The countdown is being felt for thousands of tenants who must leave their homes in the coming days. They struggle to find movers, who themselves are unable to meet the demand.

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“We have an unprecedented volume of calls. People call constantly for the same day or for the next day, we have never seen that! says Chantale Paquet, owner of Prix modique – moving and storage, in Quebec City.

Since affordable housing is particularly scarce this year, people have taken longer to find the rare pearl and then contact movers, she explains.

A situation that was also observed by the co-owner of the Clan Panneton, Pierre-Olivier Cyr, on the Montreal side.

“I have never had so many calls for July 1st at this stage of the year. However, we have been complete for at least 3 months! “, he says, noting the feeling of panic of these last-minute customers.

The increase in the cost of movers, which sometimes amounts to up to 50% more than in previous years for some, does not seem to scare them. “They are ready for anything, they are in a bad way,” explains Ms. Paquet.

Unable to provide

One of the causes of this problem is also the shortage of labour. Low price – moving and storage is limited to twenty moves per day, which has lost 30% to 40% of its employees and trucks.

On the side of the Quebec branch of Déménagement La Capitale, we are limited to a dozen “jobs” daily, while we have the demand to do 70, on July 1.

"But I don't have the staff. Obviously, to have the best, we had to pay the price,” says the general manager of the branch, Jean-Sébastien Bonin.

The Panneton Clan is, for its part, obliged to call on agencies in the Montreal region to meet the demand.

"But in the rest of Quebec, it's a complete and total shortage," says Pierre-Olivier Cyr.

perfect storm

The latter also explains that the movers and their customers are facing a perfect storm.

In addition to scarce and expensive labour, movers are struggling to repair their trucks or buy new ones due to parts supply issues.

Added to this is galloping inflation, which notably doubles the price of boxes, and the cost of gasoline, which has increased drastically with the war in Ukraine.

“We are planning difficult weeks for the movers, we do not want to pass the bill on to the customers. We are not even sure [of being profitable] this year, ”laments Mr. Cyr.