Moving Month: Mover Highlight Wheaton World Wide Moving

For generations, Wheaton World Wide Moving | Bekins Van Lines has been one of the country's premier providers of household goods transportation services.

From humble beginnings as a small company out of Indianapolis with operating authority in only a handful of Midwestern states, Wheaton World Wide Moving steadily grew and expanded its service, becoming the first van line with operating authority in all 50 states by 1973. Separately, two brothers started Bekins Van Lines in Sioux City, Iowa, with three horse-drawn vans and 12 employees in 1891.

In a quest to provide outstanding customer service, Wheaton World Wide Moving continued to grow its service areas and capacity by acquiring other van lines, including Bekins Van Lines in 2012, Clark & Reid in 2013, Stevens Worldwide Van Lines in 2019, and Arpin Van Lines in 2020. These acquisitions resulted in a network of more than 350 agents nationwide and cemented the van line as one of the largest players in the industry – especially in the COD market.

With hundreds of years of combined expertise from all the van lines, a customer-first attitude, and a reputation for providing a great customer experience, there is no tagline more appropriate for the company than Wheaton World Wide Moving’s motto We Move Your Life.

When asked about the magic formula for its success, Wheaton | Bekins President AJ Schneider responded, “Our agents and drivers are the engine that makes it all work. Wheaton was a great company before we began partnering with our current portfolio of brands, but the addition and assimilation of the cultures and experience that each brand brought with it makes us a much stronger van line with better attention to detail and ability to provide our customers with what they need and deserve.”

In addition, Wheaton | Bekins operates as an Employee Stock Ownership Company (ESOP), so every employee has a vested interest in the company's success – and the positive experience of its customers.

Aside from the emphasis Wheaton | Bekins puts on the customer experience, the company is also heavily involved in strengthening the communities it serves. The van line’s philanthropy is wide-ranging, including partnerships with Give Kids the World Village, a nonprofit resort in Central Florida that hosts children with critical illnesses and their families for week-long, cost-free vacations, and Move for Hunger, an organization that fights hunger throughout the United States.

ATA’s Moving and Storage Conference is proud to have Wheaton | Bekins representing the industry and looks forward to facilitating even further success for the van line.

“We’re proud to be part of ATA and the broader trucking industry,” Schneider said. “We look forward to an expanding offering of services as the MSC grows and to working together with ATA and the other van lines to share best practices and work toward solving our industry’s most difficult challenges.”