The Movers’ Zone – Working in Reverse

Written and submitted by Timothy Brady

You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension of not only sight and sound, but of moving. Making a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of furniture, odd objects, and interesting people. That’s the signpost up ahead: your next stop……The Movers’ Zone!

At times a Van Operator, a mover, unknowingly enters “The Movers’ Zone” in perfect weather, with clear roads, no construction and the only delays due to the human factor, called ‘assumption.’ This ‘assumption’ was based on a Van Operator’s previous experience and what he perceived as the person providing directions having a similar base of experience. It was one of those times when he had a delivery to a home in a subdivision at the top of a small mountain.

The mover would load the family’s belongings in Birmingham, Alabama, and deliver them to the shipper’s new home at the top of a mountain in East Tennessee. As is usual in every move, there was a typical exchange of ‘what each did for a living’ – in his own words, the shipper was a trucker, who drove for a major package delivery company. The Van Operator’s assumption was that he drove a semi too, similar to his 70′ long rig.

The mover and his Alabama crew loaded the trucker/shipper’s household items along with his pride and joy, a small English sports car at the tail end of the moving van. His family’s belongings were just one of several shipments in this particular trip, set to be delivered first, as the mover made his way from Alabama to East Tennessee, with other deliveries up the coast in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

From all indications, the 12,000 pounds of HHG and 1,500 pounds of automobile were going to be a routine delivery, or so the Van Operator assumed. The trucker/shipper told him the house was in a subdivision at the top of a hill. He asked what he could expect as far as getting in and back out of the subdivision: was there either another route out, or a way to turn a large 70′ semi around, to come out the way he came in? The trucker/shipper’s answer was simple: “I don’t see any problem. The Van Operator can easily turn his truck around in the cul-de-sac at the very top to come back down the same way.” Again the mover made an assumption —”He’s a trucker; I’m good.”

The day of delivery arrived and the Van Operator hired two helpers from the local moving agent to assist in unloading this trucker/shipper’s belongings. The mover and his crew began following the directions provided by both the moving agent and the trucker/shipper.

His first indication he’d entered the ‘Movers’ Zone,’ should have been the 4½ miles of switchbacks to climb the “hill” to the subdivision. There was a switchback every half mile – a total of eight hairpin curves on a narrow, two-lane road at an estimated 4-5% grade.

The second indication was when the mover arrived in the subdivision. He found the trucker/shipper’s house was the second one, placing it on the steep part of the grade. Now here’s a problem with delivering any load, and particularly a household shipment stacked floor-to-ceiling in a moving van—we professional movers know you can’t unload with the back end of your trailer facing downhill, as you end up with an avalanche of furniture and automobile unloading itself into a pile of rubble at the back of the trailer when the trailer doors are opened.

The third indication was when the Van Operator discovered the cul-de-sac in no way, shape, or form would allow him to turn the 70′ truck and trailer around so it’d be facing in a direction enabling him to unload the shipment safely. And there he was, stuck at the top of a mountain in East Tennessee, with five household shipments aboard.

It was about this time the trucker/shipper came walking into the cul-de-sac to see what was taking so long. He immediately saw that in order to turn the semi- around, it would entail a major logging and brush-cutting event. There were oak trees and dogwoods lining the circle, along with other tasteful landscaping accouterments that made turning the truck around not even remotely possible.

There were options: One, back the truck down the mountain, around eight switchback curves, and arrange for a shuttle. The problem with this option was there weren’t any straight trucks available locally. And the Van Operator had four other shippers, who were expecting delivery over the next five days.

Option Two would be to put the trucker/shipper’s family’s belongings into temporary storage until the local moving agent could arrange for delivery. Both these options would be a major inconvenience to both the shipper and the Van Operator.

The last option was to back down the mountain, and then back up the mountain in reverse. While this would take what the mover thought would be four extra hours (two hours each way), it would get the household delivered and keep him on schedule for his other deliveries.
So it was decided the ‘back down and then back up the mountain’ was the only viable option. (By the way, the Van Operator surprised himself as it only took 45 minutes to back down the mountain. It took 30 minutes to back up the mountain.)

Oh, yeah, and the trucker/shipper? He drove a straight truck with a 30′ freight box. That was why he didn’t have any idea what it took to turn a 70′ tractor-trailer around.
From that point forward, this article’s Van Operator learned not to make assumptions, and that it’s best to take time to survey shipper-given directions either on foot or in a car.

If you don’t see the way out from the entrance, it may just be a one-way trip into …
the Movers’ Zone.

Timothy Brady ©2015
To contact Brady go to www.timothybrady.com