Friday, May 25, 2012

Here We Grow Again....Nostalgia or Are Times Really Changing?

While it is difficult to always answer a question about what true direction our economy is actually
heading in, I am fortunate to be able to announce that Box Brothers is officially growing again, like we used to......

Box Brothers of Las Vegas, is officially getting a new expanded facility, just across the highway
from the famous, Las Vegas Strip.

What is most exciting is that our Las Vegas operations will now have a centralized location near all
the Casino's, and adjacent to Highway 15; that our Custom Crating Division and our Casino Services
Division will not only be closer to our clients, but these two key divisions of Box Brothers, will have expanded capabilities to do more of these services, as demanded by our clients.

This is our 19th year in the Las Vegas market, and we are very proud of our staff and our operations
as we have a reputation in Las Vegas as being one of the best service providers in this large and ever
changing environment.

We look forward to our grand opening celebration, which is scheduled to take place just before the
July 4th holiday, but our operations will begin in our new facility on June 4, 2012.

Our new location is at 4255 Dean Martin Drive, Unit H, Las Vegas, Nevada 89103.   We can be reached
at 800 355-7917, or on our website, boxbros.com

We can actually attest to the fact that we are growing again.......

Monday, May 14, 2012

College Shipping-Getting Home For Summer

At this time of year, colleges will be freeing their student captives......as in the next 6 weeks, virtually all college campuses will conclude their spring semesters and summer begins--for college students, anyway.

For many students, the need to move or ship their clothes, their books and papers, and their household
items, is clear enough.   In California, for example, some of the University of California campuses have
upwards of 30,000 students (i.e. Cal Berkeley and UCLA) who generally leave campus for the summer.

At Box Brothers, we have been helping students get their items home or to their new homes, if graduating,
and the size of most of these moves or shipments are not big by normal moving standards, as few if any
students have time or the need to accumulate a lot of possessions while in school.

But having some idea how to get this done is important, as a lot of effort and expense can be
unnecessarily if you do not have some guidelines to go by.

First, we suggest you get the proper moving boxes to pack your items, no matter if you store them (e.g. mini storage), ship them via a package carrier (e.g UPS or Fedex) or hire a professional shipper or mover to
assist in this effort.

The general rule is that heavier objects, like books or tools, go into smaller boxes, or book boxes, as they
are called in the moving business.   If you had a large TV type box and filled it with books, you might need
only one, but who is going to lift it, and it will cause damage in transit if the box tips and it is too heavy.
Besides, filling a book box with books or papers will already, on average, weight about 50 lbs.

Always fill the box to the top as boxes are stacked in storage and in transit, so if they are not packed full,
they will crush and cause damage to the contents.   Tape all sides and seams--with good tape as you do not
want the tape to open in transit or in a hot storage unit--so that no bugs or water can easily penetrate the
cardboard.  Label the boxes with more than books, as if the box is heavy, also note that the box is heavy so
no one gets hurt lifting them.   This also tells the shipper, if they look at all (package shippers are notorious for ignoring fragile stickers on the outside of boxes) that these heavier boxes need to be on the bottom of the stack so there is no pressure on the bottom box.

For clothes, since they compress and are light, you can use larger boxes, same with linens and towels,
but you may want to use some of the towels to cushion your boxes with breakables, if you choose not to
purchase bubble wrap paper for protection.   This is not a bad way to save some money, but be careful to
really protect your breakables, as normally, if you pack the box, and the contents arrive broken, the carrier
will claim they are not responsible cause they did not pack it, you did.

If you want insurance protection, you have to let the shipper pack the items, as this is the same rule all movers have, packed by owner boxes (PBO) are not covered unless there is evidence of mishandling by
the carrier, which is hard to prove.

Once you have all goods packaged, you can then compare some prices and different ways to moving
these items.

Or you can just call Box Brothers and we will assist you in the procurement of the proper supplies, boxes or you can simply use us for packing advice, as we have stores staffed 7 days a week for your convenience and we even offer on site pick up at any college, packaging services, and a multitude of shipping options
for whatever your needs might be.

This is a service we have provided to college students for over 2 decades now, and we are happy to answer
any questions you may have that relate to packing materials costs, packaging costs, insurance, storage
and shipping services.   Whatever your budget, we can help.  Visit boxbros.com for more information and congratulations on finishing another school year.