"Every month, nearly 1,500 New Yorkers move with Moishe's, for a variety of reasons... Moishe's bright-red trucks are so conspicuous around the five boroughs that TV and movie crews are beginning to use them as symbols of the city.

One doesn't think of moving companies' having a corporate hierarchy, let alone one in which ex-foremen can move up, but every man in this company's offices and on its--yes--management team has served time on the trucks. The empire, which includes residential and commercial moving, a leasing company set up to handle the trucks, mini-storage and document-storage affiliates, and real-estate holdings, will do upwards of $12 million in revenue this year, of which, Moishe says, at least $7.5 million will come from moving.

There are two parts to Moishe's basic sales pitch. One is the 'educated young people' with the hardworking mentality. The other is the advantages of size and volume. In a tougher competitive situation, (a foreman) would point out that when a truck breaks down, there are 32 others to be plugged in as replacements and three full-time mechanics on staff; that with a large staff it's easier to match the right foreman to a job; and that a bigger, richer company is better equipped to resolve damage claims.

.....before Moishe exploded onto the scene, the Metropolitan Moving and Storage Association (M.M.S.A.), a trade group, did do a customer survey. It sampled 240 customers of 43 different companies; 84 percent rated their move fair to excellent--a figure about equal to my sampling of Moishe's customers--but only 47 percent would use the same mover again. Eighty percent of those I surveyed were willing to use Moishe's again."