Finding people to move students in and out of their East Lansing residences might no longer be an issue, thanks to a new moving service called Bellhops.
Bellhops is new to the area and is looking to get established.
New moving company to provide jobs for students
The company, headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn., began at Auburn University in 2011 and quickly expanded. Within the next year, the company had spread to about 120 schools.
After being repeatedly asked during college by students and their parents to help with the moving process, co-founder Stephen Vlahos and his partner came up with the idea to start a moving company.
He saw the potential for a successful moving business after he experienced the type of money that people are willing to pay for movers and the convenience of hiring someone to do the actual moving.
Vlahos said no one had any previous experience working with an actual moving company — they just put out ads at Auburn’s freshman orientation and the business took off from there.
“We moved in (about) 300 people in two to three days and parents really loved it,” Vlahos said. “That gave us the encouragement in the next year.”
Bellhops charges $40 per mover, with two workers typically involved per job. With Bellhops’ new technology, they can now track how far the move is.
The first 10 miles are free, and the charge for an additional mile is 75 cents for each bellhop, what movers use to transport luggage. Vlahos said the farthest move people do is about 30 miles away, which doesn’t happen often because Bellhops is more of a local resource.
Vlahos said hours for the job are flexible.
Bellhops tries to recruit students on campus from different organizations who have the strength to perform manual labor.
“We need them to show up on time, be ready, be courteous,” Vlahos said. “(That’s) the level of service that our customers expect based on our brand.”
Bellhops has a corporate account with U-Haul, so if a customer needs a moving truck they can simply let Bellhops know and the insured vehicle gets booked through their company account.
Vlahos is looking forward to Bellhops being at MSU because he believes the company is a service that a school of any size can benefit from.
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He hopes to eventually expand the business to every campus in the country.
“It just makes a lot of sense — there’s tons of people who want help and who need help,” Vlahos said.
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