An Educational but 'Moving' Experience
by Dena Kouremetis
Even though it can be for all the happiest reasons, moving is still considered by many to be one of the most stressful events in life, just behind divorce and the loss of a loved one. Beyond the logistical elements and the watershed emotional adjustments that must be made, there is the inevitable physical manifestation of the relocation - moving an entire household of furniture and belongings from one place to another.
Now a new web site company, called PackingKits.com, offers what they claim to be a high quality, low-cost, and totally organized solution to moving. Recently staging a debut of their concept from their booth at the National Association of Realtors' convention held in San Francisco, Packing Kits was founded by a group of real estate and relocation professionals trying to find ways to help their clients with the all-important move. Their idea was to include a step-by-step approach on how to pack as well as customized, no-brainer packing kits with virtually everything needed for the transfer - in other words, everything consumers would need for a move besides extra bodies and a moving van.Many real estate mega-sites provide links to famous-name moving companies, and advice runs rampant on how to prepare for a move, but few companies offer ways to make the move easier, less time-consuming and, most importantly, less costly, especially if you are planning to do the actual packing yourself.
Aside from the obvious savings, packing most or all of your own possessions makes sense when considering the alternative - total strangers handling your most treasured items, having to adjust your schedule to the moving company's time frames, and being able to have little control over the process itself. Packing Kits' home page offers visits to site areas that help you estimate the volume of items you have to move, and can even provide a figure for how much your will save if using their system and materials. And, unlike many moving companies, they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for support during the entire process.
Bill Blaine, co-founder and president of Packing Kits, explains, "Most homeowners, even those moving C.O.D., never could find anyone to help them learn to pack themselves properly if they opted not to pay movers to do the work." Blaine, a relocation specialist with an impressive industry background, says that the man behind the counter at any given moving firm is generally not trained to teach consumers about packing and moving tools in laymen's terms.
Consumers expressing a desire to pack themselves with the idea in mind to save thousands of dollars in expense can find an educational haven, lots of supplies and a wealth of resources at the PackingKits.com site. "When professional movers pack and move your belongings, many people assume they are only being charged for the wrapping, packing, materials (boxes), and shipping of their household goods," says Kim Rudolph, the firm's vice president. "There are lots of 'hidden' charges, like those for carrying items a long way to their van from the inside of the house, or for retrieving items from the attic. And then there is the phenomenon of packing items that should have been thrown out in the first place," says Rudolph. "We estimated that the transport of densely packed boxes with volumes of old magazines, books and papers can result in up to $500 of packing and moving expense in a given move. The same magazine that cost $3 at the newsstand might have cost $11 to move over several moves! Multiply that by more magazines and more boxes, and it gives you some idea of how much wasted money may be going out."
The Philadelphia, PA based dot-com site will guide consumers through survey forms for each room of the house to determine which of several differently sized and priced packages of boxes and moving accessories to choose from, whether it's as small as student's move from home into a dormitory, or the transport of a 3,000+ square foot home's contents. When the order is placed, an arrangement of sturdy boxes, paper, paper pads, tape and tape dispensers and even markers are dropped at your doorstep. The kits range in price from $59.95 to $699 and are delivered (yes, you are reading it correctly) - free of charge.
"We also actually offer free training to all consumers who visit our Web site on how to pack," says Blaine, "and we can illustrate just how the use of small, flimsy liquor store boxes result in more trips for professional movers, thus creating a higher moving bill, since they charge by the box, for labor, and by weight."
Although the site's production has been ongoing for the past year and a half, it is just now being completed. "We wanted to have instructional photographs people could refer to on the site, so that they got a good idea of how to properly pack, step by step, and that took a while," explains Rudolph.
Realtors continually trying to find ways to give value-added service want to help consumers with the less savory by-products of selling their homes and buying others, but the beauty of Packing Kits' services can be realized even before a house is listed. "We have an inexpensive package called 'Clean Clutter' that Realtors can purchase for their clients to clear out items the Realtor deems necessary for the home to show well," says Blaine. Within 3-5 days, the agent or broker can have the package delivered to the homeowner in preparation for the listing, giving homeowners the extra impetus to weed out and pack personal items. Real estate professionals may also find the services helpful in lowering their clients' stress levels, and consider offering to "throw in" a packing kit as a thank-you gift along the way.
Home buyers and home sellers, on the other hand, may embrace this new service as a way to avoid those unenviable trips to the local liquor store or supermarket to grovel for boxes, to commercial box stores for the privilege of paying an arm and a leg for professional moving containers, or to moving companies who feel they have a captive clientele.
Source: http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20001122_moving.htm
Local Movers in Encinitas
Movers in Encinitas California
Movers Del Mar
Movers San Diego
Now a new web site company, called PackingKits.com, offers what they claim to be a high quality, low-cost, and totally organized solution to moving. Recently staging a debut of their concept from their booth at the National Association of Realtors' convention held in San Francisco, Packing Kits was founded by a group of real estate and relocation professionals trying to find ways to help their clients with the all-important move. Their idea was to include a step-by-step approach on how to pack as well as customized, no-brainer packing kits with virtually everything needed for the transfer - in other words, everything consumers would need for a move besides extra bodies and a moving van.Many real estate mega-sites provide links to famous-name moving companies, and advice runs rampant on how to prepare for a move, but few companies offer ways to make the move easier, less time-consuming and, most importantly, less costly, especially if you are planning to do the actual packing yourself.
Aside from the obvious savings, packing most or all of your own possessions makes sense when considering the alternative - total strangers handling your most treasured items, having to adjust your schedule to the moving company's time frames, and being able to have little control over the process itself. Packing Kits' home page offers visits to site areas that help you estimate the volume of items you have to move, and can even provide a figure for how much your will save if using their system and materials. And, unlike many moving companies, they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for support during the entire process.
Bill Blaine, co-founder and president of Packing Kits, explains, "Most homeowners, even those moving C.O.D., never could find anyone to help them learn to pack themselves properly if they opted not to pay movers to do the work." Blaine, a relocation specialist with an impressive industry background, says that the man behind the counter at any given moving firm is generally not trained to teach consumers about packing and moving tools in laymen's terms.
Consumers expressing a desire to pack themselves with the idea in mind to save thousands of dollars in expense can find an educational haven, lots of supplies and a wealth of resources at the PackingKits.com site. "When professional movers pack and move your belongings, many people assume they are only being charged for the wrapping, packing, materials (boxes), and shipping of their household goods," says Kim Rudolph, the firm's vice president. "There are lots of 'hidden' charges, like those for carrying items a long way to their van from the inside of the house, or for retrieving items from the attic. And then there is the phenomenon of packing items that should have been thrown out in the first place," says Rudolph. "We estimated that the transport of densely packed boxes with volumes of old magazines, books and papers can result in up to $500 of packing and moving expense in a given move. The same magazine that cost $3 at the newsstand might have cost $11 to move over several moves! Multiply that by more magazines and more boxes, and it gives you some idea of how much wasted money may be going out."
The Philadelphia, PA based dot-com site will guide consumers through survey forms for each room of the house to determine which of several differently sized and priced packages of boxes and moving accessories to choose from, whether it's as small as student's move from home into a dormitory, or the transport of a 3,000+ square foot home's contents. When the order is placed, an arrangement of sturdy boxes, paper, paper pads, tape and tape dispensers and even markers are dropped at your doorstep. The kits range in price from $59.95 to $699 and are delivered (yes, you are reading it correctly) - free of charge.
"We also actually offer free training to all consumers who visit our Web site on how to pack," says Blaine, "and we can illustrate just how the use of small, flimsy liquor store boxes result in more trips for professional movers, thus creating a higher moving bill, since they charge by the box, for labor, and by weight."
Although the site's production has been ongoing for the past year and a half, it is just now being completed. "We wanted to have instructional photographs people could refer to on the site, so that they got a good idea of how to properly pack, step by step, and that took a while," explains Rudolph.
Realtors continually trying to find ways to give value-added service want to help consumers with the less savory by-products of selling their homes and buying others, but the beauty of Packing Kits' services can be realized even before a house is listed. "We have an inexpensive package called 'Clean Clutter' that Realtors can purchase for their clients to clear out items the Realtor deems necessary for the home to show well," says Blaine. Within 3-5 days, the agent or broker can have the package delivered to the homeowner in preparation for the listing, giving homeowners the extra impetus to weed out and pack personal items. Real estate professionals may also find the services helpful in lowering their clients' stress levels, and consider offering to "throw in" a packing kit as a thank-you gift along the way.
Home buyers and home sellers, on the other hand, may embrace this new service as a way to avoid those unenviable trips to the local liquor store or supermarket to grovel for boxes, to commercial box stores for the privilege of paying an arm and a leg for professional moving containers, or to moving companies who feel they have a captive clientele.
Source: http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20001122_moving.htm
Local Movers in Encinitas
Movers in Encinitas California
Movers Del Mar
Movers San Diego
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