A Travel Free Learning Article

By George Bullard, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership
Voice: 803.622.0923, E-mail: GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org
Some years ago I had the responsibility to lead a team moving a denominational organization of more than 100 staff persons from a 35,000 square foot building to an 80,000 square foot building less than two miles away. It needed to happen over a weekend.
We developed a list of possible moving companies to handle the transition. We interviewed three. Two presented a traditional plan for moving us, and one an innovative plan. We went with the innovative plan.
The traditional plan involved figuring out how many tractor-trailers they needed to load 35,000 square feet of furniture, files, and equipment, and travel the distance to the new site and unload. A traditional move required 10 to 12 tractor-trailers.
The innovative plan was to bring in three trucks about 30 feet in length, and several dozen rolling gondolas with shelves, and a bunch of furniture dollies. The necessary gondolas and dollies would be taken into each office or storage area, loaded and shrink wrapped with plastic, then rolled onto one of the trucks. When the bed of a truck was full, it traveled to the new location, the gondolas and dollies then unloaded into the new office or storage area, and the truck headed back for another load with empty containers.