Let’s face it – your electronic devices make your world go round. In the moving business, we realize how important those items are to families. One of the most common questions we get is how to transport electronics safely, especially big-screen TVs.
During a move, whether it’s across town or across Canada, it is important to give these items special treatment so they arrive in one piece and in good working order. The best advice we have for accomplishing this goal requires some forethought: to keep the original boxes and foam spacers the electronic items came in. That is truly the safest method for moving them.
Of course people rarely keep these boxes, so at TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® we have specialty boxes and crates designed specifically to move big-screen TVs safely. People who do their own packing and moving should be aware of how easy it is to damage one of these units. Spending a few dollars extra to purchase or rent one of these special boxes can make all the difference. They can accommodate any size TV, so there is a solution for every unit.
Another thing to remember is that most of these television sets are mounted on wall brackets and people rarely keep the installation instructions for the brackets. It’s far too chaotic on moving day to be trying to find any instruction manuals. The best plan when preparing for your move is to take the TVs off the walls yourself ahead of time and have them ready to be packaged properly.
Here’s a tip for anyone disassembling electronics for a move. Get your digital camera or cell phone and take photos of the wiring connections on the backs of the TVs, cable boxes, PVRs and the like. When it comes time to reassemble them, it will be much easier to reference how they were set up originally, saving time, stress and frustration.
The same goes for stereos and gaming systems. Many teenagers leave their entire gaming systems hooked up until moving day. It’s up to them to disassemble their systems and hopefully place them into the packing they arrived in. If not, the best thing to do is wrap consoles in anti-static bubble wrap and place them into appropriately sized boxes so they won’t move around during the trip. In fact, this is the best way to treat most electronics items. That includes computers – especially desktop units. We have specialty boxes designed specifically for them that can be bought separately. If you choose not to go that route, then surround the unit with anti-static bubble wrap, and again, place it into an appropriate sized box.
And here’s a handy tip: pack the associated hardware with it. Place the mouse, keyboard, power cord, scanner, printer cables, etc. all into the same box. When these cartons arrive at your new digs, you’ll be very glad you did!