It all started so auspiciously. The pre packout inspection was the most thorough I've seen, he was detailed, wanted to see absolutely everything and wrote down what was going where and how. High hopes.
I even got a phone call early enough on the Friday before packout that I hadn't thought to call them yet. Confirmed the team would arrive between 8:30am-10:30am.
The team arrived well within the timeframe. There were three guys. My heart sank a bit but I cheered remembering a recent blog post I read of the packout power of three (apologies to the poster, I now can't find it amid all the packout blogging going around these days).
One guy started packing the downstairs UAB (90% of our air freight was piled in the study), one was in the kitchen working on UAB stuff there, and one guy started going through the kids' rooms packing whatever needed packing there.
Things started to go south rather quickly. Knowing the weather forecast, Terry and I each encouraged different team members to start on the outside stuff right after doing UAB because Monday would be clear but Tuesday rainy. Being ignored by people who are supposed to work for you doesn't really lead to good relations. By 5pm Monday we knew there was no way we'd finish in 2 days. And, because the movers never touched the stuff outside, Terry and I had to drag it all back into the house or shed because the deluge that would become our Tuesday was already starting.
Tuesday was rainy as predicted, and the movers brought a 4th person. Things moved a bit faster but by mid-morning we'd added a third day and I had cancelled or rescheduled all my consultations for Wednesday. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. We'll come back to this. By 5pm all the HHE was out of the house (thank you Mother Nature for the brief interlude in your deluge so the movers could actually move the boxes out of the house, we thought they would have to wait until Wednesday.) The movers wanted to quit for the day. The team lead said he was sure we could probably be finished on time Wednesday. I said "probably" wasn't enough reassurance, they needed to stay a bit longer. A bit after 6pm we all went home.
Boy, was I glad I made them stay Tuesday when 4pm Wednesday rolled around and they weren't done!
Why was I so annoyed at the extension of packout? Let's compare: Philly 1200 sq. ft. rowhome, 5 movers. St. Petersburg only HHE/UAB, no storage, 4 movers. So how anyone could expect 3 movers to pack out a 4 bedroom home full of stuff, furniture and tools is beyond me. What was the purpose of that detailed prepackout survey if it was so entirely useless? We had a full day on Wednesday. This means the move took 50% longer than expected. I don't think it unfair to say usually if someone is wrong by 50% we question that person's opinions/skills/expertise.
I know my husband's answer to the problem for next time: own less stuff. There is a tiny chance I will try out such a possibility before our next packout.
I even got a phone call early enough on the Friday before packout that I hadn't thought to call them yet. Confirmed the team would arrive between 8:30am-10:30am.
The team arrived well within the timeframe. There were three guys. My heart sank a bit but I cheered remembering a recent blog post I read of the packout power of three (apologies to the poster, I now can't find it amid all the packout blogging going around these days).
One guy started packing the downstairs UAB (90% of our air freight was piled in the study), one was in the kitchen working on UAB stuff there, and one guy started going through the kids' rooms packing whatever needed packing there.
Things started to go south rather quickly. Knowing the weather forecast, Terry and I each encouraged different team members to start on the outside stuff right after doing UAB because Monday would be clear but Tuesday rainy. Being ignored by people who are supposed to work for you doesn't really lead to good relations. By 5pm Monday we knew there was no way we'd finish in 2 days. And, because the movers never touched the stuff outside, Terry and I had to drag it all back into the house or shed because the deluge that would become our Tuesday was already starting.
Tuesday was rainy as predicted, and the movers brought a 4th person. Things moved a bit faster but by mid-morning we'd added a third day and I had cancelled or rescheduled all my consultations for Wednesday. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. We'll come back to this. By 5pm all the HHE was out of the house (thank you Mother Nature for the brief interlude in your deluge so the movers could actually move the boxes out of the house, we thought they would have to wait until Wednesday.) The movers wanted to quit for the day. The team lead said he was sure we could probably be finished on time Wednesday. I said "probably" wasn't enough reassurance, they needed to stay a bit longer. A bit after 6pm we all went home.
Boy, was I glad I made them stay Tuesday when 4pm Wednesday rolled around and they weren't done!
Why was I so annoyed at the extension of packout? Let's compare: Philly 1200 sq. ft. rowhome, 5 movers. St. Petersburg only HHE/UAB, no storage, 4 movers. So how anyone could expect 3 movers to pack out a 4 bedroom home full of stuff, furniture and tools is beyond me. What was the purpose of that detailed prepackout survey if it was so entirely useless? We had a full day on Wednesday. This means the move took 50% longer than expected. I don't think it unfair to say usually if someone is wrong by 50% we question that person's opinions/skills/expertise.
I know my husband's answer to the problem for next time: own less stuff. There is a tiny chance I will try out such a possibility before our next packout.
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