Do I need to buy boxes or do my Removalists come with their own boxes?
Pack your items or leave the hard work to us.
Depending on your financial or time commitments, you can pack your items with our removalists at Total Care Movers (TCM) or by yourself. If you decide to pack your items, our friendly team can provide information to ensure you’re correctly wrapping and packing. Our removalists can be readily contacted via email or verbally over the phone, and videos on techniques, tips, and tricks can be provided upon request. For example, this may include advice on ensuring boxes are properly sealable, placing heavy items first, labelling your cartons according to the room and a breakdown of things inside, and placing filled cartons in dedicated areas ready for the removalists.
Appropriate use of different-size cartons
Different packing boxes vary depending on the type of item. Ensure you ask our staff if you’re packing your things and need information about knowing the correct package for particular objects. Our removalists ensure that your personal belongings are correctly loaded into the appropriate size carton to ensure maximum care is given. Some types of cartons include:
- Standard cartons are suitable for bulky and lighter items, small appliances,
- Small cartons are handy for books, paper, records, CDs, DVDs, wine, and other alcoholic bottles.
- TV/plasma cartons come in different sizes to suit all televisions.
- Porta-robes store hanging clothing, e.g., dresses, suits, etc.
- Priority cartons: a ‘priority’ box is dedicated to unique and essential items you may need immediately or within the first night after your move. For example, items such as bed parts, TV cords, chargers, glasses, medication, etc. This is recommended to avoid confusion about the whereabouts of items and unnecessary sifting throughout cartons, which creates mess and stress.
Heavy-duty plastic covers and removalist blankets protect other oversized items that cannot be placed into boxes, including mattresses and fabric furniture such as couches, cushions, etc.
Where do I get my boxes from during removalists?
You’re welcome to use your boxes. However, you may want to reassess going to your local supermarket to collect old secondhand boxes, as this might pose a safety risk to your belongings. Although tempting, getting suitable-quality cardboard cartons is wise and worth it in the long run. Keep in mind that not all cardboard cartons are made the same. They may be unable to handle the weight and breakdown, possibly due to only being single-ply. When our removalists load your belongings into any of our vehicles, they use the platform technique, which is a bit like Tetris with the placement of cartons in certain positions. If boxes are used of various sizes, this effectively takes longer, is more complicated, and essentially impacts the structure of the load.
Rest assured that our removalist boxes are thick and durable enough to last throughout several relocations. Cardboard cartons can be purchased brand new. If the budget is tight, there is the option of secondhand loan cartons that are dropped off, given before the move, and recollected by our friendly removalists once your relocation is complete. They are designed to be reused repeatedly. This can impact your overall costs significantly. Otherwise, look on platforms like Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace for reasonably cheap but good-quality cardboard cartons.
At TCM, our removalists also offer plastic crates for local moves that can be used instead of cardboard cartons. These are ideal throughout the wet season to ensure that your items remain waterproof and avoid the sagging of boxes. Also, talk to our friendly team to arrange custom-made crates for specialised items.
How many boxes will I need?
Once you receive a free, no-obligation quote from our sales team in person or via Zoom or FaceTime, they will advise you of your overall cubic meterage, including the approximate number and type of boxes you will require, depending on how big your relocation is.
At Total Care Movers, depending on your situation, you can use your cardboard cartons and loan out our secondhand cartons; we can also supply brand-new cartons, plastic crates, and custom-made crates for specialised items at your request. However, it is recommended that it is worth paying for professional removalist boxes to ensure optimum protection and care of your items.