History

Perkins Storage and Transfer Co. Inc. was founded in Brookings, SD in 1919 by George E. Perkins. In the early years of operation, Perkins operated over an eighteen state area which stretched from New York east and Montana on the west and the Canadian border north through Missouri in the south.

George had a couple of grandsons who were interested in the moving business and were trained early on in the business. Jerry Potthast and his cousin Douglas Perkins were the grandsons who operated the business after Grandfather George’s death in the early 1960’s.

In August 1989, Dennis Gerjets bought the corporation from Jerry and Douglas. Douglas retired upon selling the corporation and Jerry agreed to stay on for one year to teach Dennis the moving business. After six years, Jerry decided to semi-retire also. January 1st of 1996, Jerry decided to take life at a little more leisurely pace and only works part time for Perkins at this time.

The building at 416 3rd Avenue downtown Brookings has been home to Perkins Transfer since 1936. The building has undergone changes and remodeling but still serves the corporation well as an office, warehouse for commercial and household goods, office and a truck garage.

In October of 1996 the corporation decided to expand the scope of their operation by applying for operating authority in all lower forty eight states to carry household goods as well as freight. Perkins was granted that authority in November of 1996 and has expanded their operation nation wide.

The fleet has changed a little since 1919 from hard tired truck then to now trucks ranging from one ton box trucks straight trucks and air ride semi trucks. This has been necessary to accommodate the added business that has come along since 1989. Perkins has enjoyed steady and stable growth in the Brookings community but does business in many of the surrounding communities.

Owner Dennis Gerjets and his wife Marilyn are grateful to the people and businesses of Brookings who have used the services of Perkins and helped the company grow and prosper. Perkins has enjoyed a long history of serving the community and the responsibility as a service industry business is taken very seriously. Dennis continually attends seminars and conventions to learn more about customer service, new products and services, and of course government regulations.

In the mid 2000's Dennis decided to enjoy life away from the office more and left the day to day operations to his three children Dan, Sue (Schmidt) and Nick Gerjets.
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Perkins handles all sorts of moves, household moves, commercial moves, moves in the state, across the USA as well as local moves done on a daily basis. Perkins is equipped to handle many of the more unusual and awkward things to move such as an occasional safe, grand piano, or hot tub. The moving business is never boring because there is something different every day and new people to meet every day.

Perkins’ motto is “Moving With Care Anywhere” and the company constantly strives for excellence by providing service that is on time when promised, handling furniture as carefully as can be, and providing the personal touch.
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Again, Perkins is grateful to the Brookings community for utilizing their services and hopes to enjoy at least another 100 years of community service!

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Perkins through the years