TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --
When service members get orders to move to a new duty
station in another state, or across the globe, Uncle Sam pays for it, but it’s
up to them to make sure their household goods, cars and other personal “stuff”
get there, too.
If their move is into or out of nine Central Oklahoma
counties, they’re likely to meet or talk to Tinker Air Force Base’s Jay
Falkner, Ronald Jackson and Marsha Whitmire.
The 72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron employees are the
quality assurance team of the Personal Property and Passenger Movement Section
in Bldg. 469.
Their jobs involve customer service first. They’re also
troubleshooters, umpires in disagreements between property owners and moving
companies, quality inspectors and, lastly, a welcome friendly face during
stressful moves.
“I’ve been to a member’s home where the wife – I felt so
bad for her – she’s got two little kids, and she’s standing in the kitchen and
she’s just drained,” said Mr. Falkner, quality assurance specialist/inspector.
“I walk by and say, ‘It’s going to be OK.’ She kind of perked up a little bit
and said, ‘Yeah, I get it. It’s just really hard.’
“It makes us feel good that we do help our members,” Mr.
Falkner added.
Mr. Falkner and Mr. Jackson are quality assurance specialists
and inspectors who work in tandem with Ms. Whitmire, the section’s expert
quality assurance administrator.
Mr. Falkner and Mr. Jackson drive to homes, apartments and
other locations to inspect moves in progress.
In fiscal year 2015, the trio handled 1,774 household
shipments of military members leaving or arriving in central Oklahoma. While
they can’t personally be at every move, they are the designated troubleshooters
and local contacts for every one of them.
They also handle re-weighs of truck shipments to compare a
weight, for example, that was recorded in Germany to its weight arriving in
Oklahoma, among other duties. Since the weight of shipments is a major factor
in cost, the method has saved the government money by finding that a shipment
weighs less when it arrived than when it was recorded initially.
“By proving weight never there, we’re reducing costs,”
Section Chief Christopher Fellows said. Overall cost-saving measures since
fiscal year 2013 have saved the government $844,454.
“We’ve taken that information and passed it on to regional
office, which covers over 30 bases,” Mr. Fellows said. “They benchmarked what
we had done here and through recent implementations elsewhere saved over
$650,000 in just a few months.”
The Department of Defense contracts with private companies
for national and international personal property moves. A key part of the two
men’s jobs involves making sure the companies are meeting their contractual
obligations and delivering good service.
While visiting a move in progress, they’ll go over a long
checklist with the people moving to ensure important aspects have been
addressed.
Ms. Whitmire also fields calls as part of her job putting
together inspection information that Mr. Falkner and Mr. Jackson collect. The
PPPO reports the information to the regional Joint Personal Property Shipping
Office at Joint Base San Antonio, which contracts with the companies.
Bad moves do happen. A moving truck recently arrived
looking as if a couple of teenagers haphazardly tossed the member’s belongings
in the back.
The quality assurance section doesn’t hesitate to send
official letters of warning to companies that do a bad job. Too many of those
bad reports can lead to suspension.
“The system is responsive,” said Jerome Smith, lead
traffic management specialist. “If you’re not meeting the industry standard,
you will be weeded out.”
The inspectors also ensure that military members aren’t
asking movers for services that are not part of the movers’ contracts. Crating
certain items is routine, but some property owners will want items crated that
don’t need to be with modern non-crating options. Unnecessary crating also
costs more for the government.
“Sometimes we have to talk to the members and say, ‘No,
this is contractual,” Mr. Falkner said. “This is all they’re going to do and
you have to understand.’”
For military members “on the move,” the office provides
checklists, inventory lists, brochures, do’s and don’ts and plenty of other
tips on Department of Defense websites, such as Move.mil.
So what is the PPPO team’s single biggest piece of advice
for people moving? Despite the DOD paying for it, it’s still your move.
“Take ownership of it,” Mr. Fellows said. “This is your
stuff, take care of it. Keep an eye on it and make a complete inventory. If you
feel overwhelmed, call time out and give us a call and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t
working for me.’
“Our mission is to provide customer service and
to have a passion for customer service,” Mr. Fellows said. “And the quality
assurance folks are out there in the field making sure that happens.”