Sustainable Ways to Get Rid of Office Furniture

When spring cleaning to get rid of some of your “junk” (especially right before a move), it’s pretty easy to set up a yard sale to liquidate your belongings before you have to pack it up. 

But what if you run your own business and need to do the same thing? Every time you relocate, you probably find yourself with banged up office furniture that needs to be done away with. 

Old Office FurnitureNow, the easy option for this would be to call a service and have all of it hauled to the landfill. But this just adds to the environmental problems that are destroying our world. 

So, how do you get rid of your excess office furniture while doing so in a sustainable “green” manner? Here are a few ways:

  1. Sell It — If you have a small business, it shouldn’t be hard to sell your excess furniture. (Larger inventories can be more difficult, but not impossible, to unload.) 

One source for potential buyers is within your own company. You can offer your employees their first choice of used furniture at a steep discount. Many of them would jump at the chance to stock a home office with a comfy chair or desk they’re used to, especially if it’s cheaper than they could get from a furniture store. 

If you still have pieces you want to sell, you can advertise a public sale. Let the local community, especially those who are running start-up businesses of their own, know that you’re getting rid of furniture pieces and many will come running. After this stage, your last step would be to contact a used furniture store to see if they’re interested in making you an offer.

2) Donate It — If you can’t sell your furniture, consider donating it. Many non-profit organizations are doing their best work on a shoestring budget. In addition, schools are still critically underfunded and must resort to holding fundraisers just to buy basic supplies. Any of these organizations would love extra furniture with light wear-and-tear. And, you can also possibly qualify for a tax write-off by making these donations. 

3)  Recycle — Another potential tax break is if your community has a recycling center. These organizations are geared towards repurposing and reusing used goods. Many will even talk to you about picking up the items for you.

For larger companies with a huge supply of furniture, these three options may not necessarily work well for you. Selling your excess furniture (or donating it) may still be an option, but it’s going to be too unwieldy a project to handle by sending out a few emails or phone calls. 

With that in mind, you should consider the following steps:

4) Count EVERYTHING — The first thing you’ll need to do is create a detailed inventory of all your furniture items you need to get rid of. This should include everything from the manufacturer to the model number of the item. Ideally, one person should be responsible for this project. However, if you have too much for one person to inventory, consider setting aside one person from each department instead.

5) Communicate Your Plan to All of your Departments — If you’re getting rid of furniture, you might think that only procurement or facilities should really work on this project. However, if you have a community outreach or marketing department that handles charitable donations, you should definitely keep them tied into the project. These departments may have community resources who can help you find places needing the furniture.

6) Procure a Storage Area — If you’re planning to sell or donate a large number of surplus furniture pieces, it will take some time. The second-hand furniture market can be quite fickle. One day, you might be able to unload dozens of pieces at a good price. Another day, you might find a school system willing to take fifty desk chairs. But then everything else might dry up for weeks and months. If you choose to give up and toss out the rest, you could be throwing away money as you are filling up the landfill with your furniture. Instead, procure a storage area for the unused furniture. This way, you can manage your surplus until you can find a way to get rid of the items.

7) Hire movers that can make quick work of moving the furniture into your storage area. They may  know places around town you could donate or offload furniture! After all, they move furniture all the time. Use a reputable moving company that has been in business for years, so you know they know the community and it’s needs.

It used to be that if you got a new desk or chair, you simply tossed the old one in the dumpster and moved on with your day. Bu

What Do Commercial Office Movers Cover in Their Services?

Hiring commercial office movers brings many benefits for businesses over your standard movers. Before you start your search, read about the services offered here.

Did you know that the Canadian relocation industry has a market share of nearly 2 billion dollars? It’s made of more than 2,500 businesses that provide both residential and commercial moving services. This industry is expected to grow in the upcoming future as residential and commercial real estate activities increase.

But if you need to move to a new office or commercial space, how do you organize your relocation project? Do you want to do everything by yourself or let professional commercial office movers lend you a helping hand? What about moving during this unprecedented time of health concerns due to Covid-19?

Using professional office moving services is the best option. Experienced commercial office movers will help keep you safe and save you time and effort. Here are the services you can expect to get from our commercial moving company.

Commercial Moving Services Available

Most commercial moving companies specialize in multiple types of relocation services such as small business, commercial and industrial. Whether you’re a Corporate CEO, Warehouse Manager or Small Business Owner, our commercial movers will organize your relocation process accordingly. For example, it’s possible to transport office items such as desks and chairs as well as IT equipment, complex machinery, industrial tools, and more. Different types of methods will be used for each moving project, so you get your belongings to the final destination safely and on time.

Our Commercial Office Movers Can Pack and Unpack Your Items

One of the optional services offered by our moving company is that we can help you with packing items. It’s possible to order boxes of different sizes as well as custom boxes, depending on the personal belongings you want to transport. Our movers will come to your place, pack your stuff, transport it to a new location and even unpack everything for you if that’s what you want. This service can save a lot of time and effort as you don’t have to move heavy boxes by yourself and risk a back injury.

Take Advantage Of Optional Office Furniture Disassembly and Reassembly Services

Furniture disassembly and reassembly services can be very helpful. Our experts know how to work with different types of cubicles, offices, chairs, conference tables, and more. They will carefully disassemble your corporate furniture items, pack them in special boxes, move them to a new place, and reassemble them at the destination. This simple service saves you a lot of time, effort, and ensures that your furniture items remain in one piece during the relocation process.

Hoisting Services Can Also Be Included

Hoisting or rigging services are required when items in your possession are too large to move through the door. At the same time, the items you need to move are too large to be transported down the stairs or they cannot be disassembled in smaller parts. In this case, our movers might organize a hoisting maneuver that involves taking these items out the window. Adequate equipment and expertise are required to accomplish this task safely, so make sure that you work with our professional moving company to avoid damages.

Take Advantage of Commerical Office Storage Solutions

Relocating your entire business to a new commercial building can be a stressful operation. You might need to store IT equipment such as computers, printers, and cables to a new place until they are ready to be transported to the destination. Our experienced moving company offers affordable and flexible storage solutions. We offer secure, heated storage for both long term and short term storage needs. Our storage warehouse is constantly protected and monitored 24/7, so your entire IT infrastructure and furniture items are safe.

Our Office Movers Will Handle Fragile Items With Care

Most company owners have certain types of fragile items that require extra care. For example, laptops, audio/video equipment as well as photography accessories are very expensive and need to be handled carefully. Our movers use plenty of protective materials such as bubble wrap and special boxes. These materials are designed to minimize shocks and vibrations to your fragile equipment and prevent damage. Our specialists can help you relocate your entire business without having a single laptop scratched!

Our Commercial Movers Can Transport Your Belongings Across the Country

It’s one thing to move items from one place to the other in the same town and a totally different thing to move items across the country. When moving items for long distances, large trucks are used. Our moving company has multiple vehicles and trucks at its disposal to handle heavy personal belongings and transport them safely across the country. You get to track your stuff in real-time using a mobile application and see where the moving trucks are at any given time.

Flexible Office / Commercial Moving and Delivery Options

We offer flexible moving schedules so that that your moving process can be customized according to your needs and preferences. You can discuss with the movers and establish a picking-up schedule as well as delivery times. For example, you can arrange for certain items to be picked up in the evenings or during weekends when your employees are not there. You can also make arrangements for items to be picked up in a certain order from various parts of the city.

You can also arrange for certain personal belongings to be gathered from multiple locations such as different business stores, storage facilities, etc. This type of flexibility can make your moving process less stressful and creates a minimal disturbance in your company’s workflow.

Now You Know What Types of Services Our Commercial Movers Can Offer You!

As you can see, our commercial movers can go the extra mile to ensure that you get a customized service when it comes to company relocation. It’s important to make a plan right from the start and know how much help you need with moving stuff around. Do you have fragile items? Do you need storage solutions as soon as possible? Providing answers to these questions will help you pick the right moving company for the job.

If you’re looking for a one-stop solution to all your commercial moving problems, make sure that you contact us today! We specialize in corporate relocation and we can offer a free, no-obligation moving quote tailored to your needs.

5 Packing Secrets from the Office Moving Experts

Many people think of themselves as packing experts, having moved their home several times in their lives. And while office moving has its own peculiar problems and issues, it is still ultimately very similar to moving a home, just on a larger scale.  So, you can take some of those expert home moving tips and bring them into the realm of office moving. 

Here are 5 packing tips to make your office move easier:

  1. Don’t overpack with heavy items — When you’re packing heavy materials (like reference books or equipment), don’t pack a lot of them into giant boxes. These are almost impossible to move. Even if you’re hiring movers, the sheer weight may break the boxes and once they’re delivered you may have to shift the boxes around to unpack them. Instead, pack heavy office items into smaller boxes. Less is more!
  2. Keep items together — If you’re helping Jane from Accounting pack up her office supplies, be sure to put all items in the same box. You don’t want to mix boxes across departments (or even co-workers) because then it becomes problematic to unpack. Making sure everyone gets their materials when you unpack saves time and frustration.
  3. Tape is your friend — When you’re packing up items that go together (like computers and the cords or cables that go with them), tape the cables to the computer. That way, if it gets unboxed, you know for a fact that those items go together and it’s easier to set up your equipment later.
  4. Label it — Make sure that you clearly label every single box. If an employee boxes up his or her own office, be sure their name is clearly labeled on the boxes. Once they have boxed everything, they should also label how many boxes they have. For instance, if Jane in Accounting has seven boxes, label each one “Jane’s Supplies – Accounting 1 of 7” and so on. The number of boxes helps you make sure that you have all of them when you get delivery because you can put them in her office and count quickly to see if something is missing.
  5. Double box it — For fragile items, such as electronics and computers, don’t be afraid to double box them. Place the item inside a packing box with bubble wrap or “popcorn” stuffing that can cushion it. But then, take that box and place it inside a second, larger box with more protective cushioning. This way, the breakable items are doubly protected. Make sure you label these as electronics and fragile while you’re at it.

If you are getting ready to move your office, then there is no need to panic. Use your moving experts on staff and these packing secrets to make the process a smooth one. 

If you liked this post you will probably enjoy:  6 Tips for a smoother office move

Crescent Moving & Storage has been in business for over 40 years providing reliable, timely and safe moving services for businesses and homeowners in the Vancouver area. Find out why so many trust Crescent Moving to care for their most valuable assets. Contact us for a  FREE , no-obligation  Office Moving Quote

 

 

Moving Offices? How to talk to your Employees (Plus Other Pro Tips to Ensure A Smooth Office Relocation )

You’ve heard before that communication is key to any lasting relationship. This is also true when it comes to creating a cooperative and stable environment in at work. The following blog outlines the best practices for informing your employees about moving offices.

One of the most disruptive activities for your staff will be to move your business to a new office. In order to make this move a smooth one, it’s necessary to effectively communicate the details  with your employees in a way that will alleviate their concerns and get them all on the same page. 

Talk to Employees About Moving Offices

Here’s how you create an effective moving strategy with your staff:

  1. Inform employees of the move as soon as possible

You don’t want your employees finding out about moving through office gossip. Instead, you need to let them know as much as possible about the move as soon as you can. 

If you wait until the “watercooler talk” starts, rumors and misinformation can start. (You certainly don’t want this move to make people worry about their jobs or their place within the company.)

2. Tell employees as much as possible

The first thing to communicate is where you’re relocating. Use this opportunity to motivate your staff. Help them see the move as an opportunity for a new beginning for the company. 

Provide employees with a timeline for the move. Don’t just tell them the date of the move. Include all of the “stops” along the way including the different activities that will have to be checked off before the move can occur. If you give a detailed roadmap for this journey, you’ll ensure everyone feels better about the move when it happens.3

3. Involve staff as much as possible before moving day

As part of your communication with staff, include them on the team that has to be assembled to complete the move. Each department should have at least one representative on the team so everyone can be properly informed and have equitable input on how the move should be conducted. 

This group will also be responsible for communicating news of the move back to their department members. For this team, include your administrative staff, human resources, IT, bookkeeping, and maintenance workers so you get complete buy-in from everyone.

4 .Celebrate

From the beginning, inform your staff you’ll be celebrating this move as the next step in the company’s growth. Once the move is complete, throw an “office-warming” party for all of your employees to become familiar with the new location and to make everyone more comfortable in the new surroundings.

Many people will tell you that moving is one of their least favorite experiences. But by communicating your plans early on to your employees and being completely transparent about the move, you can ensure your office relocation goes smoothly for everyone involved.

Office Moving and Corporate Relocation Professionals

Crescent Moving & Storage has been in business for over 40 years offering semi to full-service corporate relocation packages for single and multi-office businesses within Surrey, Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland.

We offer a full range of moving packages including full service, DIY or a mix of both. We work to make your move as easy for you as possible with sensitive time scheduling and flexible short and long term secure storage. Contact us for a free, no obligation moving estimate!