Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Tucker.
Jason, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2012 we began our relationship with U-Haul, renting trucks and moving equipment from behind the counter at the storage facility in Acworth. We were fortunate to have Gerald Dempsey as our Area Field Manager, who had been with U-Haul for 25 years, and knew all things U-Haul. The dealership grew, with the help of unedited reviews from our customers, It was rewarding in that respect, because customers began coming in and asking, “are you Jason?” and when I would answer in the affirmative, they’d do the “Whew!” thing and say, “Good, we’re in the right place. After reading your reviews, I said, ‘we’re going to see HIM'”
Gerald continually urged me to offer MovingHelp, which is an online marketplace to assist customers with finding labor. I finally decided to take the leap, taking care of the necessary paperwork, advertising for strong, dependable guys, and discussing my expectations of them on the job. Two of our most successful hires ended up being KSU students from the Delta Chi fraternity. The word spread that we pay a decent wage for good work and soon we had hired many more or their brothers, who were now working less time for more money, freeing them up to study and pursue community and other civic activities. I had heard that moving is ranked about 3rd after death and divorce in terms of traumatic lifetime events, and I really wanted the team to keep that in mind when interacting with our customers. I’d seen it first-hand just during truck rentals. I’d also had many customers who had hired movers share their bad experiences with me and was determined not to be ‘those guys’. Even if the customer is moving into their dream home after years of hard work, there’s always a palpable level of angst. Being aware of this and doing everything to alleviate that stress during the move is our goal. This whole approach with the customers seems to have ultimately paid off. It’s a great feeling assisting our customers while simultaneously hiring and helping our team members achieve their academic goals by offering flexible schedules and a wage equal to their experience and strength. We were called upon to assist during a flood at a local assisted living community, a job that spanned two months. It was an amazing feeling sending our teams over knowing that they didn’t require any special instruction on how to be kind and respectful to the residents. Recently we had the opportunity through Bert’s Big Adventure to help a young boy with cystic fibrosis in Charleston, SC, by delivering and assembling a donated Batman themed bedroom suite. 14 of our guys volunteered for this job knowing it was unpaid. That alone may have felt almost as good as seeing the smile on the young man’s face when he saw his new bedroom!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been rough here and there. There’s a lot of moving parts during a move and there have been more than a few challenges. For instance, in our enthusiasm to help at the assisted living center, we ultimately had 28 men and women working on the job in shifts. The facility was owned by a large corporation and they had a lengthy approval protocol when paying contractors, etc. We were left unprepared initially when it came to payday. Lesson learned. It was also a challenge as we grew from something I was doing in addition to my regular work to needing to bring in my partner, Rich Woolery, full time so that we always had management on each site communicating with the customer. And staffing, staffing, staffing. With “next-day” availability, sometimes getting the right crew at the right time can be difficult. Closings are delayed, pushed-back, rescheduled, and we can go through several crews trying to accommodate the customer depending on who’s available and when.
And there’s the occasional piece of furniture that crumbles upon contact that must be repaired/replaced. Having a background in construction and woodworking has been a real blessing.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Acworth Advantage Movers – what should we know?
I don’t know if it’s a specialty, but we stay until the job is complete. We’re often hired to finish jobs that other moving companies left unfinished. “They said the two hours were up and left.” We don’t over-book or take on jobs that we’re unable to get done. If the customer can only afford the initial 2 hours, we will work with them before we start to find out what their priorities are and what they expect to be done in the allotted time. We also place and reassemble. I think what I’m most proud of is our team. We hear horror stories from our customers during the course of our work about mistreatment, misrepresentation, over-charging and damage. To a man, I don’t think anyone on our team would even consider conducting themselves in such a way. I don’t feel it’s something that we teach them, I think it’s a quality that they have and that is evident before we even hire them.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Communication and honesty. And a drive to get the job done right.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3840 Jiles Road, # 1017
- Website: acworthadvantage.com
- Phone: 4045837196
- Email: acworthadvantage@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/acworthadvantagemovers
- Facebook: facebook.com/acworthadvantage
- Twitter: twitter.com/acworthadvanta1
- Yelp: yelp.com/acworthadvantagemovers
Image Credit:
Jason Portrait/Group: Patrick “Sulli” Sullivan
All others: Rich Woolery
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
