This time of year is usually filled with people thinking about housing.  The weather is nice and moving is in the air.  But in 2020 everyone stopped thinking about it and decided to move.  The interest rates dropped to the lowest of all time and even my wife and I decided to move.  What we didn’t expect is that all of our friends and family would do the same and we found that we were asked to help move a whole lot.  It was incredible the amount of moving we did and we learned a whole lot of lessons.  Since we learned a lot and it is of no gain to us not to share the information, here are a few tips on how to move safely.

The first thing we noticed was that everyone was always doing the same thing.  We all started our plans for moving to the same place.  We were all looking for free labor and free equipment to use.  I don’t know why but no one wants to spend any money on moving if they don’t have to.  This comes right down to the cheap moving boxes we all try to find and use too.  It really is incredible.  Some of my family went to local big box stores to try and find free cheap moving boxes.  We ended up moving a few families that used packages that had been used many times over.  And what we found was that those were not safe. 

We saw many times that the used boxes would flex and shift due to how old they were.  It was something that happened to me too.  I pulled a muscle in my back because my box flexed and it shifted my weight forward.  It made me injure myself.  I also saw a friend fall down a few stairs due to the same exact thing.  This was a lesson to me and to the rest of my family that using that kind of package was not smart.  We needed to be safe and spend a few bucks in order to get the right tool for the right job.

What I found was that there are packaging supplies companies that sell whole moving packages.  They come with cardboard boxes rated for moving.  They even have tape and markers included.  This was a big game changer and it allowed the future moves to be much safer.  Not only were they safer but some of the boxes were created for specific needs.  There were hanger boxes for closets.  I mean you literally took all your closet items on hangers and put them in a box that had a rod in it.  Then you closed the box and it protected all your closet items.  It was a great way to move to multiple homes while not rueing any closet clothes.  Many people keep their best clothes hung up and in this case, they didn’t even get wrinkled.  Talk about a happy move and a great way to help keep everyone involved safer.  The best part was the cost.

These packages when all said and done were about 30 bucks each.  That was a really awesome way to move safely and get some extra supplies along with it. I highly suggest moving this way in the future!

It is a strange world we are living in and the economy keeps on changing.  The United States has made many fundamental shifts in how it does business as of 2020.  This is all because of the COVID-19 pandemic and many companies are having to make drastic changes to the way they work.  From shipping departments doubling in size overnight to floor sales staff being let go.  The changes are really happing on the back end of many companies and what is happening is that shipping departments have become the most important parts of companies.  This is happening in many different ways and this year they must stay competitive in order to survive.

The easiest way for a company to go bankrupt is to not be competitive.  This year most brick and mortar companies are changing into more e-commerce based businesses.  The transition is truly complicated but one simple way they are losing to the competition is through lack of proper quartermaster purchasing.  When you are overspending on packaging supplies the whole shows starts to collapse.  If you end up buying boxes at twice the price of your competitor then it is hard to lose several percent on every single sale.  What happens if your tape and labels are also being sold at higher prices?

The answer is to shop well.  This means finding a great packaging supplies company and get better deals.  If you can go direct and buy in bulk, I have found that you can at least stay competitive and maybe get a competitive advantage over a rival.  That is the easiest, simplest, and yet most overlooked area.  It is because the shipping department seems small and there are bigger fish to fry, but if you do not look out this area will sink your e-commerce company.

The next area that can be difficult is staff changes.  In order to make your shipping department thrive, you may have to change who is working for you or hire new people while letting old ones go.  I find it better to retrain if you can.  The sales department workers on the flood who are now no longer needed can be great shipping department workers.  I know it is a job shift, but they know your products and can help get it out to new people.  They can also help with the customer service side of your company that may have not existed the week before.  The new transition will mean lots of more calls coming in about fixing issues. Sometimes it is best to have your best salespeople on the phone to keep people happy.

Another area that may get your company into trouble is not having a big enough work floor. This may be because you are shifting to an e-commerce company.  The shift I have been seeing is for companies to start eliminating the sales floor or brick and mortar sales sections and put them to use for storage and shipping.  This can be done with a simple shelving system and a good labeling system that you already have in place.  If you don’t have one I suggest using the ABC’s and numbers to order your new warehouse.  I also like the use of cardboard boxes on shelves to hold products instead of expensive alternatives. Hope these tips help your company in these hard times.

This year has been a crazy year. The COVID-19 Pandemic has brought on many changes in our lives.  For my family, my wife and I now work at home.  This means we have more time for our selves and it also means that we are working on our life the way we want it.  By working at home we have seen that we like to be independent and work on our own lives.  What this really led to was the fact that we wanted to start our own company.  Products and supplies started to run through our heads and we knew we were going to need a lot of capital to purchase all the items we need to start this new venture.  The fact was that we were going to start an eCommerce company and that shipping was going to be key.  There are so many items that we needed it was actually a little staggering at first. But I think we found a good way to go about purchasing all the Shipping Supplies we would need.

We knew that we were going to need lots of items for our company.  Not only was this going to be many online items and paperwork but mostly things to move product. This meant we had to find the right place to purchase boxes and bags for each of the items.  We also had to then work on what to keep our products safe and secure with.  So we needed to find lining for each of these products and they find the best way to seal them while looking cool.  Tape was going to be a big expenditure and we didn’t want to pay full retail prices.  Our search began working on locating each of these items at the best location and price.

Location really mattered to us because we have both been in business for many years and understand that rush items and ordeals happen and matter.  We wanted a place that could replace an item within the same day or preferably an hour.  So if we ran out of boxes, tape, or bags we could go and pick up one that worked with our brand.  This led us to first going to the big box stores right next to our home.  We looked and priced out all the items and tried to find bulk discounts.  If you are shipping 100 items in the same box each day you want to be able to get a bulk discount for 1000 boxes.  Unfortunately, the discounts were not there and the quantity we needed in almost every item except tape was not at the stores.

This led us to search online.  Of course, we went to Amazon to price it all out and found slightly more discounted products.  Not all the deals were prime shipping though. So we would have to order extra due to the week long expected shipping dates.  This meant we would have to purchase more but not at much of a discount and this was a bit of a letdown.  We still continued our online searching. We found that shipping supplies were best to be purchased from the maker of the products.  These companies gave bulk discounts and even advice on which products were better because we called in to order.  This was the answer and it was worth buying a larger quantity to cover the lack of convenience because the price was about half.  So just a heads up, shop around before you buy.