Graduation Schedule 2011

photo courtesy of http://www.aps.org/publications/capitolhillquarterly/200805/education.cfm

Boston and the surrounding area are known for the amount of colleges and universities shoved into a small amount of square miles. Whether you love it or hate it about the area most of the year you'll definitely despise it if you plan to move on commencement day and didn't realize it.

To avoid such unhappy mistakes, here's a list of colleges and universities and their commencement dates and locations so you can plan your May move accordingly. Just get through the graduations by imagining how quiet and peaceful the city will be all summer...

- Boston schools
Northeastern              May 6th            10:30 AM           TD Garden  
MGH Institute           May 13th           2:00 PM             Hynes Convention Center
MCPHS                     May 14th           10:00 AM          Seaport Convention Center
Emerson                    May 16th           12:00 PM           Citi Performing Arts Center
Mass Art                    May 20th           1:00 PM            Evans Park (Mass Art Campus)
Suffolk                       May 21st           9:30 AM            Westin Copley Place
Suffolk Law               May 22nd          9:30 AM            Boston Convention Center
Boston University      May 22nd          1:00 PM            Nickerson Field and all over BU (and Camb.)
Boston College          May 23rd           10:00 AM          BC campus
UMASS                     June 3rd             9:30 AM            UMASS campus

- Cambridge schools
Harvard                      May 26th           2:30 PM             Harvard Yard
MIT                            June 3rd             9:30 AM            Killian Court (Mem. Drive)

- Medford
Tufts                           May 22nd          9:00 AM            Tufts campus

Keep in mind that these are all STARTING times for the ceremonies. Traffic and ensuing headaches will start much sooner than that. Also, this is by no means a comprehensive list of all the schools in the area and their graduation dates. If you don't see a college of university on here but you know you'll be moving to or from that general area check out their school website for dates and times.

Parking Permits - Boston *CHANGE IN PROCEDURE*

Well, things sure have changed in Boston City Hall as far as parking permits are concerned. Where you go and what you do is the same but the fees and insurance are different.

First of all, you will no longer need a street bond letter from us to get a moving van permit. The City will be self-insuring so the bond is unnecessary. This means that you can walk in yourself, without any paperwork from us, and get a moving van permit. You'll still need the length of truck from us, though.

The other big change is the fee. Since the City will be self-insuring they're raising the base rate of permits from $20 to $50. This does not include meters, truck lengths or multiple day permits. This also means that we now have to change what we charge to get a permit for you. Where we previously charged $90 for the service (including all fees) we will now be charging $150 (including all fees). If you have any questions about this you can always ask us.

Moving Tip #5: Who to rent a truck from and what to rent with it

photo courtesy of http://www.curatormagazine.com/brianwatkins/notes-from-a-budget-truck/

We are frequently asked if we will load or unload trucks instead of doing the whole move from origin to destination. We do moves like this all the time. Of course, we do have some strong preferences about who to rent from if anybody ever asks us for recommendations.

Not all truck rental companies are created equal. Some are excellent, some you want to stay away from. Our go-to truck rental place is Budget. Specifically, Anderson Automotive in Arlington, MA. Budget locations take great care of their trucks and any truck they own is only on the road for a certain number of miles/years. The other really good place to rent from is Penske. They take similar care with their vehicles.

We're not big fans of U-Haul, however. Yes, they're often cheaper, but there's a reason for that. They do not maintain their fleet like Budget and Penske do so you're more likely to have a bad ride or experience some sort of trouble. Obviously, that's not always going to be the case and we know plenty of people who have rented from U-Haul with no problems, but we've also heard about more problems with them than with the other two companies combined.

Once you've decided on a truck rental company and rented a truck you'll want to consider insurance and rental equipment and supplies. Truck rental insurance is a really good idea. We counsel anyone who asks us to get the full package, as much insurance as they will let you purchase. The insurance comes into play should there be an accident of any kind. For instance, Budget says that if you do not have their protection plan "you are responsible for any damage or theft of the equipment up to its full value (as much as $30,000 or more), whether or not you are at fault." This does not include any bodily harm to either you, your passenger or anyone else involved. Each company has various plans to cover your cargo, damage and personal injury. Its a really good idea to read through the options for whatever company you rent from and choose the right option for you.

You can also rent equipment and supplies with your truck rental. Probably the most important moving supply you'll want to get your hands on is furniture pads/moving blankets. These will be used to protect your furniture from dirt, scratches, etc. during moving. You might also want to consider renting a hand truck or two wheeler. Two wheelers can certainly make your move go faster, especially if there's a long walk involved at some point. Other moving supplies, like boxes, tape, bubble wrap, etc, are also for sale through truck rental companies, but these can often be found cheaper elsewhere.

If you'd like us to load up a rental truck for you or unload a truck at your new address we'd love to help you. If you have any questions about rentals, including what size to rent, let us know.

photo courtesy of http://timdr.com/blog

Parking in towns that don't issue moving van permits

In Boston and some surrounding towns the city government allows for moving van permits. These are signs that are put up in front of the requested address on the designated day so that there's room for a moving truck to park and load or unload goods. Boston, Cambridge, Brookline and Somerville offer these moving van permits. Allston, Brighton, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Hyde Park and other neighborhoods associated with Boston fall under the City of Boston's jurisdiction for moving van permits.

Many other cities don't offer this. Most of the time it is because its generally not a necessity due to either abundant street parking or a high number of driveways. The more suburban you get the more likely you are to find a lack of moving van permits.

For instance, Arlington, Lexington, Malden, Medford, and Newton do not offer moving van permits. Generally we don't find not having a moving van permit in these or similar towns to be a problem. However, if you know that the address you are moving into or out of has particularly difficult street parking you can either park your own car in a spot and move it when we arrive or kindly ask your neighbors to find other spots for a few hours while we move you.

Police details are available in special circumstances in all towns, but that's a topic for another post!

Bridgehouse Shelter for Homeless Women and Children in Lynn

Tomorrow we're helping out with the fundraiser for Bridgehouse Shelter for Homeless Women and Children in Lynn. The staging company we regularly work with is donating their plants for the event's stage and we'll be the ones dropping them off and picking them up. Its a great cause and we're so pleased to be helping out.

Though the show is sold out (yeah!) you can still donate to the shelter through the Lynn Shelter Association. With the economy the way it is and the recent budget cuts all shelters could use our help if we can give it.

Protecting your basement goods when there's wet weather

Below is a really helpful article on protecting the goods you keep in your basement by Intelligent Labor and Moving's owner, Ezekiel, that originally appeared in a real estate newsletter. 

photo courtesy of http://www.inspectapedia.com/interiors/Basement_Water.htm

Water in your basement can be a real disaster, particularly if like most people, your basement is disorganized and full of stuff. Here are some tips for organizing your basement to minimize the damage, and even with the absence of moisture, make your basement a friendlier and more useful place.

Elevate. Get everything off the floor. Wood, cardboard and chipboard all wick water upwards when they get wet, so even if just the bottom of something gets damp, it's likely to ruin the rest of it. Shipping pallets are a great and economical way to do this. They are commonly available for free or cheap. Try the want-advertiser, craigslist, or just look behind commercial buildings for a bunch leaned up by a dumpster. Stacking goods on these keeps them about 3 inches off the floor. Also, with a flash-light, you'll be able to check for water without having to move anything. Also, leave a 2 inch gap between items and exterior walls (they give off moisture).

Organize. Get some folding tables, use these to get important items far off the floor and as a place to do some organizing. With a good work surface you'll be able to go through all those boxes of stuff, organize it, and re-box anything you want to keep. Having a spot you can sanely go through things makes the task much easier, and therefore more likely to happen.

Sweep. The difference between having a basement with a layer of mud, and a basement with a little water in it is the dust that accumulates in your basement. Sweeping in a dusty basement of course causes a terrible dust cloud which settles on everything and ends up in your lungs, but there's a solution. Get some sweeping compound, it's readily available from a number of online sources. You spread it around where you'll be sweeping. It prevents dust from becoming airborne, and pulls dust out of porous surfaces (cement, tarmac, brick). It's also useful for soaking up oils and other spills so they can be swept.

Stretch-wrap. This an industrial saran-wrap that movers use to keep soft goods clean. You can use it to wrap furniture in your basement to provide a clear-plastic barrier against drips, and also to keep dust and mildew off your stuff. Available on-line or places that sell packing material. Get the 18"-20" variety for covering furniture.


These tips are particularly pertinent considering the downpour happening as I type. Even with dry weather, though, following these steps will make your basement a much easier place to store and find your goods with a minimum amount of hassle.

Group buying sites addendum

Last week I wrote about our experience with BuyWithMe and about another small business who wrote about their experience with Groupon. Just the other day the Boston Globe ran a story about Groupon and similar companies in regards to Boston area restaurants. Its an interesting read.

Joanne Chang of Myers + Chang and Flour fame had this to say: “These companies are making money off of restaurants that are nervous or low on cash and presenting it in a way that makes it sound like such an amazing deal for everyone,’’ Chang says. “In fact, restaurants are getting a fraction of what they need to actually make any money. And then these companies walk away with a nice check.’’

Another chef had a different take on it: “If you look at it like ‘I’m giving my product away at 25 percent,’ it’s not a viable thing to do,’’ says Andy Husbands, chef-owner of Tremont 647 in the South End, who has worked with Groupon. “If you look at it as marketing, you’re getting people to come see your restaurant. I would say most of them are not regular customers. I believe in my product. I put it out there, and hopefully you’re going to tell people and you’re going to return.’’

There's a lot of varying opinions on group buying sites. What's yours?

Web Mentions

Beyond review based websites we have been mentioned on a couple of blogs. There are two people (that we know of) who have moved with us and been kind enough to take the time to write about their experiences on their own blogs.

Rebecca Rivera and her husband moved with us a few years ago. She writes briefly about the importance of being organized for your move, which cannot be overstated. The more prepared and organized you are the faster your move will happen and the lower your costs will be.

Another blogger, uvajdmba2013, mentions us at the end of her post about moving to VA. We loaded a truck for her to move herself down there. Check out the post for some first person, moving yourself details about out of state moving.

One of our customers also made up a nice YouTube video. We've worked with the Deutsch's on multiple moves and we really appreciate that they took the time to make the video.

Groupon and similar companies

I read a very interesting blog post about a small business that used Groupon and the results of that decision. This post from Posie's Bakery's owner has become quite the sensation since it was posted in September 2010, appearing on sites like The Drudge Report and MSN. I highly recommend it if you also own a small business as the owner, Jessie, makes some interesting points about how to spend advertising dollars. Skip the comments, though, as they quickly get nasty and are frequently off topic.

Anyway, reading Jessie's post got me thinking about our own attempt at Groupon. We originally heard about Groupon through a friend of ours that uses the site often. We contacted the company a few times but never received a response. As I'm sure you know by now, Groupon has spawned quite a few similar sites. One of those, BuyWithMe, was interested in talking to us about a possible deal. Ultimately, we decided against offering a deal through BuyWithMe or any other similar site because the math just didn't make sense to us.

At first the deal sounded fantastic. Wow, we get paid to advertise through you? That's awesome. Of course, that was the first thing we heard from the sales rep and things started to go down hill from there. We were told that customers much preferred deals that were 50% off or over, which was our first red flag. That not only wipes out our profit margin but also means we're losing money. Still, we thought, it might be worth it. We had a new service we were offering and we thought it would be a good way to drive in some business during our really slow winter months. The sales rep was enthusiastic about the idea. We talked about how many coupons per person to limit the offer to and how many coupons one customer could use at one time. We talked about price and profit margin and how to make the deal attractive to BuyWithMe consumers. Things seemed to be progressing nicely.

What worried me was that I couldn't figure out how BuyWithMe made money on this whole deal. This is not a charitable organization just looking to help businesses in a bad economy, its a business itself. I tried asking the questions a few different ways but didn't get a satisfactory response. Finally, after several phone calls and e-mails back and worth over the course of a week or two I got the answer. BuyWithMe was going to take 50% of the money paid for each coupon purchased. So, we were going to offer a steep discount and then BuyWithMe was going to take another 50% of that from us. For instance, our offer was going to be half off. We were going to provide two workers for two hours for $100 and hour. It was an hour free. Take another 50% off that and we were only going to be pulling in 25% of our normal rate. That's a lot of money to lose. Plus, our sales rep wanted us to agree to travel up to 20 miles away from our warehouse for any coupon. This would produce some very unhappy customers as travel time to 20 miles away would eat up almost half their coupon.

In the end, working with BuyWithMe just didn't make sense for us. They wanted too much from us that we just couldn't afford to give. There's no way we were going to ask our guys to take a pay cut or work for free half the time to make this offer financially viable. I know the point of sites like this (they claim) is to drive in new business and that those new customers will hopefully become repeat customers. We love repeat customers and we get a lot of them already. That's based on our good work and reputation. We love new customers, too, and we'd like to meet as many of them as possible. Honestly, though, we were worried that trying to get new customers through this BuyWithMe deal would seriously harm our business financially to the point that we might not have been around to see repeat customers.

We're glad we didn't end up taking the "deal." Our sales rep had a hard time letting go, but I suppose that makes a good sales rep. It is clear that BuyWithMe and similar sites appeal to certain businesses and it works our very well for a lot of companies. It just wasn't going to work well for us.

Goodbye Ford

Yesterday we dropped off our first ever moving truck at the junkyard. It was sad to see it go, but the truck was in rough shape. It was a 1994 Ford 350 box truck. We did a lot of jobs with this truck and it served us well.

When it was purchased it needed a lot of work. It turned out that a lot of that work as a total pain in the butt. But, it got done, it got spruced up with some rad looking vinyl and went on the road. After  years of faithful service and a lot of maintenance and replaced parts it just became too expensive to keep up, so we had to get rid of it.

In its place we now have a 2005 Isuzu box truck to match our other Isuzu. As we speak the old vinyl is coming off the box so Cy Sign and Banner can come by and put on our usual black and blue design. We're definitely excited to have a new (to us) truck that's in great shape and runs well but we will miss our old Ford a little bit, too.

Recycling

image courtesy of http://www.thehuntingtonlibrary.org/?p=234

At Intelligent Labor and Moving we take recycling seriously. That means that we not only recycle everyday goods like scrap paper (which is already recycled when we buy it) and our empty soda cans but that we also take care to recycle as much of our moving supplies as we are able.

The City of Cambridge has a phenomenal recycling program. At their drive in facility they have a cardboard compactor that we bring our un-reusable boxes and scrap cardboard to. They also allow us to recycle our stretch wrap. Not all cities allow this. In fact, its a rather hard service to find. Stretch wrap is an industrial strength saran wrap that we use on 99% of our moves. We wrap goods with it to protect from scratches, moisture and all other manner of possible undesirable effects. We also use it to adhere moving blankets to furniture. This all means that we go through a lot of the stuff. Luckily, we are able to bring it to the recycling center in Cambridge instead of stuffing landfills with it.

Another way in which we recycle is in our piano disposal. Whenever someone asks us to dispose of a piano for them we strip it for reusable parts which get sent to Wheeler and Sons Piano in Ipswich, MA. Whatever metal is left is sent to a scrap yard and the wood is sent for recycling at C.J. Mabardy in Cambridge.

Boxes are a big source of waste in the moving industry. If you are packing yourself a great way to avoid that problem is to call Benezra Boxes. He delivers high quality used boxes right to your door and will pick up whatever you don't use at no cost to you. The added benefit is that his used boxes are significantly less expensive than new boxes from places like U-Haul or Home Depot.

We're always looking for new ways to be greener, so if you have any suggestions we'd love to hear them!