Moving Words – Patience
Written by Timothy Brady.
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau (philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century.)
Of all the attributes necessary to be a quality mover, the top of the list has got to be patience.
The entire process of packing, loading, unloading and unpacking the valued household goods of a shipper requires a great level of patience. The same can be said for high value loads, Special Commodities and tradeshow shipments. From planning and working out the details of a shipment by sales, coordinators and dispatch, to the packers’ and drivers’ tasks, to the follow-up by claims and customer service, each task of each respective department and individual requires a high level of tolerance to accept the delays, challenges and unpredictability of moving customers’ goods from one location to another.
Moving, by its nature, is susceptible to all kinds of delays. It can involve sudden changes in the initial plan from the administrative and sales end. Or the unexpected postponement of a real estate closing; change in destination of the shipment, the need to delay loading or unloading due to a shipper’s family emergency, or an entirely new set of plans by the corporation. Any of this can occur at any time during the process of a move. Other dynamics may add to the mix, from weather and road conditions to local disasters, or all the way to a national disaster like September 11, 2001, when the entire nation is affected by an event.
There are other areas requiring the flexibility to either slow down or wait for a time. These occur on an individual move basis. We as movers are dealing with shippers who tend to be on an emotional roller coaster. And the peaks and valleys of that roller coaster will depend on the reason for the move. Is it an advancement in the present job? Is it a new job? Are all the members of the family on board and excited over the move? (Typically teenagers are the most difficult to persuade to be on board.) Does it involve a death in the family? A divorce? A deployment of a military member for a long tour away from family? The list of the different move-related stresses is long and as numerous as the number of people we move.
The one common denominator in all of these is, as professionals in moving, being patient with events which occur and the individuals who we’re moving or who are impacted by the move has got to be one of our top priorities. And it must be a team effort by every employee and contractor of the moving company to coordinate this need for patience. We as movers must not add to the difficulty of a move, through understanding the stresses for the shipper and his/her family or employees or customers. We also must do everything in our power to mitigate their stress and fear through additional patience and understanding, so that as Rousseau suggested, while it can be bitter at the time, when the move is complete there will be few if any lingering problems, shown as claims and carryover trouble.
The good thing about moving is that if a shipper/customer is treated with patience, understanding and respect, no matter how difficult it seems at the time, the results will be that when the driver closes the doors of an empty van after delivery, the challenges and events of that move are over. We then have a clean slate to provide the next shipper(s) with our full concentration – and patience – on the details of their move.
