“Perfect Storm” of Peak Season Problems Draws Responses
July 1, 2010 
3 Comments
The household goods industry is currently experiencing a very difficult summer peak season. There will be lots of time to assign blame determine the causes of the numerous peak season problems, but in general it is safe to say we are seeing the perfect storm of circumstances that has led us to the current situation. Some of the causes frequently mentioned include : decreased TSP capacity, increased demand in commercial sector, new program fully implemented immediately prior to peak season, limited blackout capability, unpredictable distribution methodology, etc.
Whatever the cause, the goal now for both the TSPs and the Services seems to be focused on how to survive the summer. To that end, there have been a run of press releases and messages from SDDC and the Services issued as a response to the peak season problems. While we have linked most of these on our Twitter account, we thought it would be interesting here to compare how they explain the causes of peak season problems, and their suggested responses.
The first response to the summer problems was a June 21st directive from SDDC to PPSOs entitled GUIDANCE ON CORRECTIVE ACTIONS FOR SHIPMENT REFUSALS AND TURNBACKS (PDF Link). It was a pretty straight forward reminder of the punishment to TSPs, but it did include this interesting line:
JPPSO/PPSOS ARE ASKED TO EXHAUST ALL RESOURCES TO REAWARD IN DPS, AS REBOOKING IN TOPS SHOULD BE DONEAS A LAST RESORT.
SDDC followed that up with a press release on June 25th outlining their response to the problems. The following is a quote from Lt. Col. Derek Oliver (BTW, has anybody ever started a new job at a worse time?):
“We’re going through a very busy moving season for both military and civilian families. We’re also working with new business relationships and processes as the Defense Personal Property System becomes our primary system. We are aware and we are taking action,” Oliver said. “The servicemembers and their families’ quality of life is our top priority – after all that is the whole premise behind the Defense Personal Property Program.”
Then the Services got involved, first with the Marines sending out a message SUMMER 2010 HOUSEHOLD GOODS PEAK SEASON CHALLENGES AND QUALITY OF SERVICE ISSUES, in which they identified the cause of the problems the following way:
THIS IS A THREE-FOLD PROBLEM DRIVEN BY THERE BEING 15 TO 20 PERCENT FEWER LINE AND LONG HAUL TRUCKS AND DRIVERS AVAILABLE, A 12 PERCENT INCREASE IN MOVES ACROSS THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND HOUSEHOLD GOODS MOVING COMPANIES NOT HONORING THEIR CONTRACTS.
and then issues this direction:
MARINE CORPS PERSONAL PROPERTY SHIPPING OFFICES (PPSO) ARE AUTHORIZED TO COORDINATE WITH TRANSPORTATION SERVICE PROVIDERS (TSP) TO USE EITHER DPS OR THE TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONAL PERSONAL PROPERTY SYSTEM (TOPS), WHICHEVER IS MORE BENEFICIAL TO THE CUSTOMER, TO COMPLETE THE AFFECTED SHIPMENTS. ELIGIBLE MARINES ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONSIDER PERSONALLY PROCURED MOVES (FORMERLY KNOWN AS DITY MOVES) OR BE FLEXIBLE WITH PACK, PICKUP, AND DELIVERY DATES WHEN POSSIBLE.
The Coast Guard has also sent out a message under the subject of DELAYS IN SHIPMENT OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS (HHG). They identify the primary cause as the changing role of agents in DPS:
DPS BUSINESS RULES HAVE FORCED NEW RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TRANSPORTATION SERVICE PROVIDERS (TSP) AND AGENTS FOR PLANNING, COORDINATION AND EXECUTION OF MOVES. UNDER TOPS, COORDINATION TOOK PLACE BETWEEN THE TRANSPORTATION OFFICER (TO) AND OR THE PERSONAL PROPERTY SHIPPING OFFICES (PPSO) AND LOCAL AGENTS. THOSE LOCAL AGENTS, IN TURN, DEALT WITH AN ESTABLISHED LOCAL NETWORK. UNDER DPS, THE CRITICAL COORDINATION NOW OCCURS BETWEEN THE TSP AND LOCAL AGENTS IN WHICH ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS DO NOT EXIST.
The Coast Guard then encourages the member to schedule as far in advance as possible:
MEMBERS SHOULD SCHEDULE THEIR HHG SHIPMENTS AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS IN ADVANCE. DURING THIS PEAK SEASON, IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY THAT REQUESTED PACK AND PICKUP DATES WITH LESS THAN FOUR WEEKS NOTICE WILL BE ACCOMMODATED. IF YOU HAVE A HHG SHIPMENT SCHEDULED WITHIN THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU CONTACT YOUR TSP AND SETUP YOUR PRE-MOVE SURVEY IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ALREADY. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE YOUR REQUESTED PACK AND PICKUP DATES HAVE OR CAN BE MET.
Finally, I thought this blog post from an Air Force Chaplain about his DPS move experience was interesting. He is not having a positive moving experience, and he has his own opinion about the causes of our current problems:
It seems with the new DPS systems, carriers are tapped for a move and if they don’t accept the bid they get booted from military business for 30 days. So, they accept all moves regardless of their manpower.
And he has some solutions of his own:
Advise so far: research a good local company that has a good contact on the receiving end of your move. You have the right to ask for that company. Things should go smoother. We just allowed the government to randomly pick one. Find out who will be tracking your shipping and get their toll-free number. Learn how to log on to DPS and track your stuff. If the company doesn’t log into DPS call JPPSO or TMO and get them to badger the company until they update your information.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the summer plays out. Once the peak season is over, I have a feeling there will be a lot of interest in figuring out what went wrong, and how to prevent it in 2011.
Related Posts
- Recent DPS Problems Cause Peak Season Concerns - March 24th, 2011
- Perfect Storm Article Elicits Comments - July 9th, 2010
- DPS System Problems: Cause for Concern As Peak Season Starts - May 25th, 2011
We can all points fingers and identify a variety of actions or issues that contributed to the problems this early peak-season.
However, and regardles of what anyone would say there is no doubt in my mind and the leadership of IAM is that the number one contributer to the problems expereinced by TSPs, TMOs, as well as, the service members we all serve – is that the DPS system was taken from a 15-20% capability to that of a 70% level right at the start of the peak-season.
Once the requirement of any shipment having Personally Procued (PPM) component be forced to move under DP3/DPS it overloaded the “un-proven and untested” capabilities of not only the system but of all the stakeholders and system users. This implementation of PPM was to have taken place back in late December of ’09 or early 2010, however, for a variety of reasons the government was unable to launch the expanded capabilites in the off-season. Various delays and postponned launch dates ultimately led to the PPM launch in early May and, as predicted we started seeing problems in capacity within three weeks ultimately leading to the melt-down the last week of June.