Moving Companies Deliver Through High-Tech Services.

• Author: GRENN, BEN

The moving industry is jumping on the technological band-wagon, using computers to do much of the work, saving customers valuable time when hiring commercial movers to pack up offices or households.

Tracey Rozell, vice president of sales and marketing for AAA Moving & Storage in Anchorage, says her company uses the latest equipment in technology from TechMate International, which aids the moving and storage business. AAA Moving and Storage is the only moving company in Anchorage to use the TechMate system. Components called LoadMate and SalesMate are two programs that have changed the face of moving.

"We haven't figured out how to replace the muscle end of it yet," said Rozell, half-jokingly, "but we're working on that.

"We still need manual labor to load and unload vans and drive them to and from their destinations, but almost everything else is pretty much done through this relatively new program," said Rozell.

LoadMate is one of the moving industry's most popular automated inventory systems. It has been serving the moving business since 1990. In addition to providing an itemized list of articles to be moved, movers note the condition of the items on the LoadMate software. It's companion, SalesMate, allows for a more detailed computerized survey and shows what's being moved and the weight of shipment moved. It can also calculate out price.

Moving from Alaska to overseas? Not a problem. A multi-language optional feature of TechMate can save you time and money. Inventories may be taken and printed in French, German or Spanish.

The TechMate system uses a hand-held wand (TELXON)[R] that scans pieces of furniture and boxes and gives the agency the weight of the items. The weight is pre-calculated, based on the average weight of the boxes, determined by the contents of the boxes. The survey is taken using the wand PTC-600 computer and a bar-coded household goods survey template. The salesperson simply scans the mode of transport (road, sea, storage, air, local, etc.), then scans all the articles in each room. A single scan is all that is needed to change from one mode of transport to another or from one room to another.

SalesMate then produces a detailed room-by-room survey for each mode of transport that can be printed at the residence or business on a portable printer. The survey itemizes the weight of boxes and furniture, and the cost to ship the items.

"For example," continued Rozell, who has been with AAA for two years, "the computer knows...