Oddly Shaped items – Extra Care
In a recent issue of Contents Solutions, we wrote about the contents pro who knew how to pull just two tabs free in order to completely remove the back from a recliner chair, making it much easier to maneuver through doorways and around corners.
But what does one do with a large chair – or even a couch – where the back won’t separate from the seat? Well, with the chair, the pros tell us to simply turn it on its side so it now resembles an “L.” Then angle the
back around the doorframe or around a corner.
The pros know this one – many guys who mean well but lack appropriate training, don’t. For a couch, the plan is much the same but this time you stand the couch up on end. If you tried to wriggle or force it through doors and down hallways any other way, you may well end up banging against walls and roughing up the fabric or
leather of the sofa. But the tall “L” shape will fit around corners very nicely – unless the couch is too tall for the opening. In that case, the pack out team members start with the bottom of the “L” and work that around and through, it gives them some extra inches to hook the top of the “L” through after.
And as for big-screen TVs. Even if you are strong enough to lift one by yourself, the contents pros don’t.
The same goes for large paintings, mirrors, etc. Why? Because they are fragile! The pros don’t take any
chances of bumping into a screen door or unseen dresser. They treat them as if they are expensive and
delicate (which they are)!
Contents valets use boxes that are just the right size for these oversized items. Usually they come
with “sleeves” that help to secure the item. But it doesn’t matter. The contents professionals always pad
and fill in all boxes so nothing rattles or shifts. Sometimes they use airbags, sometimes large pieces of foam – no matter, nothing moves in their boxes and they are well marked so they are never laid flat (always upright) and clearly marked “fragile – this side up.”
You can rest easy, contents pros don’t make “rookie mistakes” with vulnerable items.