A worker with Barry Van Lines carries a box of household goods onto a moving truck on Dover Air Force Base, Del., July 16, 2021. (Nicole Leidholm/U.S. Air Force)
The Defense Department’s heightened wartime security measures at installation gates across the United States are slowing delivery of household goods as peak season for permanent changes of station begins this month, according to movers.
The heightened security measures have led to longer wait times at gates, and the moving industry is advising service members to prepare for some inconvenience when shipping or receiving household goods in coming weeks.
“If you’re scheduled to have your shipment picked up at 10 a.m., these drivers with their trucks may not be able to get on to base ‘til noon or 1 o’clock,” Katie McMichael, executive director of the Movers for America alliance, said by phone March 17.
U.S. Northern Command ordered the suspension of the Trusted Traveler Program on March 2, two days after the Trump administration launched its war on Iran.
The suspension means personnel with Defense Department identification can no longer vouch for others entering with them onto installations, and each entrant must be vetted and issued a temporary pass.
Moving trucks from San Diego-based Republic Moving and Storage are averaging 90-minute wait times at military gates because of the suspension, company CEO Bill Lovejoy said by phone on April 1.
“Some days there are lines all the way outside the gates,” he said. In the most extreme case, one of the company’s trucks waited six hours to get into Camp Pendleton, Calif., because of an emergency gate closure, he said.
“I mean, we’re ready to go,” he said. “We have a customer who wants us in there. They’re willing to come to the gate to escort us in, but the base won’t allow it.”
In January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the formation of the Personal Property Activity, or PPA, to oversee the relocation of service members’ possessions during a PCS move in response to a slew of complaints from customers and movers in recent years.
PPA spokesman Maj. Matthew Visser said in an email Thursday that the unit was aware of “potential delays” by movers accessing DOD installations.
“The PPA currently is considering all feasible options to offer solutions that mitigate impacts on industry and reduce wait times that provide greater predictability and ensure quality of service to our Warfighters and their families during the moving process while maintaining local installation-mandated security protocols,” he said.
On the East Coast, Cornerstone Moving and Storage is also dealing with long gate lines.
“I think we feel it a little bit more in this area because of the amount of bases we have,” said Caleb McCartney, vice president of the company based in Fredericksburg, Va., by phone April 3. Almost its entire business is with the Defense Department, he said.
“Sitting in line for two, three hours; you got four or five people in a truck,” he said. “Not only does it increase the cost of labor on an already very capital-intensive industry, but it also impacts the military member. We tell them we’re going to be there between 8 and 9, and we can’t get on post because there’s a backup at the visitor center of the gate. We can’t get on post until, you know, 10, 11.”
The delays make it hard for service members or their family members to plan for the arrival of moving trucks as they juggle work and school schedules, he said.
