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MacCosham retires |
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In 1957, at the age of 72 years, Vic MacCosham was prepared to retire, but was far from ready to give up on an establishing MacCosham coast to coast. He hated imposing debt on the firm, but agreed to let his 15 managers have the company through a form of leveraged buy-out, long before leveraged buy-outs became common. In exchange, they agreed to use his renowned reporting structure and follow his maxims to the letter. |
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The new order bound to a conservative long-term debt policy, was thrust into a vastly different market from what the founder had ever experienced. Fierce competition for moving contracts was building across the country as new technologies improved the cost efficient of long distance hauling and for commercial warehousing work as the railways threatened to handle their own freight contracts, a significant portion of MacCosham's operations. Convinced that quality service would win out, the firm went after its share of the market by developing a long-range plan that would eventually position MacCosham as the only Canadian-based independent in the country. It took its first step with the opening of an office in Kingston, Ontario in 1958. |
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 When the railways took over their freight contracts, it was its moving division, combined with its solid financial stability and the entrepreneurial spirit of its employees, that helped MacCosham overcome the devastating blow. Many of its competitors were unable to adjust and fell by the wayside. Eager to make the most of the company's now flourishing moving operations, the firm went on to establish offices in British Columbia, and further expanded into Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchwan.
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By the end of the war Mr. MacCosham had shut down his stables and turned to the more modern International Harvester trucks to deliver a larger payload, greater distances. But dirt prairie roads often made long distance service impractical. A line haul could involve hours of travel in compound low gear and perilous river crossings on ferries that could barely take the weight of a fully loaded furniture van. |
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Moving Made Easy |
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The company continued to follow the successful pattern set by founder Vic MacCosham by only purchasing companies on well-travelled moving routes with a solid customer base and expert staff. Backed by innovative products such as wooden crates, specialty boxes for packing delicate items and climate controlled drone boxes for transporting plants, MacCosham's continued to build its empire utilizing the "Moving Made Easy" slogan in the 1970s. |
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