Materials, labelling and what travels unpacked

Four carton sizes, and the fill ruleMaterials

A carton is right when it is full to the lid and you can still pick it up. Those two conditions fight each other, which is why there are four sizes rather than one: the dense things go in the small one so the weight stays liftable, the bulky light things go in the big one so the volume gets used. A carton filled to half its height is worse than no carton at all, because it crushes under the next layer and takes the stack with it.

Crockery is wrapped plate by plate and stood on edge, never stacked flat, because a stack of plates transmits the whole weight of the carton through the bottom one. Glasses go upside down in a divided layer. Pans nest, with paper between them so the handles do not ring against each other for forty minutes of motorway.

The two-face labelWritten twice

Every carton carries the same three fields, written twice: once on the lid, where it can be read while the carton is on the floor, and once on a long side, where it can be read while the carton is in a stack. Writing it once is the commonest false economy in the trade, because a carton in a stack with its lid against the next carton is a carton that has to be moved to be identified.

Rooms are written as the household names them, not as a surveyor would: if the back bedroom is called the office, the label says office and the door at the far end gets a sheet of paper taped to it saying office. The point of the label is that the carton and the door agree.

What travels unpackedProtection

Most furniture is not boxed. Upholstery is blanket-wrapped and banded, and travels on edge against a side wall so nothing is stacked on a cushion. Mattresses go in bags and stand on edge. Tables lose their legs, which go in a bag taped to the underside of the top. Wardrobes and beds come apart, and their fixings go in a labelled bag taped to the largest piece, never into a shared tub.

White goods need preparation that has to happen the day before, not on the morning: a washing machine drum is bolted or braced if the transit bolts still exist, the hoses are drained into a bucket and bagged, and a fridge or freezer is emptied, defrosted overnight and left with the door wedged open to dry. A freezer that is moved full is a freezer that arrives leaking.

Not carried, and what to do insteadRefused

Some things are not loaded, and saying so here is better than arguing about it in a hallway. Nothing that burns, leaks or pressurises travels in a sealed body with other people’s belongings.

• Fuel, gas cylinders, aerosols, paint, thinners, fireworks and ammunition — disposed of locally beforehand; the household waste site takes most of it, and the clearance sheet explains the rest.
• Open or frozen food — eaten, given away or disposed of; a cool box in the car is for anything that must survive the day.
• Cash, passports, deeds, jewellery and medication — these travel with the household, in a bag that never goes in the van, and they are not on the inventory.
• Pets and plants — pets travel with the household. Plants are carried only loose in the cab, upright, and only if there is room after the inventory is loaded.

Cartons back afterwardsReturns

Cartons that survive a move are worth reusing, so they are collected flat rather than left as a pile in a garage. Wardrobe cartons go back the same day, emptied as they are unloaded, because they are bulky and only useful once per house. Mattress bags, picture cases, blankets, bands and skates all go back on the van at sign-off and are counted on the inventory like everything else.

Anything that cannot be reused goes out as cardboard for recycling rather than into a general load, which keeps the waste side of the job describable on its own document. Next: short-hold storage, for a load that has nowhere to be put down yet.