving industry and conflict ensued. In its first year, Truckin’ was investigated by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), and audited by the IRS. Truckin’ Movers trucks were often detained and inspected at weigh stations. Doug was personally threatened by the President of the North Carolina Movers Association when he told Doug, among other things, that, “The old mule skinner days are not that far gone in this state.”
In 1982 things came to a head. Three of the largest moving companies, Allied, Global and Wheaton Van Lines, sued Truckin’ Movers in Federal court in Raleigh, NC. They asserted that Truckin’ Movers was operating an illegal interstate moving operation.
With the help of a young attorney teaching at Duke Law School, Doug was introduced to a law firm in Washington, DC that specialized in interstate commerce litigation. Within 24 hours of accepting the case they had the Raleigh venue canceled, and moved the proceeding to their jurisdiction in Washington, DC to be heard before the ICC. After nine months of legal proceedings, Truckin’ Movers won the case! The ICC gave Truckin’ Movers a license to operate in all 48 states and permission to set our own rates.
The end result was the deregulation of the moving industry and more affordable moves for the American public! It is interesting to note that after this case most of the ICC’s powers were eliminated or repealed and Congress finally abolished the agency with the ICC Termination Act of 1995.
The road was not easy in those early years, but we trusted that if we stuck to our free enterprise mission, and focused on our customers, the rest would sort itself out, and it has. After six years of teaching customers how to drive big trucks, we finally got to be in the driver’s seat full time!
Doug Carlton, founder and President, is still intimately involved in daily operations and has ensured that Truckin’ Movers will never lose sight of its mission: to support and encourage free enterprise, and to operate a full service moving company in North Carolina that provides moves of the highest quality at competitive rates. At Truckin’ Movers you are respected as a customer, and also as a friend.