The American Moving and Storage Association reported today that Americans were shipping 4.2 percent more household goods during the first five months of this year than during the same period in 2009. (AMSA is a storage and moving trade association, and puts consumers in touch with professional movers through its Mover Referral Service.) When AMSA looked only at items shipped by consumers, the shipments were up by 11.2 percent. During 2008 and 2009, shipping dropped dramatically, by 21.5 percent in 2009 and 18.2 percent in 2008.

The statistics suggest that more Americans are moving from one home to another again, which means that the housing market may start to pick up. Relocation tends to stimulate consumer spending in general, because people who are moving spend more money on take-out food, renovations, and household items for the new home. [More]

A Florida self storage operations director who also serves in the U.S. Navy reserves has received a promotion to commander in his reserve. Paul Feikema, the operations director for Hide-Away Storage of southwest Florida, is a veteran who has spent a total of 17 years in the Navy. Some of his years have been spent on active duty and others on reserve duty. Feikema was promoted by Captain Lewis Harrison, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Deputy Engineer, at CENTCOM Headquarters, at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The promotion was effective as of June 1. [More]