Background

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Household goods movers are required to “publish” a pricing schedule called a tariff. For more than 70 years, even as the industry was experiencing deregulation, this tariff requirement has remained intact for household goods movers.

Between 1940 and 1980, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) regulated the tariff used by movers, essentially prohibiting any price differentiation. In 1980, Congress began deregulating the industry by eliminating some rate regulations and other restrictions. When the ICC was fully eliminated in 1995, the current governing body, the Surface Transportation Board (STB), was formed.

With the express approval of the STB (and the ICC before that), moving companies entered into joint ratemaking agreements through rate bureaus, such as the Household Goods Carrier Bureau (HGCB) for interstate household goods shipments. Most of the many carriers that operated from a common tariff were able to offer different discounts to the tariff rates, depending on market conditions. Congress required that the STB review these agreements every five years to make sure they still served their purpose.

This year, the STB made the decision to eliminate its approval for all remaining joint ratemaking agreements for motor carriers, including carriers in the household goods moving industry. In its decision, the STB stated its belief that jointly set rates were no longer consistent with the deregulation of the industry, and that the public interest favoring competition would be better served without collective ratemaking. As a result of the decision, moving companies will be required to establish their own price schedules after Jan. 1, 2008.