The movers' cut

[thistle_chaser]

My mother told me that when you use movers, they always "lose" (steal) one box. I hadn't believed her at the time, but now I'm thinking that's actually right

Comments

[thistle_chaser]

I'm glad you haven't lost stuff!

[irreparable]

I call it the Moving Demon. It's never clear if it's a removalist or what, as I've had friends help me move and things have disappeared and I know they wouldn't steal from me, especially not ridiculously trivial things. Over the years and many moves, I have had the following things vanish:

* Seven rings
* a peddle excercise machine
* two cookbooks
* book three of a four book series
* a bra and three pairs of knickers
* two saucepan lids

And probably more random things as well.

[thistle_chaser]

That's very odd... Maybe we really are leaving things behind, in the stress of moving.

[irreparable]

I think it's just one of those weird things in life. Last time I moved was when the peddle machine disappeared, and I went back to the old flat to clean up and nope, it was nowhere to be found.

[thistle_chaser]

Ugh! I'm lucky what I lost could be replaced. I wonder if your box got misplaced or taken...

[bacchuslives]

Interesting concept... I've only used a mover once in my life and I don't recall missing anything, but we're a disorganized lot so I don't know that we would have realized. That's probably to their advantage.

[thistle_chaser]

Yeah, that's the thing. It's been almost two months since I moved, and only now am I SURE I'm missing stuff. It's to their advantage (if they're stealing) for sure...

[bacchuslives]

Wait a minute! All my underwear was gone...those dirty bastards!!!! Ok, just kidding.

[thistle_chaser]

Haha that would be a bad thing to lose, for multiple reasons!

[voidmagus]

Have to invoke Hanlon's Razor -- don't ascribe malice to what can be adequately explained by good old fashioned human error. I've moved a lot, used movers and not, and there's always a box that goes missing. Doesn't get packed right, gets left behind, falls off a truck, gets set outside during unloading and a passer-by nabs it. Movers get paid pretty well for what is a low-education, low-skill job, and most of those guys are aware of it. If a guy is a thief, he'll get ratted out pretty damn quick by his coworkers, the stuff returned to the owner, and the guy fired if not charges pressed. When your corporation is based around getting as much of someone's stuff from point A to point B intact, and their reputation on being able to do so well is most of what drives new business, they tend to not screw around

[thistle_chaser]

Yeah, that's a good point, you're probably right. It did make me nervous that at times there would be no one with my stuff (boxes in the back of the truck, both the men moving things from apartment to truck). Some random person could have helped themselves.

I'm glad that company made good on their team's fail!