Should you hire a mover to do your packing as well?

I love movers. I really do. After all, they’re the people who handle all my business.

But last week I had a less than great experience. Here’s what happened:

I was hired to unpack only-the clients had already moved into their new home, so my job was to go through each box and put away items.

After opening a few boxes, it became clear that whoever had packed these clients’ belongings hadn’t been very careful.?

There were a few items that were damaged here and there. There were boxes were none of the items were wrapped for protection-at all. There were bowls, pots and decorative items simply thrown into a box. No newsprint protected them from scratching each other.

But the biggest surprise came when I opened the “kitchen” boxes. More than one item was damaged. In fact, one box labelled “glasses” was so poorly packed that every single item inside was shattered into little pieces.?

Being in the packing business, I was horrified. It was clear that no one had given any care nor spent any time protecting the client’s belongings. I can’t even image how the client felt, seeing her glassware, plates and cups shattered inside boxes.

If I were the client I would want some assurance that whoever I hired would at least be careful and thoughtful with my things. I would hope that they would at least be considerate enough to realize a lot of those items are precious to me-even though they may not be expensive. And I would hope that they would pack them with a little carefulness and consideration.

If there’s a lesson to take here, it’s this: when you hire someone to pack your contents, ask if it’s the movers that will be doing the packing. Because it shouldn’t be. It should be packing professionals. Packers know how to cushion delicate items, how to stack to prevent breakage, and how to fill boxes so they can carry the weight of other boxes placed on top.?