Movin' On Down...

As most of you know, Oakland has been going through some staffing changes. We didn't want the warehouse to get jealous, so we decided to revamp it as well.

For the last decade or so, the offices have been upstairs in our high-ceilinged, many windowed loft space. This allowed management to literally oversee operations. As this is Oakland, and we don't have air-conditioning, these offices go through heat waves and cold snaps. This coupled with a decade’s worth of unsorted "stuff" to work around made the conditions not-so-ideal to work in, however much we may have enjoyed lording our administrative functions over the warehouse labor. Many moons ago, there was talk about a move, but it wasn't until we brought Sharie in and got Dan back that we were able to put this into action.

And oh, what action. Some thorough mopping, a bit of ransacking of abandoned carpets, a new pallet for our antique fridge, the horking of many desks, and some consolidation and condensing of workspaces and we were ready to continue operations uninterrupted.

I will pat myself on the back here for doing most of the cleaning, moving and installing work. Thank you, thank you very much.

In about one full work day (spread out over two afternoons) we got ourselves all situated downstairs in the nice, cool, enclosed breakroom and side office.

Now we don't have to run upstairs to swipe credit cards or make photocopies, and walk-in customers can be attended to much more quickly. Quicklier..? I would say that our operations are already more efficient. But my favorite part is being able to be down in the guts of the operation with the crew. It's my belief that separating management from the workforce, while providing clarity of the totem pole, ends up making the crew feel like they're not part of the team. There isn't one staff member here that is afraid to roll up their sleeves and pitch in to help load a truck or stack a pallet. Having our offices in the same room crew takes lunch, and literally being on the same level is going to go far to really build our workforce into a team that feels comfortable around each other, and knows we've all got each other's backs.

As Mark always reminds me, we're a family here at Box Brothers.

Here are some before and after photos.

BEFORE

Ganzo sweeping.....

Blurry, Crust Corner

AFTER

Kitchen Korner, Box Brother's Breakfast Nook

Dispatch Desk

Sharie "Moneymaker" Michalec's Red Zone

Bill's Big Blue Corner Lounge

Ganzo and Dan's "Close Enough To Touch" Office