U-Haul: Building on the Power of Relationships
For the Shoens, it’s all about trust in people and identifying with customers’ needs.
The company was founded on faith in people, says Stuart Shoen, executive VP of U-Haul and third generation in the family business. In the mid-1940s, he relates, there were plenty of trailer rental companies but none that would rent one-way. Husband and wife L.S. and Anna Mary Carty Shoen conceived of a program to serve customers needing a long haul for a one-way move, such as from Portland to San Francisco (“I think that was the first customer,” Shoen says) and wanting to do the move themselves. More...