Moving Together: Two Men And A Truck’s social responsibility program

The objective of Moving Together is “to empower ourselves and our staff to act strategically for the environment and the community” on three levels:

Within our business

our people, our operations and the physical environment
In the local community

local community outreach through charity, project partnerships and sponsorship.
In the broader community

broader community partnerships, sponsorships, philanthropy and raising awareness.

Although Two Men and a Truck has demonstrated community participation, donations and sponsorships over the last 20 years, Moving Together has channelled the business’s environmental and social activities into a strategic, workable model.

Two Men And A Truck’s founder Richard Kuipers, who started the removals business from his Sydney backyard, says corporate social responsibility is becoming a part of every day business.

“There is a lot of emphasis on climate change and the environment compared to 20 years ago,” he says.

“The removals industry is dependent on transport and cardboard boxes, so we felt we needed some ideas to leverage our carbon footprint.”

Mr Kuipers also said the ability to assist local charities and organisations can go a long way in indirectly promoting the business.

“If we provide pro bono services to a charity or fundraising event, that often converts to jobs for us down the track,” he said.

“It’s difficult to measure how much of our customers hear about our business through these activities, but getting involved is a win-win situation for our staff, our company and the community.”

The Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility released a report in 2011 that found corporate responsibility programs are increasingly being attributed to positive organisational performance.

“Developing new products, services and markets as a result of CSR seems to be a happy accident for companies in Australia,” said its Managing Director Dr Leeora Black.

However, she acknowledged there is still a long way to go before corporate social responsibility is truly integrated into business strategy.

Despite this, Two Men And A Truck’s Moving Together program has become embedded in many aspects of business activities, detailed below.

Mr Kuipers envisages that many other businesses could adopt a similar model to implement their own corporate social responsibility program.

“Every business has an opportunity to give something back to its community,” he says.

WITHIN OUR BUSINESS

The nature of our industry directed our urgent attention to some very obvious environmental issues for Moving Together which formed our overall environmental approach.

Through our fleet transition plan two newer and more fuel efficient trucks have saved 2,866kg of carbon emissions per year including $1,730 in fuel costs.

With customer agreement, we have combined loads where possible, reducing trips from an on road schedule of 5 days to 3 days.

Our box buy back scheme haS reduced the purchase of new boxes over the last two years from 16,550 to 13,240 – a reduction of 3,310 new boxes.

iPads and mobile phones for drivers and estimators in the field have almost totally eliminated the use of paper for transactions and communications.

In the office we have reduced electricity costs by $2,189 from 2011/12 to 2012/13. We re-use waste paper for notes, have replaced single desktop printers with one central shared printer, and keep lights switched off where and when not in use.

Replacing individual printers with a central shared printer has reduced the number of toner cartridges used from 60 per year to 4 per year and all are recycled.

IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

As a removalist company, we take a special interest in all forms of transportation and road safety, and have participated in a wide range of community activities.

Two Men And A Truck’s team of 16 MO’vers raised over $2000 for men’s health during the month of Movember.
Sponsored and transported bikes for the Pedal for Kids Charity Bike Ride from Windsor and Berowra to Randwick for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Donated prizes for the Kindergarten Union Silent Auction to raise funds for Killarney Pre-School.

Relocated the Sydney office of the Make a Wish Foundation.

Transported $80,000 of specialised beds and three chairs donated by Body Sense Solutions to MS Australia.
Committed to transportation of stands and Daffodils on Daffodil Day, for the Cancer Council in NSW, Victoria and ACT.

Sponsored and provided transportation services for the week-long annual Gold Coast Bridge Congress.

Sponsored the North Shore Bridge Club Super Congress for the 11th consecutive year, with 400 players.

IN THE BROADER COMMUNITY

Our wider community outreach specifically targets deeper and more enduring partnerships. Our current projects in this category combine strong youth, multicultural and social justice.

ONGOING PARTNERSHIP WITH THE JUMP START FOUNDATION

What began as the annual Vanuatu Island Relay Challenge was perhaps the main inspiration in developing the Moving Together program. Jump Start, a personal training business in Cammeray organises the annual relay and regular Sydney-based fundraising events to providing literacy and numeracy resources and sporting equipment to poorly resourced rural schools in Vanuatu. Our founder Richard Kuipers and his wife Cheryl travel to Vanuatu each year to support this event. Two Men And A Truck also participates in fundraising activities and provides trucks and services for their annual Monster Garage Sale.

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ANNE FRANK EXHIBITION

Coinciding with our family’s Dutch heritage and our commitment to cultural inclusiveness and youth, the Anne Frank Exhibition in Australia has become our latest Moving Together partnership in the wider community. To date this travelling exhibition has reached 55 countries and is touring extensively in Australia in 2013 through to 2014, for which Two Men And A Truck is providing the transportation. Two Men And A Truck is also a major sponsor of the exhibition, providing funds and producing multimedia resources related to the exhibition and contemporary Australian issues that coincide with the Holocaust. Some of these resources include:

Bullying in Schools and Courage to Care: In this video Josef Vissel asks; “Would you put yourself and your family at risk to help a stranger?” Joseph was orphaned during the Second World War in Holland and believes the need for courage to help others is not isolated to times of war – it is relevant to situations we encounter every day
Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations: Australians have also endured tragedy and oppression in recent history. So, we have taken an opportunity to reflect on the plight of some Australians in a video with Rita Wenberg and Valerie Linow, who were children of the “Stolen Generation”.

Values of leadership among the heroes of Kokoda: In a video we recorded with Mosman resident Tim James, we sought his experience of the 10 day challenge walking the Kokoda Trail. Tim related the four values of those soldiers inscribed on a memorial along the trail as Courage, Endurance, Mateship and Sacrifice.