Making The Move

MoveAs I’ve said before, all of us will make a residential move at some point in our lives and needless to say before a move can occur, packing has to be completed.

Early on in our business, we arrived at a home where a client had done all of their own packing. I was really surprised to see so few boxes and asked if they had already moved some of their items. They kindly said in order to save money they packed many of their belongings in empty dresser drawers and figured it would save time.

The move ended up taking twice as long as it would have normally because as we began to try and move their bureaus, we realized glass items were clinking around inside the drawers. We had to remove the items and repack them properly in boxes. Even more interesting was the fact that they had stored an entire library of encyclopedias and National Geographic magazines in the dresser drawers. The dressers were too heavy to budge and when we opened the drawers to remove the books, the bottoms of the drawers literally fell apart from the weight. Not only did we have to repack, the client also had to pay to have someone repair their furniture.

That’s an extreme case of someone trying to avoid the expense of properly packing. Today, we still run into situations where a client doesn’t understand the liabilities of improperly packed items such as lamps, pictures, mirrors and artwork. Often times these items are purchased at a store or gallery where they are loosely boxed then put in the client’s backseat and safely driven home. The reality is that when an entire household is packed into a large moving truck, these same items need to be packed differently. Often, large and heavier, or breakable items need to be packed in wooden crates to eliminate the potential for damage.

The lesson here, think about the item to be packed; if it has value to you or your family, don’t cut corners to save a few dollars — memories and family treasures cannot always be replaced.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.