{"id":1089,"date":"2023-06-27T10:49:20","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/?page_id=1089"},"modified":"2025-07-20T09:52:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T16:52:44","slug":"movers-a-closed-industry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/movers-a-closed-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike the Mover (1997-98)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In the 1990s I discovered that in the state of Washington, the home movers were operating under a regulatory set-up right out of the New Deal. Some of them were, anyway \u2014 and some weren\u2019t. This is my P-I business column of Sept. 17, 1997.<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike the Mover has been running for office every year, save one, since 1988. But his mark in history will not be for his name on the ballot. It will be for his guerrilla war on the state-regulated movers.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike is a marketing guy from headlight to hydraulic lift. Others have rolled quietly and illegally into household moving. Mike changed his name from Michael P. Shanks to Mike the Mover and put his picture in the Yellow Pages. In 1992 the regulated movers\u2019 group, the Washington Movers\u2019 Conference, complained, \u201cMike the Mover has made a mockery of our entire regulatory system.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Washington, Movers have been regulated since 1935. Jack Davis, attorney for the Movers\u2019 Conference, says, \u201cThe concept was to protect consumers from the large power of carriers \u2014 to protect the public in respect to rates, schedules, loss and damage claims.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What the law did, though, was to allow the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to fix all the rates. No negotiation, no discounts. And Mike could not become a mover just by buying a truck. He had to convince the WUTC that the existing carriers were not adequately serving the market.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike tried several times. \u201cHere\u2019s how it works,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to apply, you have to sign an affidavit promising not to operate while it\u2019s pending.\u201d The process takes a year.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the hearing you face the other movers. Mike faced seven of them, and was turned down.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike had started in 1981 with one truck. When he painted his name on his trucks his competitors noticed him and complained. In 1987 the state cited him. In 1992 it hit him with a cease-and-desist order. In 1993 it slapped him with a court injunction to stop moving customers.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He ignored them all. WUTC enforcers wrote 89 tickets, each a gross misdemeanor, for operating without a license. Mike spent one day in jail. He continued in business.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sharon Nelson, chairman of the WUTC, noted in a letter, \u201cPart of the difficulty in building a case against him is the unwillingness of his customers to verify information.\u201d Each month, Mike sent the WUTC a graph labeled, \u201cAnnual Sales Report\u00a0– Born to Rumble.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike rumbled into 1994, 1995 and 1996. In February 1996 he sued in vain to have the injunction lifted. The WUTC had lost its authority over him, he argued, \u201cby completely abandoning and dismantling\u201d its enforcement.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By this time, the Yellow Pages had many unlicensed movers. Some were \u201cpack and loads\u201d who stay legal by having the customer drive the truck, making the customer the \u201cmover.\u201d But others were lawbreakers providing full service, as Mike did.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In January 1997 state Reps. John Koster, R-Monroe, and Mike Sherstad, R-Bothell, filed House Bill 1455 to deregulate household movers. The bill died in committee. Mike\u2019s business, with eight trucks and an annual volume of $1.2 million, rumbled on.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In June 1997 the WUTC took Mike to court for violating the 1993 injunction. It asked for $100,000 in fines, seven days in jail, seizure of Mike\u2019s office equipment, disconnection of his phone and unplugging of his Web page, www.seattleweb.com\/mike. On Sept. 5, Judge Robert Lasnik of King County Superior Court found Mike in contempt and set a penalty hearing for Oct. 15. There the matter is now.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once again Mike is ordered to cease and desist, except for moves out of state or within Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Mercer Island, Auburn, Kent and Ellensburg. Mike\u2019s lawyer, Greg Ursich, declares that Mike is in compliance. Under the pressure of the court, Mike has agreed to buy a household goods permit from another carrier for $35,000, subject to WUTC approval.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The WUTC\u2019s deputy director, Paul Curl, says, \u201cI think he\u2019s making an effort. We recognize that.\u201d Curl wonders, though, about a $746,483 claim against Mike by the Department of Labor and Industries. Mike says the claim was filed by a former employee as leverage in a fight over Mike\u2019s trade name.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Curl also wonders whether a guerrilla warrior like Mike will really follow the WUTC rules.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A good question. Will Mike charge the regulated rate, $88.30 per hour, when he\u2019s been charging only $75? Will he stop giving discounts to single moms and seniors? The better question is why such rules exist. What\u2019s so special about the moving of furniture that requires a $35,000 permit and an adversary hearing to legally enter the business?<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Curl allows that the entry restrictions are \u201ca holdover from the old days.\u201d WUTC staff, he says, is working on a proposal to loosen them up.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He adds, \u201cThe licensed carriers don\u2019t want any change at all.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Judge Lasnik ordered MIke to pay $5,000 in fines and $21,000 for the WUTC\u2019s legal expenses. And 35 competitors objected to letting Mike buy into the industry for $35,000. Mike was defiant: \u201cI am in business,\u201d he insisted.<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike the Mover was an ongoing story \u2014 and mine, too, because nobody else in the media was following it the way I was. Here is my P-I business column of Feb. 2, 1998.<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike the Mover had been cited 89 times for moving houshold goods without a state license. He had been slapped with a court order and spent a day in jail. He had fought back, repeatedly running for public office, and had even changed his name from Michael Shanks to Mike Mover, middle name, \u201cthe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On Jan. 29, after nearly 17 years of guerrilla warfare, Mike arrived at the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in Olympia in his political campaign bus labeled, \u201cUrban Assault Vehicle.\u201d Mike was in fine spirits. State government was about to officially admit his right to be a home mover.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pat Dutton, the commission\u2019s assistant director of operations, presided over the first-ever official gathering of legal and illegal movers. The commission, she said, wants to loosen its control over pricing and let new people into the industry. Controls ended years ago on trucking between states and cargo carriers and office movers in Washington. Only in household moving did the state pretend to set prices.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unregulated movers had already run holes through that. Phone directories are full of movers without the required Interstate Commerce Commission or WUTC numbers. These are illegal carriers or pack-and-loads that skirt regulation by having the customer drive the truck. Directory companies don\u2019t care about WUTC licenses, Dutton said. Customers don\u2019t care, either, because they are saving money. Dutton cited a couple in Ballard that was quoted $2,100 by a licensed carrier and $600 by an illegal.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why forbid such competition? State regulators would rather focus on consumer protection, she said. The WUTC would like to set up a mediation or arbitration system for disputes over such things as bills that wildly exceed estimates. It may want to make a rule on binding estimates. But as of July 22, much of the crate and entry control will probably go.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One idea is to let new movers into the industry for 180 days, inspect their consumer and safety record, and issue approved movers a license. This is revolutionary. New licenses haven\u2019t been issued for years, and many of them date to the 1940s. Under the old system a would-be mover has to buy an existing license and fight for permission to operate it. (Mike tried and was rejected.)<\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0To those on the outside, this seems unfair. \u201cI\u2019m a woman and a single mother,\u201d said Michele Marsh, owner of Northwest Moving & Packing Inc. in Ballard. She has operated for the past five years without the WUTC\u2019s blessing. \u201cI think we all deserve the right to do what we do,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a free country. I don\u2019t see why I can\u2019t do this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jack Davis, attorney for the Washington Movers Conference \u2014 the licensed movers \u2014\u00a0said he had been in the industry 36 years. \u201cTransportation was regulated because it was \u2018affected with the public interest\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0But the movers\u2019 guild could not accommodate Mike the Mover, Michele Marsh or Bruce Palm, owner of Advanced Moving Services, a pack-and-load in Lacey. Palm said the market price for a license good for moves only within Olympia is $40,000. \u201cIt\u2019s a little closed,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Several license holders spoke against free entry. Scott Creek, president of Crown Moving Co. Inc. of Seattle, said the Port Angeles market is large enough for only two movers. If someone moved in, he said, one of the two would have to get out.\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHow would that hurt the public interest?\u201d the WUTC\u2019s Dutton asked.\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe individuals who were employed in that company would no longer be employed,\u201d Creek said.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike spoke up: \u201cThat\u2019s how it works in business, folks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Philip Elrod, president of Bluebird Moving & Storage of Vancouver, was a licensed mover willing to give up the old system. There are 40 movers in the Vancouver phone book, 18 of which have no Washington or Oregon authority, he said. His WUTC license, valued on his books at $40,000, \u201cis worth nothing,\u201d Elrod said. \u201cI\u2019m tired of it.\u201d License everybody, he said, \u201cand let them play by the same rules I play by.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One mover warned that open competition would push down wages from $14 an hour to $8. \u201cIn California, there\u2019s people who use pickup trucks,\u201d said John Loidhamer of United Moving & Storage of Bremerton. \u201cIt ruins our industry because we can\u2019t afford to hire quality people.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMy guys all have a living wage,\u201d Mike the Mover replied.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Davis noted that Mike was still in a regulated market. Could he have started up in a totally free market?<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ll never know,\u201d Mike said.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0David Spellman, an attorney with the Seattle firm Lane Powell, had a final thought. Everyone else has been deregulated. \u201cHow is this industry different from roofers, plumbers, lawyer and engineers?\u201d he asked. \u201cI\u2019m a lawyer. We used to have fixed rates. We don\u2019t anymore.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He, too, had an investment in his career: $60,000 in law school tuition. Said Spellman, \u201cI have no guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Here is the story of an unlicensed mover who played the race card. It was my P-I business column of April 29, 1998.<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The hearing hit a nerve when James Albertson played the race card.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The room at the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in Olympia earlier this month was full of household movers, and they were almost all white. Albertson is black. According to notes taken by consultant Brian McCulloch, Albertson stood up and said, \u201cI don\u2019t see much diversity here among license holders.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A man replied, \u201cDon\u2019t blame me that my grandfather got a permit.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s exactly the point,\u201d Albertson said. \u201cYour grandfather got one and mine didn\u2019t. All I want is a chance to compete with you.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For moving household goods across state lines, he can. But household moving has not been deregulated inside Washington. Officially, the industry has been a closed shop for 50 years. Unofficially it has been cracked open by unlicensed movers. Albertson, 52, bought control of Sprint Moving Inc. in Tukwila and has been in business two years.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sprint and the other unlicensed movers have been so successful, and so useful to consumers, that the WUTC has said it intends to legalize them. In July it will open the door to the industry, breaking up the cartel of the past 50 years. As a first step, it has accepted Albertson\u2019s $550 application for a new permit.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The licensed movers have been able to sell their heirloom permits for as much as $50,000, a value that is based on their ability to exclude competitors. That Albertson might get a new permit for $550 is bad news for them. He and his three vans have drawn an official protest signed by 28 companies, including Blue Ribbon Moving & Storage, Cascade Moving & Storage, Crown Moving, Evergreen Moving Systems, Lincoln Moving & Storage, North Coast Moving & Storage, Star Moving Systems, Tacoma Motor Freight Service, United Moving & Storage and Worldwide Movers. And it\u2019s not just central Puget Sound companies that find him threatening. So do A.A. Star Transfer in Aberdeen and Eagle Transfer in Wenatchee.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their protest says they and the other license holders \u201care ready, willing and able\u201d to move any of th furniture that would be moved by Albertson, and that allowing him to do it would bring about \u201cunnecessary and wasteful competition contrary to the public interest,\u201d particularly in respect to \u201crates and charges,\u201d and that he is not \u201cproperly fit, willing and able\u201d to do business.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not fit? \u201cThey don\u2019t even know me,\u201d Albertson fumes. \u201cI do everything that any sensible business person does. I had $400,000 in sales last year. That means I\u2019m doing something right.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It may help prove he\u2019s not \u201cfit.\u201d Jack Davis, the attorney for the 29 licensed movers, notes that operating without a permit \u201chistorically could establish a lack of fitness.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Historically, yes. If you did not operate, you were probably not willing and able; if you operated without a permit, you were not fit. Under the new regime, this Catch-22 will be gone. The regulated rate now begins at $88.25 per hour for two movers and a truck, though unlicensed movers often discount it.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The licensed movers say rate cutting will cause companies to cut wages, cut service and use unsafe trucks. The WUTC does not agree. The state intends to regulate for consumer protection and safety, but to scrap the economic controls.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The question is now the details. Many licenses, for example, are good for some cities but not others. Seattle, Tacoma and Everett require a special endorsement, but Edmonds, Mercer Island and Kent do not. Full deregulation would mean these \u201ccommercial zones\u201d would go, too.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Albertson is asking for full statewide authority. McCulloch, an insurance broker and consultant to the unlicensed movers, searched the WUTC\u2019s records several years ago when he applied unsuccessfully for a license himself. The last mover to get statewide authority was a Yakima company \u2014 in 1948.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1949, McCulloch says, there were 208 licensed movers. Since then the state\u2019s population has more than doubled, but the number of licensed movers was recently 207. Three are black.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Albertson says he doesn\u2019t like having to remind the commission of that. \u201cI don\u2019t want it to be, \u2018We had to let him in because he\u2019s black.\u2019 I want to be let in\u00a0as a mover.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Albertson is an entrepreneur. He started his first business selling hot dogs from a pushcart in downtown Spokane. He didn\u2019t have to get permission from the other hot-dog vendors to do that, or inherit a license from his grandfather.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To his competitors, he says, \u201cWho are you to say I can\u2019t be a mover?\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Several progressives said they liked this column a lot. It was the race issue. I had highlighted \u201chistoric racism in the granting of moving permits,\u201d wrote Sarah Luthens, an anti-WTO campaigner. Actually I never proved there was any racism, though probably there was. My thought was the same as James Albertson\u2019s: he should be let in because anyone willing and able.<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Nov. 19, 1998, the Post-Intelligencer ran my final column on the movers.<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 On Monday, the state Utilities and Transportation Commission threw out the 1930s-era regulation of household movers and opened the industry to new entrants.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike the Mover wasn\u2019t there. But the man who dared a decade ago to operate openly as an unlicensed mover, and spent more than $100,000 fighting the state\u2019s enforcers, had spawned a whole industry of discount-price independent movers.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And if another label for them is\u00a0illegal<\/i>\u00a0movers, as the licensed movers kept saying, it is a label that can be read two ways. \u201cAnytime consumers are incented to seek illegal choices, something is wrong with the system,\u201d said Anne Levinson, who chairs the utilities commission.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For decades, the system allowed the members of the Washington Movers Conference to block nearly every application for a new license. Originally issued for a nominal sum, licenses became worth $50,000 and more \u2014 evidence, said the utilities commission staff, \u201cthat the current entry process is not working, and that it needs to be opened up.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Under the new rules, new entrants will be given 180 days, and then judged for safety and consumer complaints. As a test of the new rules, the commission has issued a license to James Albertson\u2019s Spring Moving & Storage of Tukwila. Albertson argued in this column April 29 that the household moving industry had become a hereditary aristocracy.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Albertson is black, and the licensed movers are virtually all white males. To the state, licensing Albertson is the perfect statement of the new regime: no more private club.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The new rules also revolutionize pricing, which has already happened in the market. The old rules, widely ignored, fixed a rate of $85.05 for a truck and two movers. The new rules allow a maximum of 15 percent above that rate and a minimum of 35 percent below it. The utilities commission chose 35 percent because in moves of state employees, four out of five movers offered discounts of 25 to 30 percent.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The utilities commission staff didn\u2019t want to set any minimum rate. It did it to mollify the Movers Conference, which raised the specter of predatory pricing.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Predatory pricing is when an established company sells below cost to drive out a weaker competitor, and recoups the loss by raising prices once the competitor is gone. It\u2019s an odd argument: The licensed carriers\u00a0are<\/i>\u00a0the established companies. In any case, if household moving is opened up, there is no way for anyone to maintain a monopoly price. Trucks are cheap, and they have wheels.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To set the new rates, the Movers Conference wanted a full-blown study, which is how the $85.05 rate was set in 1994. Speaking for the Conference, Lawrence Coniff argued that such a study would show costs have gone up and are \u201cessentially the same\u201d among competitors.\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The state refused. Staff economist Tom McLean argued that opening the market will allow in people whose costs are different. The commission agreed to open the market now and measure costs a couple of years from now.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It also agreed not to regulate movers who pack the boxes but let the homeowner drive the trucks, or that drive the trucks but let the homeowner pack the boxes. These services didn\u2019t exist when the regulations were written and have never been regulated.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Movers Conference wanted them regulated. Well, they won nothing of consequence in Monday\u2019s decision.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe whole process has been a waste of my time,\u201d said Doug Bernd, president of the Movers Conference and co-owner of Bernd Moving Systems of Spokane. Bernd said his company has been in the family for 60 years, and he had been hoping to pass it on to his children. The new system, he said, \u201cis going to basically ruin an industry.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Coniff said the reforms are radical changes (which they are), and they cannot be made without changing state law, which the Attorney General\u2019s office disputes. The Conference may file a lawsuit.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Shoreline insurance broker Brian McCulloch spoke for the Association of Independent Movers of Washington, which one opponent called \u201ca self-styled non-existent organization of illegal movers.\u201d McCulloch agreed that partial deregulation is all the state can do under the law. \u201cWe\u2019re still in favor of complete deregulation,\u201d he said. \u201cIn January, we intend to go to the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The next question will be whether his members, some of whom have been doing fine without licenses, will bother to apply for them.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In June 2023, National Public Radio did a story about how Mike the Mover had opened up the moving industry in Washington. NPR called me and they called Mike, and quoted both of us. And they got the story right.<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Legislature never did fully deregulate the home movers, but the new system was much more pro-consumer. The UTC offered Mike a license, but he told me it wasn’t for full authority, and he turned it down. He operated for another 20 years, and retired when his doctor told him he was no longer up to moving furniture. He shut the business down rather than sell it.<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>\u201c<\/span>There<\/em>\u2019<\/span>s only one Mike the Mover,<\/em>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0he told me.<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the 1990s I discovered that in the state of Washington, the home movers were operating under a regulatory set-up right out of the New Deal. Some of them were, anyway \u2014 and some weren\u2019t. This is my P-I business column of Sept. 17, 1997. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike the Mover has been running for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1089","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1457,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1089\/revisions\/1457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}