Going to New York

photo courtesy of http://ibethyap.wordpress.com

And we're off!

Today (as I write even) one of our trucks is on the road to New York City for our first interstate job. Its pretty exciting, though probably less exciting when sitting in traffic, which is bound to happen. We packed up the truck yesterday and got together some last minute paperwork. Today is the drive to and from New York with the goods.

We've had quite a few calls for instersate since we received our license. In fact, we have an on site estimate tomorrow for a move to Connecticut and we just did one for Virginia as well. We're really proud to be offering this service to customers and also very excited to see the great response we've gotten so far.

Moving Tip #4: Packing Dishes

Packing dishes can be tricky. They are often some of the most fragile things you have in your home so you want to make sure they'll make the trip from one location to another without incident.

The first thing to do it pick out a box size. There are boxes called "dishpacks" which you would think would be great for dishes, but they're just too big for the task. Plates can be densely packed so its best to use a smaller box. Items that require more packing paper such as bowls or cake stands can go in larger boxes because they will be lighter.

Once you've chosen the appropriate sized box for your goods its time to pad the bottom of the box with paper. A good way to add a cushion of paper is to take sheets of paper and crush it into a ball. Fill the bottom of the box with as many balls of crushed paper as will fit then cover them with a couple of layers of flattened paper. This method will create a nice cushion for your fragile goods.

To pack plates, wrap each in a sheet of paper. Then, place them on their edge in the box. Plates should never be packed flat. They should always be packed like you would vinyl LPs because the edges are the strongest part of the plate.

Goods like bowls, glasses, etc, that require more packing paper get the same crushed paper cushion at the bottom of the box. Well wrapped bowls can be placed inside one another and smaller goods can fill in spaces within the box. If you don't have anything small enough to fit in an empty space just fill it with paper. It is very important that your boxes be full so that the goods inside can't move around during transport.

Once you've filled your box give it a slight shake, like you're testing a birthday present to guess what's inside. If you can hear anything besides the rustle of paper open the box and add more packing paper then test it again. When you can only hear paper when you shake the box then you're good to go.

Parking Permits - Somerville

photo courtesy of www.somerville.patch.com

We charge $90 per permit to obtain Somerville moving van parking permits.

If you'd like to get the permit yourself go to the Office of Traffic and Parking at 133 Holland St. Somerville (its just outside Davis Sq.). The office is open Monday through Wednesday 9 AM to 4 PM, Thursday from 9 AM to 7 PM and Friday from 9 AM to 12 PM. To save some time when you get there, download the form you'll need and fill it out. The Office of Traffic and Parking is also where people go to pay parking tickets and get residential parking stickers so be prepared for a long wait at times. I've been there and gotten in and out in five minutes and other times I've been there and waited in line for half an hour or more. So, be prepared to take some time going through this process just in case.

Once there you'll be called up to one of the teller windows. Hand over your filled out form and get ready to pull out your checkbook. Somerville charges $40 per day per permit and $5 per parking sign. So, for example, if you are moving from one address in Somerville to another and you need permits at each location it would cost you $100 (two permits at $40 apiece and 4 signs at $5 apiece). Additionally, Somerville charges for metered spots. If you need to have us park metered spots you'll need to have those meter numbers with you before you go to obtain your moving van permit. Metered spots in Somerville cost $25 per bagged meter plus a $25 service fee.

Once your charges are determined and you pay the teller will give you signs for the trucks. They're cardboard signs with information about your permit. Keep these for us to put in the front window of our trucks on the day of the move. The actual street signs will be posted by the City of Somerville, so you don't have to worry about that part.

As for a timeline, the website doesn't list how early you need to apply for a moving van permit and calling and asking doesn't yield any better results. I would go at least 2 business days in advance to request a moving van permit, earlier in the busy summer months. You can go much earlier than that, though I once went a month in advance and it seemed to through them off. I did walk away with the permit, though.

Bed Bugs

Gross. photo courtesy of www.skinnymoose.com

 Let's get the obvious out of the way: bed bugs are gross. Really gross. Nobody wants to get bed bugs. Everyone knows they're hard to get rid of.

Now that we've covered that let's get to some information people might not know. Bedbugs are defined by the Mayo Clinic as "reddish brown, oval and flat, about the size of an apple seed. During the day, they hide in the cracks and crevices of beds, box springs, headboards and bed frames." The EPA also has pictures that can help you identify whether you have bed bugs. Symptoms vary greatly from person to person and can include severe itching, hives and blisters while others have no symptoms as at all. Bites are often red with a dark spot in the middle and are clustered around the face, hands, arms and neck.

Once you've deteremined that you have them what do you do? The EPA has quite a few suggestions on how to deal with the problem. Non-chemical treatments include washing bedding and clothing at high temperatures to kill bed bugs and treating infested articles at either high heat or very cold temperatures, though heat works better than cold in most cases. The EPA also suggests using mattress, box spring and pillow encasements to trap the bed bugs.

Bed bugs can also be treated chemically in coordination with the non-chemical methods. The EPA has registered over 300 products to combat bed bug infestations. The agency has even created a bed bug product search tool to help consumers pick the right product for their situation. You'll probably also want to consider a pest professional. They have access to chemicals and methods you may not as a consumer.

The best offense is a good defense, to steal a sports term. Prevention is the best way to deal with bed bugs, not getting rid of them after the fact. If you buy second hand furniture be very careful. Check the fabric particularly. When you travel (increased travel is the likely cause of the spike in bed bug cases happening over the last few years) check your room for bed bugs before you unpack and when you come home put everything in the wash immediately. This goes for domestic travel just as much as international travel.

So, what do we do to help insure you don't get bed bugs when you move? After all, we move a lot of stuff and it stands to reason some of those people may have bed bugs. The most important thing we do is use stretch wrap. This protects furniture in many ways. It safe guards against scratches and dings and it keeps moisture and other environmental factors out. Stretch wrap is applied in your home or office before it enters our truck, so your goods and everyone else's goods don't touch the inside of our box trucks. We also regularly purchase new moving pads and get rid of the old ones, which dramatically decreases the the likelihood of infestation. Another important step in maintaining a bed bug free environment is cleaning the trucks. All four of our trucks are cleaned at the end of each job and get a thorough going over once a week.

These three measures do the most to prevent against bed bug infestations. We take it a step further, however. We've recently begun using a bed bug preventative spray called Rest Easy. It is an essential oil based spary that we use on the boxes of our trucks once a week to further elminate the chance of bed bugs. We like that it is safe to use around people and is free of pesticides so we don't have to worry about gassing off periods or any side effects.

That's the skinny on bed bugs and how we deal with that potential problem. Here's hoping you never need to deal with this problem in your own life!

Interstate update

Things are moving along swimmingly as we work to get ready to start our interstate work. All the important forms have been ordered and we're completing our fleet card applications. We should be ready and rarin' to go before our self-imposed April 1st deadline (we wanted to give ourselves ample time to get everything in order).

One thing that's important for YOU to do before you begin preparing for an intestate move is to check out Protect Your Move. Its a very informative, if dry, article about what your mover must do and what you must do, including definitions, a moving checklist and insurance information, among other useful topics. It sure doesn't make for an exciting Saturday night, but it will do a lot to dispel any unease you feel about the process of moving. The more aware you are the more likely you are to choose a reliable moving company, which makes moving less stressful.

Do you have an upcoming interstate move? If so, give us a call at 617.864.0620 or e-mail us at help@intelligentlabor.com and we can begin the estimate process with you. We're excited to get going!

Parking Permits - Brookline

Obtaining a parking permit for the town of Brookline is a pretty straight forward afair. As usual, if you would like us to get the permit for you we charge $90/permit in Brookline, which includes going to get the permit, the cost of the permit and putting it up.

If you would like to take care of the permit yourself the first thing you do is go to 333 Washington St. in Brookline, which is the Brookline Town Hall. On the 4th floor is the Transportation Division, which where you will both pay for and pick up your "no parking" signs. Sometimes the office doesn't seem very well staffed, but someone always comes out to help and they're very nice there.

photo courtesy of http://brookline.patch.com

Each sign costs $5, so you'll be paying $10 for two. In addition to the sign fee, you'll have to pay $7.50 per meter space if the truck will be occupying meter spaces during your move. You will have to put the signs up yourself. Per the Town of Brookline, signs cannot be put up until after 7 pm the night before the move (its possible its 5 PM. The town issued signs and paperwork will state this information). You can request a parking as far in advance as you'd like, but the signs can't go up until the night before. So far, this short time line hasn't caused any problems, but its good to be aware and check the space as early as possible the next day to make sure no one is parked there. Also, be aware that the office is not open on weekends, so if you have a Monday move scheduled you'll need to go get your signs on Friday the latest.

If you have any further questions, either specific to your particular move or about information that wasn't covered here, you can call the Transportation Division at 617.730.2177.

Interstate!

After six long months of filing paperwork, reading rules, making phone calls, and generally worrying about the state of our application we have finally been approved by the Federal government to begin traveling across state lines with our trucks and your goods. That's right, we're now approved for interstate moves!

This is very exciting news for us and we're working hard to get the last pieces in place before we start doing out of state moves. We think we'll be ready by April 1st, so if you've got an out of state move planned for April 1st or after give us a call. We're going to focus on the Eastern Seaboard at first as we know it well and it won't put our drivers too far afield, but we may extend our range at some point.

So, give us a call at 617.864.0620 or e-mail us at help@intelligentlabor.com about your up coming long distance move so we can talk about it!

photo courtesy of www.diomedia.com

Back from vacation

Well, two weeks away certainly felt good. And that picture from the last post almost does what we saw justice. Almost.

Anyway, back to blogging about moving and moving related topics in posts to come. Not that I couldn't go on and on about vacation but people who didn't get two weeks in the sun probably wouldn't appreciate that.

We've got some big news coming up for our company. When we're ready to share it the news will show up here, on our twitter account, our website, etc. We're pretty excited about it...