Moving fragile goods the right way, and the wrong way
Moving fragile household goods is tricky. Many things have to happen for fragile goods to be appropriately moved from one home to another. First up is the packing of the item itself, having the proper materials, and sometimes special equipment (dollys, roll-a-lifts, etc.) are needed. Do you have this expertise, and can you easily obtain these materials? Most people cannot or do not. Those who do are often smart enough to hire professionals and avoid the considerable headache, time, risk and expense involved. Those enlightened people call on a professional mover, like Asian Tigers. OK, it’s my company so I would say that, wouldn’t I but what I say is true, and here’s why:
Yes, we have all the specialized materials: bubble wrap, acid-free paper, glassine, polystyrene sheets, plastic peanuts (the technical term) triple wall carton boxes, all kinds of dollys, etc. But that’s the easy part. Where a company like ours really delivers value is in the craftsmanship of our professional packers. I often watch them work and I never cease to be amazed at how talented they are. Most have been doing this as a career all of their adult lives. Seldom to have they come across an item that they do not know how to tackle, or that they say just cannot be moved safely.
On top of all their knowledge, skill, and talent, they work quickly. Not fast, certainly not reckless, but with the efficient pace of someone who has been at this, not for years, but decades.
Some of the more challenging fragile items that we come across include artwork, ceramics (especially here in Asia), antique furniture wine collections and musical instruments. Pianos spring to mind but drum sets, violins and even brass horns can be damaged in a way that makes them fragile goods.
Even movers will often turn to experts when it comes to certain items in certain situations. For example, upright pianos we can do. Have a grand piano? We call in our own experts from outside our ranks.
So many fragile goods are, at the end of the day, artwork in one sense or the other. So much so that we created our own fine arts handling subsidiary, Lotus Fine Arts. These craftsmen are artists in their own way, and what they produce is just unparalleled. In the fine arts handling field, often we are called on to provide police or private security service to escort the item (always in an immaculate wooden crate) on the tarmac and to watch it being loaded in the belly of a freighter aircraft.
Packing fragile items covers a lot of ground, more than I can go into in less than 500 words. My parting words for you would be to think twice, then think again, before you take on the challenge of moving your valuable, precious and fragile possessions.