Verification Methodology

Directory counts as of August 18, 2026. Methodology version 1.1.

The USMPO 8-Point Audit

Every carrier considered for verified status is audited against eight checks. A carrier must pass all eight. Failing any single check disqualifies the carrier from verification, regardless of performance on the others.

Point 4 does the most work of the eight. A broker pays the same $300 federal application fee as a carrier (49 CFR Part 360) but owns no trucks and never takes possession of a shipment. Requiring company-owned equipment is what separates the company that moves your belongings from the company that sells your phone number.

Additional Requirements for Verified Status

Passing the 8-point audit establishes eligibility. Verified carriers must also:

1. Operating History: Confirm at least 2 years of continuous operation in the moving industry.
2. Pricing Audit: Compare submitted rates with actual customer charges across 10 randomly selected jobs.
3. Agent Interview: Conduct a formal interview with company leadership to assess commitment to ethical practices.
4. Rate Submission: Require carriers to submit official rates and tariffs for transparent publication.
5. Code of Ethics Agreement: Require carriers to agree to and sign the USMPO Code of Ethics.

Data Sources

Every listing draws on the sources below. Each entry states what that source contributes and how often it is refreshed, so a reader can judge how current any given field is.

Consumers can independently check any carrier's federal record: registration and safety data at FMCSA SAFER, and household goods complaint history at FMCSA's public mover lookup. We link to the federal record rather than asking readers to take our word for it.

How Caution Flags Are Set

A listing carries one of three states. The rule that sets it is stated here rather than left to judgment:

• USMPO Verified — passed all eight audit points and the additional requirements above.
• Neutral — listed from federal data, not audited, no flag triggered. This is the default and applies to most of the directory. It is not an endorsement and not a warning.
• Caution — a broker or carrier with a high FMCSA complaint history, or a BBB rating below C‑.

Ongoing Monitoring

Verification is not a one-time event. USMPO continuously monitors verified carriers through:

• Regular complaint data analysis
• Periodic pricing audits
• Customer feedback collection
• Insurance status monitoring
• Safety record review

Verified carriers that fail to maintain USMPO standards may have their verification status suspended or revoked.

Independence and Funding

USMPO is a non-profit consumer protection organization. Two disclosures matter for reading anything on this site:

• MoveSafe is a commercial partner. MoveSafe is a separate legal entity that operates a booking platform, and USMPO-verified carriers may be connected to consumers through it. USMPO holds consumer protection data; MoveSafe holds booking and payment operations. USMPO reads MoveSafe carrier data and never writes to it.
• Verification is not for sale. A carrier cannot buy a passing audit, and no commercial relationship suspends a Caution flag. The 8-point audit is applied identically to carriers on the MoveSafe platform and carriers with no relationship to it.

Corrections and Disputes

Any company listed in the directory can challenge what we publish about it:

• Claim your profile. A carrier can claim its directory listing at create a company profile. Claims are reviewed by a USMPO administrator before anything changes; profiles are never created or altered automatically.
• Respond to a complaint. Companies may respond to any complaint filed against them, and the response is recorded alongside it.
• Correct a factual error. Reach us through contact. Where a listing is wrong on the facts, we correct it and the federal source is cited.

Complaint records that originate with FMCSA are federal records. USMPO does not control them, and companies wishing to challenge a duplicate or fraudulent federal complaint must do so through the NCCDB, which provides that mechanism directly.

Limitations of This Methodology

What our conclusions do not establish:

• Verification is not a guarantee of outcome. It establishes that a carrier met a documented standard at the time of audit. It does not predict how any individual move will go.
• Absence of complaints is not proof of good conduct. Most companies in any given year have no federal complaints at all, and a company too new or too small to have generated complaints will look identical to one that has earned a clean record.
• Complaint counts are not size-adjusted by default. FMCSA cautions that larger companies handle more moves and are therefore more likely to accumulate complaints. Raw counts should be read alongside fleet size.
• Federal complaint data is a lagging indicator. Complaints are filed after harm occurs, and a company that changes its name or registers a new entity begins again with an empty record.
• Not every mover is in scope. USMPO tracks companies with a USDOT number engaged in interstate household goods transport. Intrastate-only movers regulated solely at the state level are outside this dataset.
• We do not scrape social media as evidence. Consumer forum and social posts may point us toward a company worth auditing, but they are not treated as verified findings and are never the sole basis for a Caution flag.