Republic Moving & Storage: A guide to implementing electronic inventory
Photo credit: Republic Moving and Storage
This San Diego company anticipated electronic inventories would be required for military moves one day and chose to get a headstart. But when their team was a bit reluctant to change, an unlikely driver became the catalyst to getting the entire crew onboard and excited to step into the future.
Meet Republic Moving and Storage
Republic Moving and Storage is located a stone's throw from Camp Pendleton in California, and military moves make up 75% of the company’s business. As a longtime advocate of electronic inventories, Republic owner Bill Lovejoy was invited to speak at the International Association of Movers annual conference in November of 2022.
After the conference, we met with the team responsible for training and implementation to dive deeper into how they successfully implemented electronic inventories across the entire company. They shared their blueprint and how Driver has positively impacted their business.
How to successfully implement electronic inventories at your moving company
1. Make it relatable
"One of the biggest things is starting small. It seems so cumbersome, especially to some of the not-so-tech-savvy individuals, but the best part is all these guys have done an inventory regardless if it's electronic or not. They know the basics of it," says Operations Manager Tim Wicker. "Start by reminding them that they know what they're doing. We're not adding new processes."
Tim asks drivers to demonstrate how they do an inventory. He shows them how each step is completed within MoveHQ's Driver app as they explain their process.
2. A bit of autonomy creates ownership
"What's great about this program is the various ways to do the same task," Tim explains. "I show our crews each option and let them pick which works best for them. It's one thing to say This is what you're going to do, and this is how you do it. Versus You can enter a condition this way or that way. What's best for you? If they have autonomy in how they use it, they will be more comfortable using it."
3. Small, hands-on groups
"Waste less time trying to do the classroom thing. It just doesn't work," says, Senior Vice President James Lovejoy. "It can't be more than 2-3 people at a time." Republic takes a hands-on training approach and ensures its drivers follow along on their iPads step by step. Tim described their earlier approach to training, "I stood in front of a class of 40 guys and took my time to convey every tiny piece and answer questions. Guys will stay quiet, and it goes right over their heads."
They had a lot more success training in smaller groups. Tim explains, "I always recommend smaller groups when you can. Make sure they have a tablet. When you show them what to do, have them do it with you. Their attention will be significantly better if you do it that way."
4. Find the most influential advocate
"We have one driver who runs about five crews. He's very boisterous and wanted to take a stand against using Driver," says Tim. "We asked him to try it for two weeks. If he wasn't convinced, we'd let him do paper inventories. Two weeks later, his entire team was begging for tablets. That team ended up helping us train everyone else."
5. Give them a "why"
Getting buy-in is much easier when drivers have a personal stake in the game. James exclaims, "This app saves them hours!" Tim adds, "At least 2 hours per job on average." James continues, "These guys are quick on it now. Most of them could never write an inventory as quickly as they can on this app."
"When you fill out the customer's information, address, and order number, it auto-populates the entire document, the driver's signature is built in, and the customer signs once. You're doing everything one time. That saves so much time." Tim continues, "That's not even accounting for the inventory process itself."
How electronic inventories will impact your bottom line
"For people on the fence, think of it in terms of savings. Savings on time, savings on money, savings on claims," says Tim. "The claims are monstrous. You are protecting yourself and the customer whose items you're inventorying. Taking a picture will save everyone on potential damage, but the fact that the picture was taken immediately and is timestamped takes the weight off that customer's shoulders."
Republic also cut its billing time from an average of 46 days to an average of 2.2 days because the billing team has online access to all the documentation they need. "Most are under 24 hours. The 2.2 average is just from a few outliers," says Tim.
Republic is a high-volume business, performing about 100 moves per day, translating to a lot of saving when going paperless. "We're saving about $40,000 a year just in paper," says James.
Conclusion
"It says a lot to go from something free to paying for it because of the ease of use," says Tim. Republic’s van line offers a free electronic inventory, but after testing it, they opted to continue with Driver. "Now we're paying for this, and it's worth it for us to keep the guys happy and keep them moving," says James. "From all the systems we've looked at and used, Driver is the easiest to use."
Learn more about the industry's most popular electronic inventory app, Driver.
