PRO MOVERS TRAINING COURSE
#2 THE BASICS
#1: BE THE BEST
If you want to make more money than just enough to barely make it from month to month, and instead actually be able to sky dive, go catch some lobsters, and buy some land, then you have to make yourself so good at your job, hassle free, nice to work with, beneficial and profitable to the people that might chose your services that you make them WANT very much to choose your service. You control them by being the most beneficial and valuable to them. You make yourself disposable when you are a hassle and not the best choice.
That means always answer your phone; be consistently early to your jobs; go to bed early enough to get a good night's sleep; work hard and fast, pay what you owe; get up early enough to have time for all you need to do; buy the moving equipment set that would make you able to be a fully equipped Lead on jobs (or encourage your Lead company to do so); set your alarm; study this professional training course and get certified (like any electrician or dentist would do for their profession); always speak professionally, courteously and nicely; pay what you owe; don't steal, and DO all the other things this training course talks about that CAUSE you to be a better shopping choice than your competitors.
You succeed by making it in your moving customer's, moving company's or referral service's best interest to hire you over other movers. Make yourself the best choice. When you make them money, and you are reliable, are nice to work with, don't cause them problems, and are actually the best shopping choice for the moving customer and your moving company, you make them want to choose you in proportion to how "good" you are, and this puts the control in your hands instead of seemingly in theirs'.
But if you aren't normally five minutes early, miss phone calls, take breaks on the job without telling anybody, are not the hardest worker, are not working on getting certified, haven't paid what you owe, aren't easy to talk to or have spoken aggressively, etc. by you providing less, you make yourself a worse shopping choice, and so you make the people who might choose your service want to NOT choose you as much (or maybe not at all at some point). The better service you provide to others, the more money you will make yourself. Some people make the mistake of thinking that an "employee" has less freedom of choice on how to do things than an independent contractor or independent business. But the truth is, there is less leeway to make mistakes and do things wrong as an independent contractor, because your income is more immediately harmed by mistakes and unhappy customers, and so it's even more important to be getting your job done right and not screw up when you're a contractor. That means, when you're a contractor or your own business owner you have to hold yourself to a much higher standard of "getting it right and not screwing up" than as if you were an employee.
#2: yOUR PHONE
In the moving business, there is only one tool that is more important to have and be skilled at than a hand-truck, and that's your phone. You need your phone to accept and get the job appointment, get the map to direct you to your jobsite, take pictures of pre-existing damage, to get a call from your moving company to let you know the start time of the job has changed, for you to call your moving company to let everyone know you're going to be late, to clock in, to answer a question the customer or your moving company has, to take care of a problem, to update the customer, to record your hours & pay, on and on.
Your moving company knows that the reliability of your phone contact is critical to you working out as a mover, and so each time you don't answer your phone or don't return a call or text quickly wastes the caller's (AGMC's) time, and causes worry that you won't be contactable on a future call either, and so makes your value as a mover drop significantly. In order to have a chance at being successful, you have to nearly always answer your phone or call back quickly. Expect a rapidly declining size and frequency of job offers if you don't.
The skill of being able to nearly always answer your calls is near the top of the list of key mover skills, and you will fail or flounder along without this skill. That's the main reason why your phone is the most important mover's tool you will ever own.
Phone use is called a "Skill" here because it's no accident when you don't usually answer your phone or at least call back right away, it's due to you not learning and practicing a good phone handling technique. If you were going to make one million dollars tomorrow if you at least called back any missed calls within five minutes, could you FOR SURE do that? Yes, of course you could if you decided it was important enough. You need to understand that this is primarily a phone job, not just a moving job, and so you'd set alarms, fix and charge your phone, keep your phone in your pocket, keep a charger in your car, get a good night's sleep, etc. That's what it takes to be a successful business man. If you don't do this don't blame anyone but yourself for your lack of success. If there's a problem, like you can't make it to the job, or you're going to be late, you have to always CALL your appointment setter and let them know as soon as possible, text only is not sufficient.
#3 BEING ON TIME
In a moving job it can be a very big problem to be late. It's not like showing up late for a McDonalds job. If it's a two man job, every minute you are late is a minute you make the customer and your partner stand there tapping their toes wasting their time waiting for you, upset at you for being an incompetent "xxxxxxxxx". If you're late on a larger crew, and you miss the first five minutes of the job, you not only make us all look bad, you miss the "walk-thru" instructions the customer gave in the first five minutes, and so you don't know what not to take, what special thing we're supposed to do or not do with the thing you don't know about, and so your ability to do your job over all the hours that follow is messed up. Being late fifteen minutes is not at all like working fifteen minutes less, it decreases your value (and the rest of the crew's value) for the whole job, makes the whole crew look less competent, and so diminishes the sales of the future jobs to come, costing an income loss to all the other movers you are associated with. If you're ten minutes late, and you were aiming at being ten minutes early, you're actually twenty minutes late, and that's a big deal. If you're ten minutes late more than rarely then you need to be leaving your house twenty minutes before you typically leave your house.
A skilled mover knows that there are often going to be things that happen to cause a delay of up to about ten minutes. Can't find your keys or wallet, a traffic slow-down, a train, need the bathroom, need gas, a phone call, a few things you need to do before you leave your house, on and on. So the skilled mover actually aims at being to his appointments ten minutes early. That way when the up-to-ten-minute delay happens, being seven minutes late means he's three minutes early which is perfect. If you don't google-map the appointment start location the night before an appointment, to know how long it will take to get to the job start location, how are you going to know what time you need to leave your house to get to the job site ten minutes early? If you aren't almost always a little early, you need to re-write your idea of when you need to plan to get started for the day, or you ARE a second rate mover. If you treat all the times you need to be somewhere like your clock was set ten minutes forward, you'd only very rarely be late.
If you are having multiple instances of being more than ten minutes late to your appointment times, that means however late you are being, that's how much earlier than your appointment time you need to aim for arriving (plus ten minutes). For example, if you've recently been fifteen minutes late to appointments, you need to aim to leave your house twenty five minutes earlier than you've been leaving (15+10). If you're going to be late, it is very important for you to call (not text) your moving company to let them know you're going to be late, before you are late. You are supposed to clock-in by text to who ever texts you your job appointment information, and do so immediately when you arrive at your appointment start location. If you don't clock in, that doesn't hide the fact that you're late, it is assumed if you are hiding the information of when you arrived it's likely because you're late, and so counts as WORSE than being late because you're late AND you are trying to hide it. So be early AND clock in to get credit for it.
#4 work ethic & SPEED
Your moving crew is a sports team. We are in a competition to get the job done quickly, just like a basket ball team trying to get the ball down the court quickly. You need to decide if you're going to play as a Pro, or as some weekend guys at the YMCA. Since the customer and/or moving company is likely paying for your time by the hour, a definite aspect of a mover's value is how quick he is at getting things done. If you shave off 20% of the time it takes you to do something, when you multiply that out over the whole job, that shaves 20% off the customer's labor bill for your work, and quadruples the likeliness that the customer is going to be happy with your service. Working hard is what makes us money, while "casual" work speed increases the risk of a not-impressed customer, and so causes less tips and less future jobs for all of us, which is NOT OK.
The feel is the same as if you wanted to win a basket ball game you were playing in, and while you were sweating and running down the court your team mate was casually walking slowly down the court far away from the ball action, letting the other team out-man your team down the court. You'd think "Hey, we're trying to win here and you're ruining it for all of us". A real pro mover always looks like he is at least mindful of the time usage, keeps moving at a good pace, and never just stands there unmoving, waiting for something or someone. If a good mover sees you standing still, unmoving, waiting, even for a couple seconds, he will cringe with frustration. Don't do it. Don't wait or walk slow or casually. You should be making good use of all your time while on the paid clock.
#5: Keep doing something
If you think you need to wait for something on a job there is always something else you could do while you're waiting to make good use of your time. You just need the knowledge of how to make use of your time in that situation. If you're up in the truck and you think you need to wait for something, or the customer walks up to talk to you to talk, you could fold used blankets while you're "waiting" and talking. If you're up in the truck and you need to "wait", and there's no used blankets to fold, you could resituate the staged items in a more organized way that's easier for the load-wall builder to pick the things he needs.
You could tear the plastic wrapping off a tape roll and get it ready to use while you're waiting or talking. You could untangle a mess of a ratchet strap. If you are walking back into or out of the house and there's someone else coming through the doorway carrying a sofa, you could either redirect your course to an alternate garage door, or you could look for the most likely to occur contact damage point on the door and hold your hand there to protect it (while you're waiting), instead of just standing there doing nothing.
If you're waiting for someone to go up or down the truck ramp with a hand-truck load, you could step up or down to the side using the truck bumper, which you would do if you really were in a hurry. If you're at a U-Haul facility waiting, check the Free cardboard area for boxes you could use, clean the truck ramp, check for supplies you might need, straighten jumbled ratchet straps. But even if you haven't learned these things from someone or from this course telling you, if you wanted badly enough to keep busy you'd automatically be looking for how to be helpful in every moment and, and you'd find it. You just need to be of the mind-set that we are in an actual race and you want to shave some time off our "score", and provide a good value for every minute the customer is paying for your time.
#6: Don't dissapear
Since this is a race, it also ruins our crew's "speed time" (like a relay race) if a mover disappears for a while to his car, the bathroom or for a personal call, without clocking out so that the Lead and customer know that person is not on the clock costing the customer wrongly i.e.: "Hey, I'm taking 5". There also might be another mover counting on your help for something thinking you are going to return shortly, and so altering his work to wait for you, which if you didn't let him know you were going to be gone for a while wastes that other mover's time. That's a "fumble of the ball".
If the other movers are saying "where did he go?" that makes the disappearing mover a second rate mover. You need to be clocking in and out when you take a break, by texting to your Lead "out" and "in" at the moment you start and stop a break. The other movers on your job site are noticing the degree to which you keep busy, hurry and don't disappear, and their evaluation of your work ethic (how hard you work, your speed, and your use of time) is talked about and is a significant determiner of the future jobs you get. Don't dissapear.
#7: THE DANCE ROUTINE
A professionally done moving job is like a dance group's dance routine, in that there's a certain sequence of agreed steps that each of the crew knows to do automatically, without being told, and a pre-agreed way of doing things that lets the crew and moving company know what to expect of each other, allowing a level of coordination, performance and efficiency that could not be achieved otherwise. This course will lay out a special dance routine that makes this coordination possible, and causes the best results for the movers in many ways.
Having a single set agreed-upon dance routine also lets your crew learn and practice that dance routine, which can result in a level of performance not achievable otherwise. And a moving job done right is a performance. It also makes crew members much more interchangeable between moving companies, and more effective and smooth when filling in as a substitute, which can be very helpful at times. This course teaches THE BEST dance routine, or the best options to choose from.
Another core part of your dance routine is the set of contractual agreements between you and your moving company. If AGMC is providing booking help to you, your contract with AGMC is important to learn as well, and that can be seen in the page "HELPER LISTING", (and "LEAD LISTING" for Leads only). Learn them well.
#8: PRE-JOB (The dance steps you do prior to the Job)
8A) Prepare ahead of time via study of this course. That means use "down-time" minutes to make continual progress on reading this course, like when you're a passenger in a car, sitting on the toilet, relaxing in your recliner, or when you get to a job a little extra early.
8B) Get your uniform together, at least all black, but preferably with a hat and shirt that say "A GREAT MOVING CREW", and "police-type" newer looking (& clean) boots or boot-looking shoes. Your presentation makes a HUGE difference in the perception of your services. You might be able to purchase shirts and hats with logos on them from your moving company. Or you can buy AGMC shirts directly from AGMC. Just call to order.
8C) If you're a Lead, get your equipment set & supplies together (see the page "RUNNING YOUR OWN COMPNY". and "EQUIPMENT".
8D) Each Sunday send a text to your moving company explaining your updated availability schedule over the next month out. In that text specify any time limitations you may have on any particular days, mention any preferences for start times and crew members (if you have preferences), and show your latest equipment set that you will provide. Also update ASAP as new developments arise.
8E) reply to job texts quickly, and specify if you have any time limitations on that job (even if you've mentioned it before).
8F) If you've been more than fifteen minutes late over the past month due to not waking up for an appointment, or if you're brand new working for a moving company, then an hour before the job you need to text to your moving company a confirmation that you are up; i.e. "up".
8G) Aim at being ten minutes early.
8H) If you are going to be late (or can't make it), call your moving company to let them know you're going to be late, BEFORE you are late. Text only is not sufficient, becuse texts aren't always looked at right away, and this is a time sensitive emergency.
#9: U-HAUL (if you help pick up a U-Haul truck, do these dance steps)
9A) Get there ten minutes early because all the other customers show up on the hour or half hour, and you don't want to be wasting time waiting in line. Clock in via a text to your moving company "at U-Haul" or "u". One of reasons clocking-in is helpful is that if the customer calls the moving company and asks if the crew is on track to be on time, the answer can be "yes the crew clocked in at the U-Haul ten minutes ago".
9B) while you're there, get any needed supplies, like mattress bags, rope, boxes, stretch wrap, tape and moving blankets. It's also not a bad idea to pick up some of the free boxes in U-Haul's free box area.
9C) After the truck check out, take a clear picture of the whole upper half of the U-Haul contract front page & text it to your moving company. If the contract is misplaced, we still know later what level to refuel the truck, and we can check to see if the right credit card was charged.
9D) Take a clear picture of the truck gas gauge and odometer reading in the same picture, and text it to your moving company. Repeat when returning the truck. This is because gas is stolen from the U-Haul trucks regularly, and this way you can prove you did refuel the truck properly, and avoid refueling fees.
9E) Examine for and document pre-damage to the truck. Either directly look for any damage that doesn't have an "X" sticker on it and mark it into the "check out app", or take a high resolution picture from the front driver's corner and a second picture from the back passenger's corner that shows the whole truck.
9F) If the truck bed inside and/or ramp isn't clean, leaf-blow or clean them, and take a picture of them being cleaned for later presentation to the customer.
#10: ONSITE PREP (The dance steps to prior to loading)
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10A) Clock in when you arrive at the customer's load location, by a text to AGMC "at customers" (or "c" for short), and "at U-Haul" (or "u" for short). This lets others know they don't have to kick into action to see if they need to replace you or warn the customer of the team's lateness. This also establishes a key record that contributes to your AGMC ranking.
10B) Right after you get to the loading site, if you don't already know, you should see, remember and/or photograph the moving equipment arrangement so that you can know right where to go to get the equipment you need, and where and how to help put back all the equipment at the end of the job. If you don't do this, you can't do the job right.
10C) If there's a truck being backed up, all helpers should drop everything and rush to key spots around the truck to help be a warning spotter. This is a moment where thousands of dollars of potential damage could happen in five seconds, and so should be a priority over all other activities for the whole crew. If you're the driver, roll your window down so you can hear if someone yells to stop. If you're a spotter, yell or scream if necessary before a collision.
You're not only looking for things behind the truck, you should also be looking for things on all sides, on the ground and up in the air. When the truck turns, the front and back ends swing wide, and can be a dangerous blind spot for the driver. This also applies to when the truck is driving away (pulling back out) in close proximity to objects. It is not your or the driver's choice to decide to be a warning spotter or not when the truck is coming close to collision hazards, IT MUST BE DONE. This gutter picture is what a crew did due to ignoring this prime mover rule. Don't ignore this rule.
10D) When someone is helping to back up a truck, they should NOT just tell the driver where to go. A backing helper should be showing the driver the distance between the truck and a collision hazard, or the distance the truck still needs to go before stopping, not just trying to direct. Short distances should be shown by the distance between the backing spotter's hands, one over the top of the other, not side to side, so a hand will not disappear behind the truck. Long distances can be shown like an airline ground director.
10E) approach the customer's door together as a crew. At this first approach, the Lead and crew should bring only a couple rugs, super sticky notes, some painter's tape, a clip board & a pen to start. Everyone greet the customer with your name while having good eye contact and a friendly demeanor, preferably wearing your moving company shirt and hat, and preferably wear nice looking, clean, all black boot-looking shoes. We are only bringing these few things to start because we don't really know what all is going to be needed yet, and this is just enough for us to do the walk-thru. We'll bring the other stuff later, after we find out what's going on.
10F) Do a walk-through with the customer to get directions. The non-leads should let the Lead be the only person asking questions to the customer, and not be holding any side conversations. The most the non-leads should be saying during this time is possibly a few complimentary words to the customer. You should be completely busy putting sticky notes on items of special instruction; gathering the easy to move items of special instruction into islands of like instruction; looking for and documenting pre-damage to the house; remembering the customer's instructions, and looking at every item the customer is talking about.
During the walk-through the non-Lead helpers should NOT be asking the customer questions about the job. That's for the Lead to do, and the Lead may have already asked the customer questions that YOU don't know about, or the Lead might be purposefully NOT asking about something yet, waiting for a different timing. Either way, the question-asking about job instructions during a walk-through is a strategy for the LEAD to be making, not the helpers. If the helpers have a question about the job during this time, they should wait until the end of the walk-through and ASK THE LEAD, NOT THE CUSTOMER.
10G) You should also be memorizing which furniture items are in which rooms, and the sizes of those things, so that you can know right where to go to get the next needed item for loading the truck, and so you can know where these things go in the unload house, as things usually go into an "equivalent" room, in an equivalent arrangement. If you or others don't memorize these items and locations this means you have to walk through the house to look for things every time you need something of a particular type and size, and you need to keep asking "where does this go" at the unload house. All this wasted and needless walking around looking and asking is a huge needless waste of time and turns what could be a good job into an rank amateur performance. There is no more important, needed-skilled, and needed-concentration part of the job than the few moments of the walk-thru.
10H) We just spent a half sentence mentioning that during the walk-through the crew should also be looking for and documenting pre-existing damage to the house. If that little point is zoomed past (because all these explanations are too long and who has time to read all this), the result can be (and has been) needless damage claims of many hundreds of dollars, because it's common for the customers to not be aware of all the pre-existing damage to their own house. If you don't document it, you make the moving company pay hundreds of dollars to fix what we DIDN'T damage. That's other people's money you'd be being flippant about. If you think movers are just waiting for the walk-thru to be done so they can get started moving, you have no idea what the moving business is.
10i) It is insulting to both the customer and the Lead for other crewmen to be holding side conversations during this "order taking" time, like your waitress talking to her boyfriend on her phone while taking your order at a restaurant. This is the customer's few moments to receive all focus, and for you to not miss an instruction. A good rule for a moving crew to have is if any crewman side-converses during the walk-through they owe 20 pushups to the Lead right when the walk-thru is done.
10J) After the walk-through, after you've found out for sure which customer's doors will be being used, this is the time to decide the exact parking spot for the truck, and move the truck into the best position and angle if a better position is available. This is possibly a second truck re-situating.
10K) If the truck needs to be better positioned, leveled, or cleaned, help do that. If a corner of the truck is low, prop up that corner's tire with boards a curb, or put a high tire in the gutter.
10L) Remember, If you're providing directions to the truck driver, don't just indicate when to stop, instead show the relevant distance remaining by the distance between you your hands. This allows the driver to act ahead of time to slow down as approaching a stop, and not just need to suddenly slam on the breaks.
10M) Bring a stack of blankets and set them on a wheel-well. Bring another stack and set them in the house, along with a tape roll and some green-wrap.
10N) Bring supplies bag,
10 0) and black straps bag,
10P) and hang them both on the rails of the truck, DO NOT SET THEM ON THE FLOOR.
10Q) Bring the step ladder into the truck,
10R) and stick a roll of tape on the wall.
10S) If it's wet outside, put down rugs in the truck and possibly on the ramp.
10 T) Leaf-blow the path from the truck to the house,
10U) Put on door & door-jam covers, put down rugs, and if it's a "high-end" nice house put down the floor runners.
10V) clear aside the isle ways in the house,
10W) And bring into the house a large stretch-wrap-roll, a stack of blankets for pad wrapping, and tape and/or mover's bands.
10X) If it's needed, pad stair railings and banisters, and if the customer wants it (the Lead should ask), put down carpet protection film. Only If it's needed, take the front door or screen door off its hinges.
10Y) Before actually starting to load the truck, you should clear the isle ways. Some of these things in the way can be brought straight to the truck, if they're the right kind of things that will be loaded soon. If they're not the right things to be loaded soon, just move things that are in the way to the side, or into the garage. Start with clear wide paths.
#11: DOCUMENT PRE-EXISTING DAMAGE
#11) If you are working as an independent free-lance contractor who has filled out and signed the Independent Contactor paperwork, just like a plumber, you are taking responsibility for any damage you cause, AND you are taking responsibility for any pre-existing damage you find that you do not document or report to the customer before you move the item or work in that area. That means if you DON'T look for and document pre-existing damage, it can cost you and possibly others THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS of loss in the ten seconds that you DIDN'T DO SOMETHING. More important than anything else you do on the job is to look for and photograph pre-existing damage, with your picture showing not only the damage but also the room it's in, taken BEFORE YOU MOVE THE ITEM. By the picture showing the room surroundings, at least enough to identify the room, this proves that the picture was taken BEFORE the item was moved. For example, you can see in this pre-existing damage picture of a TV, it shows the chipped edge but does not show enough of the room to prove where this picture was taken. This instance of NOT doing something did cost a damage claim, with the customer wanting a new TV.
#12: LOADING THE FIRST HALF OF THE TRUCK
12A) There's one person designated as the "load-wall builder", who places things into the load-wall. If you're not the load-wall builder, you should not place things into the load-wall, and you should only be bringing things out to the truck, but it's still key for you to know the basics of how to load a truck so you can better know which items to be bringing out at the right time.
12B) First, (if it's a U-Haul type truck) bring the right items to fill the "moms attic" area of the truck. There are some different strategies that the Load-wall builder might choose for the mom's attic, so check with the load-wall builder first to see which type of items he wants up there. If the Lead gives a direction and you don't follow it, even if you're a great mover, you're not a good mover.
12C) Keep the load wall builder busy by continuously bringing enough of the right items into the truck to keep the load wall builder busy for at least five minutes BEFORE you branch off onto other longer projects, such as pad wrapping things you don't need right away, or taking apart a bed or treadmill.
This also means you need to keep coming back to the truck fairly often, at least every five minutes or so (preferably every couple minutes), to make sure the load wall builder remains sufficiently supplied with the right items to keep the load-wall builder busy loading the wall, and not having to go get things himself, as much as possible.
12D) After the mom's attic is loaded, switch to loading the truck wall by wall (also called a tier). A "standard" (most common) load wall is composed of four height layers. 1) "BASE" on the bottom, which is weight bearing furniture such as dressers and night stands, 2) "BOXES" on that, (2nd layer up), with heavier boxes lower, lighter higher, 3) SEMI-STACKABLE above the boxes (3rd layer up), like pad wrapped dining chairs, open top boxes, and "squarish" things that you could put a few lighter things on; 4th) "TOP-LOADER"(poorly-stackable) like baskets, guitars, fans, backpacks, and kids toys that you don't want to put anything else on top of.
12E) Every time a mover comes up into the truck, he should be looking for the next hole (missing thing) in the load-wall that does not already have the right piece staged for it in the truck, and that next needed thing is what is the priority to bring to the truck next.
While regular load-walls are being built, the "right" next thing needs to be the best thing that would fill the next hole to build the "four height layer wall" (described in the last point), meaning base, boxes, semi stackable, and top loader, or what would fit along side to tighten that wall. For example if there's enough things staged in the truck to make a whole load wall except top-loader, then movers should be bringing top-loader next. Or if there's a hole where a base piece needs to be filled, first bring the best base piece to fit that hole BEFORE spending time bringing other things. This order of events is important because the load wall builder can't proceed to stack on the base piece hole until the base piece hole is filled, and waiting for a needed piece wastes time.
Bringing the "wrong" thing into the truck at the wrong time is actually worse than not bringing anything at all and just standing around, because bringing the wrong thing clogs up critical space in the truck that's needed FOR STAGING THE RIGHT THINGS. So the skill of picking the right things to bring makes all the difference in the world. On the surface, to an unskilled mover, three people working hard to bring things into the truck might look like they are all providing equal value, but the one who is bringing the "right things" is worth "GOLD", and the ones who are bringing the lesser-right things are worth silver, copper or mud. If you don't know the difference, you'd better learn fast.
12F) Things brought into the truck should normally be set down to the sides of the truck, seven feet or more back from where the latest load-wall is being built. This is because as the load-walls are built they progress towards the back of the truck, and keep encroaching on where things are staged.
12G) Without this seven foot cleared working area, the staged things can get in the way of things that need to be done to load the wall, and so the staged things need to be moved again a second time back farther to get them out of the way of the work area.
12H) The process of things being set aside in the truck, and not directly into the load-wall, is called "Staging". When things are staged, they should be placed "like on like", and not leaning on other things, so that one thing does not need to be moved to get to another item type. That means, stack medium boxes on medium boxes, and not a bin on top.
12i) When a helper is bringing something into the truck, if the load-wall builder wants the thing brought right to the load wall, instead of staging it back and to the sides, the loader will say so specifically "Would you bring that right up", or "Please put that right into the hole over there". Otherwise, the non-designated load-wall-builders should not be placing things into the load-wall. The loader is taking responsibility for the load.
#13 THE MID "TIE-OFF-WALL"
13A) When you are nearing running out of enough squarish/box shaped things to make a complete load-wall, after your last full load wall of these squarish box shaped things, secure that last wall with a "tie-off-wall". Usually, mattresses and box springs work best to make a tie-off wall. You want to put the mattress against the previous load-wall first. This allows the flexible conforming surface of the mattress to form fit against the irregular protrusions of the last load wall.
13B) Then follow the mattress with the box springs, nice side facing out, and tie it off. The box springs edges provide a non-crushable edge to take the pressure of the ratchet strap (unlike the mattress that can deform permanently). If you need the tie off wall to be higher to hold back the top loader behind it, just put a row or two of boxes down across the floor, against the load, and put the mattress and box spring on top of them.
13C) By having the large flat soft surface of the box springs be the final surface of the tie off wall, this provides the optimum protective surface to lean the back of a sofa against when it's stood up on end. But before a sofa is brought in to the truck, bring long skinny things to fill in the vertical gap to the sides of the boxspring and mattress, like bed railings and long rolled up carpets. These often require being tied separately.
13D) Ratchet straps should be run behind a rub-railing attachment point that is BEHIND (on the cab side) of the front of the load wall, and then run forward (towards the back door of the truck) to be secured to the next forward rub-railing attachment point (see picture). This also places the metal ratchet and hook tucked under and behind the rub-railing instead of out where they can damage things.
13E) This zig-zag angle pulls both rub-railing anchor points near parallel to the side of the truck instead of straight out from the side (perpendicular), making the anchor points able to withstand about twenty times the weight compared to a strap run straight across from one rub railing to the other.
13F) Cranking a ratchet strap straight across the truck (as shown here) not only places the ratchet in a place much more likely to cause damage, it also pulls a dangerous amount of pressure on the wooden rail that is not designed for that direction of pull, and so risks weakening or breaking the rail, and so is disrespectful and not fair to the truck owner or customer.
#14: AFTER THE MID TIE OFF WALL
14A) If the tie off wall consists of a mattress and/or box springs, this is the best place for a sofa and/or loveseat, because the large soft flat surface of a box spring or mattress will not leave any indentation marks in the very easily stretchable or indentable back side of a sofa, even a leather sofa. When you bring a sofa into the truck, it should only be tipped up on end onto a blanket, so that no part of the sofa ever touches the floor. Even if the sofa you have at the time is not leather or vinyl, it's best to practice this way every time.
14B) It's usually best to place a sofa on-end, leaning with it's back-side against the tie off wall, legs against the wall of the truck. The side against the floor should be on a moving blanket, even if it's already pad-wrapped. you could put a love seat opposite a sofa on the other side, and a refrigerator standing up between them. Then the rest of the empty space of that load-wall could be filled with lighter larger boxes, cushions and such, as shown in this picture. Above a refrigerator is a good place to put a recliner.
14C) Recliners and upholstered big chairs should have their backs taken off (if they come off), be pad-wrapped, and be placed as top loader or near the top in the truck. They should normally be placed either legs to the truck side wall & knees down on something very flat, preferably back to the ceiling, or placed standing on their own legs.
14D) This is because, especially if they're leather or vinyl, any kind of weight or pressure that isn't completely flat across the whole side of furniture can distort the fabric and leave an impression, and so the top loader position minimizes the weight applied to it. The knees are much better to take the weight than the back.
14E) Washer and dryer tops are particularly vulnerable to damage, and so should have set aside large flat soft light-weight customer-items saved as protective tools to use as covers for these appliances, as a safety barrier to go on top of the appliances, in addition to saving very flat things to go next to the appliances. Washers and dryers often come into the truck a wall or two after the sofas. The width of a single box (or single item that goes on top of washers & dryers) should span the entire width of the machine, from edge to edge, so that the weight is transferred onto the edges of the washer or dryer, and minimize pressure in the center if the washer or dryer. If the washer and dryer tops are curved up (not exactly flat), then a good amount of blanketing or cushioning needs to be added to help transfer weight to the sides of the machines, and it's even more important that only light things are put on top of the machines.
14F) All of the items mentioned so far have their general place in the truck as mentioned, and should only be brought out to the truck as their hole in the truck comes up. Other specialty items not mentioned yet, such as big pictures, lamps, pole lamps, furniture with curved or fragile legs, washer dryer, lawn mowers, and big mirrors should only be brought out when there is a known spot the loader has in mind to put them, or else they are going to be very much in the way and hamper the load.
14G) The wrong items get in the way and don't leave room for the correct items that need to be staged. It takes communication with loader to check in about his plan for things. Also, as we near the last collection of things to load, they should all be brought out to within sight of the loader to allow for an exact final strategy.
14H) After tie off wall, and extra-deep sofas tier, the following tiers should be built working taller to shorter. Tallest things first, working shorter as you go.
14 i) Outside, shed, and dirtier stuff should go in last towards the end of the truck, away from the household items, especially things that have gas, or oil in them, or other things that might leak or rub off their grime.
14J) When the last bit is being loaded by the loader, the other helpers should not stand around and wait, there is always something they can do to help. They just need to pay attention to what is being done, and help DO SOMETHING continuously.
14K) If there really doesn't look like there's anything more you can do to help finish the load, or when the Lead confirms we're done, help pick up, fold blankets, and put our equipment away. To be able to know where equipment should go, if you don't already know, you should take a close look at where it's stored at the beginning of the job. It's good to give the blankets a good shake before folding them to help knock off any debris they may have picked up.
14L) It's right at the end of a job when it's most fresh in everyone's mind exactly what were the things that went most wrong. This is why, right at the end of most larger jobs, is the best time to have a team meeting. If there's a good number of blankets to fold, the Lead is supposed to gather the crew together to fold the blankets together, and while doing so the Lead is supposed to start a conference call to Phil at AGMC, putting Phil on loud-speaker. If the blankets are already folded then just take a couple minute break for the phone call. Here people should be telling the whole team what stood out as being the area they saw that would most help to improve the job (what went most wrong). With each thing mentioned we talk about solutions. This is just like a Pro football team game-review meeting.
ADDITIONAL BASIC MOVERS RULES
ADDITIONAL BASIC MOVER RULES
#15: If you're not sure you can move something safely, don't move it. Check with your Lead, another mover or your moving company to evaluate alternative methods. If your Lead still doesn't feel he can move the item safely, the Lead should get a liability disclaimer before moving the item.
#16: When you near a bump hazard area, go as slow as a snail. That way even if you bump no damage happens. Also, if there is an equal damage danger on both sides, spilt the clearance difference. If one side of the item you are carrying is so soft that it's not a danger to bump, while the other side could cause damage, let the soft side gently slide along it's bump side so you gain additional clearance on the danger side.
#17: When carrying a sofa (that the back doesn't come off of) out a tight doorway where there is risk of damage, take the cushions off and tip the sofa with the head rest directly over the knee rest, with the sitting side facing the door-jam not the door. If the legs are still on, hold a hand over the leg that would be in danger of scratching the door. Then "curve" the sofa out the door, armrest going out first, with the soft headrest and knee-rest lightly gliding along the door-jam.
#18: Metal should not touch a finished wood surface. That includes the metal plate of hand-trucks touching the finished surface of furniture or wood floors. There must at least be either cardboard or blanketing in-between.
#19: Fabric should be kept clean. It shouldn't touch anything but clean carpet, cardboard, plastic wrap, other clean furniture, or the "clean" side of moving blankets, which is either the lighter side, or the side with the U-Haul writing on it. That means fabric should not touch the pavement, a truck floor, a wood floor, or grass. "Fabric" includes everything fabric, including sofas, mattresses, rugs, rug ends, etc. and our equipment fabric, like the fabric of ratchet straps, black straps, and orange straps, doorway covers, and clothing. White or light furniture fabrics should be stretch-wrapped.
#20: Removed hardware of furniture must be put in a baggie (or something similar), and stretch-wrapped to the source item, or placed in a parts box and well labeled as to what it goes to.
#21: When picking up rugs and floor runners at the end of the job, you must fold those things inwards first to trap the dirt and debris, and keep it from spilling out, before taking it outside to shake clean.
#22: Always speak in only a professional ,courteous calm way to customers, fellow crewmen, anyone around while you're on a job, and to AGMC. Never speak in an angry, disrespectful or threatening manner. No exceptions. Do not respond to someone else's hostility with "though-guy hostility" back at a hostile person, at least not while representing your moving company while on a job, that just exacerbates the problem, and is a big neon sign of a weak unstable-minded person. The strong party will be the peace-maker, talking calmly and trying to de-escalate the situation. Particularly within hearing of a customer, you should never even say un-impressive or risky things, such as about drugs, prison, put-downs about the crew or the work being done, how tired you are, how much you don't want to be there or anything threatening. If you say something it should be positive and helpful. While you are on a job, you are representing and effecting the reputation of the moving company, and if you make yourself look "bad", you hurt the whole company, and so if you do this you should expect your moving company to strongly consider parting ways with you.
#23: Let the Lead be the main communicator with the customer about directions and questions. Non-leads should run most questions thru the Lead (and fellow movers) when possible, unless the mover is sure the Lead wouldn't know or it would have to waste a lot of time going to the Lead. That's because the customer may have already answered that question to the Lead, and the customer re-answering the same question again and again to different movers is not good. Also, it's a higher quality service if the customer knows which single person they should be talking to for directions, and if multiple movers keep asking the customer for directions this confuses the customer as to who the central mover communicator is supposed to be and confuses the web of communicating. All customer instructions that risk large damage claims must be run through the Lead, and not acted upon without the Lead being informed. If a non-lead gets an instruction from the customer that is not carried out immediately, the non-lead should inform the Lead of the instruction so the instruction can be disseminated throughout the rest of the crew. In general, this means the helpers should be having only very limited short communications with the customer, and not be holding "conversations", unless it is at break time. In general, non-leads need to let the Lead do the talking and asking questions to the customer. If a helper is seeing that HUGE mistakes are being made by the Lead not communicating what needs to be communicated with the customer, this should be discussed in private with the Lead and/or with AGMC, but don't just hop in and take over with the customer.
#24: Put things down softly, so there is no "thud".
#24: Don't slide things on the customer's floors, unless it's on something else that acts as a glide.
#25: Put mattresses in a mattress bag before carrying them out of their source room. But before you touch a mattress, not only wash your hands, make a show of you asking the customer if they mind you using their sink to wash your hands adding that you're going to handle their mattress (if another mover has not already asked). This not only keeps their mattress clean (and avoids a customer's disgruntlement), it also serves the main purpose of putting on a show demonstrating to the customer how much care you are taking to keep their mattress clean. Usually, lady customers in particular appreciate this, and earns you lots of easy "points".
#26: Don't walk in the direction the truck is being loaded or unloaded without carrying something.
#27: CUSTOMER DONATED ITEMS. The whole crew has equal rights to customer donated items, just like a group tip. Customer donated items are agreed to be dispersed by the Lead in a fair manner after the job is completed and not claimed by any one person during the job without this process, regardless of who was around the customer when the item was donated or who the customer "gave" the item to. This discourages movers from trying to get the customer to give them things, and stops penalizing movers who are elsewhere doing their job (instead of buddying up to the customer). Don't take any customer donated item directly to your car without first informing the Lead. The Lead will "thank" the customer for the named item, primarily for professionalism but also to double check to make sure there's no mistake and the customer hasn't changed their mind. If you've accepted a customer donated item you must take it if it ends up being given to you by the Lead. You should not ask the customer if they are donating something, and you should not call dibs. If more than one mover is interested in an item there should be a fair division of donated things after the job rather than an uncomfortable competition to claim or get things during the job.
#28: Do not talk "bad" about fellow movers or your moving company around a customer; i.e. "We could have been done an hour ago". If around only fellow movers, it's OK to talk about the pro's & con's of other movers actions and skills for purposes of discussing techniques and making business decisions, but it's not OK to speak disrespectfully about them or "name call". It's also not OK to tell one mover what another mover said about them, unless it's a compliment. That just causes trouble, sometimes big trouble, all needless.
#29: Be on the high side of the hand truck if it's a very heavy load, whether you are going up or down a truck ramp or very steep hill.
#30: If your hand truck is empty, carry it over stairs, don't "bang" them down each step.
#31: Have your Lead get a Water Damage Liability Disclaimer before you work on washing machines.
#32: Don't touch the screen of a TV, or tilt a Plasma TV more than 30 degrees, it can ruin the screen.
#33: If it's raining outside, wipe your feet on the rugs every time you come in to the house.
#34: If the customer is helping, leave the lighter stuff for the customer, and you take the heavier stuff.
#35: When unloading, pay close attention to where the customer says furniture is to be placed so you don't put boxes or other things there that need to be moved a second time, when the "right" item needs to go there.
#36: Keep information about he jobs you've been getting private. The jobs you get is private information that you are not required to tell other movers about, and in fact, is a subject that usually only causes only jealousy, resentment and misunderstandings in other movers who think they should be getting the jobs that YOU earned. It just "stirs the pot" of disgruntlement without them knowing the background reasons of schedule determination. For this reason, it is a good general rule to not tell other movers what jobs you've been getting, and for you to not ask other movers what jobs they've been getting. People are getting the jobs they are earning, with some adjustments to make multiple jobs actually work out with all the factors involved. That's often not an easy puzzle for AGMC to solve, which could have 20 limiting factors that you have no idea about. For this reason, don't complain or bitch to AGMC that you disapprove of who's getting what jobs, or AGMC is not going to want to put up with it.
#37) Let the Lead make the final call. When the Lead directs for something to be done a certain way, it's good to bring up alternative suggestions and concerns, and you should, but when the Lead makes the final call, it needs to be done the way the Lead is directing. It's the Lead that pays for what goes wrong if something goes wrong, and that means in the current job it's the Lead that is making a bet with his money that he won't have to pay a damage claim or need to give the customer a satisfaction discount . Other helpers are not betting their money, and so they do not have the right to gamble the Lead's money on a bet the Lead doesn't want to make. Just like you wouldn't be OK with someone else reaching into your pocket to grab a couple thousand dollars to gamble on some bet THEY choose to make with your money. it's not their money to bet. So if other "experts" with many years of experience want to bet their own money on the gamble of a moving job loss, they need to become Lead on a job. Otherwise, they need to remember who is making the bet with their money, and so who's call it is to make the bet.
If you want to keep track of your progrees on your own check list, here's a ready made one for this course you can copy and print out.
CHECKLIST FOR COURSE #1: THE BASICS
MOVER: ____________ DATE: _______
#1: BEST: KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#2: PHONE: KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#3: ON TIME: KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#4: ETHICS: KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#5: KEEP BUSY: KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#6: DISSAPEAR: KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#7: DANCE: KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#8: PRE JOB
A) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
B) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
C) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
D) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
E) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
F) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
G) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
H) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#9: U-HAUL TRUCK PICK UP
A) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
B) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
C) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
D) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
E) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
F) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#10: ONSITE PREP
10) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
A) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
B) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
C) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
D) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
E) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
F) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
G) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
H) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
I) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
J) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
K) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
L) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
M) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
N) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
O) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
P) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
Q) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
R) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
S) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
T) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
U) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
V) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
W) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
X) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
Y) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#11) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#12: TRUCK LOADING
A) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
B) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
C) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
D) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
E) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
F) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
G) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
H) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
I) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#13: THE TIE OFF WALL
A) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
B) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
C) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
D) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
E) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
F) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#14: AFTER THE MID TIE OFF
A) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
B) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
C) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
D) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
E) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
F) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
G) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
H) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
I) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
J) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
K) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
L) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
ADDITIONAL BASIC MOVERS RULES
#15) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#16) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#17) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#18) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#19) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#20) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#21) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#22) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#23) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#24) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#25) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#26) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#27) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#28) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#29) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#30) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#31) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#32) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#33) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#34) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#35) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#36) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
#37) KNOW: ___ VERBAL TEST: ___ PHYSICAL TEST: ____
THAT'S IT FOR COURSE #1, THE BASICS