Spring 2009 Issue
Posted: April 20, 2009
Continental Van Lines
Special Deliveries in a Growth Market
Thanks to Virginia and Greg Blaine, owners of Seattle-based Continental Van Lines, we can finally conclude that 2008 might not have been the unmitigated business disaster that it so often seemed like. Because, just barely, it appears that more people were still moving into Washington State during 2008 than were moving out.
Virginia and Greg provided Seattle Industry with access to inbound-outbound migration data compiled by the UniGroup, a national consortium of moving companies with which Continental is affiliated. In 2008, according to UniGroup data, 50.3% of all moves in Washington were inbound while 49.7% were leaving.
That’s no great shakes compared with Oregon, with a 56% inbound rate, or the District of Columbia. In the era of the bailout, it seems only fitting that Washington, DC had a higher inbound rate than any of the 50 states, 62.1%.
But, 50.3% feels pretty good when you consider the outbound rate for New York, where 57% of the moves were fleeing, or Michigan, with a 59.4% so-long rate, or Indiana, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Maine, and Nebraska, which were all on the negative side of the migration survey.
Alabama, North Carolina, and Nevada were among the strongest inbound states, with Nevada the best one, no doubt because of all the empty houses now available there cheap.
Let’s assume 2009 might be better as Continental marks its 55th year in business.
The company was founded in 1954 by Virginia and Greg’s stepdad, Eugene Hundley, who worked at that time for a company that transported freight from Seattle to Anchorage and other Alaska ports.
The opportunity came about because the US Army was looking for a company to move household items for military families stationed in Alaska. Hundley first went to a potential partner who wanted nothing to do with such work because of the emotional complications that can come up when moving families.
For those of us not engaged in the moving business, a move might seem like a move. But for those who are in the moving industry few things are more different than moving households or cargo.
“Freight doesn’t talk, but people do,” explains Virginia. “When you are moving people’s personal possessions, you are dealing with items with very high sentimental value and moving can be very stressful. When you are helping a family move, you sometimes have to think like a therapist or a family counselor.”
But the opportunity to get into the business of moving families appealed to Hundley. He pursued and won the Army contract, and Continental Van Lines was born, eventually establishing a customer base throughout Puget Sound and Alaska.
Virginia and Greg went to work for the company while they were in high school, and two of Greg’s sons, Joseph and Robert, also work there, representing the third generation of the family to work for Continental.
The company recently changed its national affiliation to Uni- Group, the parent company of Mayflower Transit and United Van Lines. With the change, Continental is the Mayflower mover for Seattle and Tacoma, and the United Van Lines mover in Alaska.
The affiliation includes access to UniGroup’s monthly migration survey, which traces people’s comings and goings for every state in the union.
Where were our inbounders inbounding from? California was the largest state for new Washingtonians, accounting for 1,491 inbound moves, followed by Texas with 703, Arizona with 377, and New York and Virginia at about 300 each. California and Texas were also the top destinations for those leaving Washington, with 1,172 and 643 moves respectively. Virginia nearly matched Arizona for third, with 292 moves to homes in, no doubt, the outskirts of Washington, DC.
