JAKEY:
the three cabinets refused to go up the stairs with the client saying Pickfords moved them down the stairs , no work been done on the stairs at all , any how we gave up today and we were not willing to damage the plaster etc , turns out the stair carpet and steel angle irons on the stairs was added a few years ago ago for health and safety reasons .
Ah, ah yes. Isn’t it interesting how you struggle and heave and think, and struggle and heave some more, and finally, reluctantly, admit defeat, all the while convinced there’s something important going on that you haven’t grasped: the truth will - eventually - out. Same sort of thing happened to one of our crews with a joanna and a 16thC house many years ago, which I think I mentioned some while ago.
Another staircase a bit further up where we had to carry items down the stairs for storage , most items did not come down the stairs and were built up in the rooms many moons ago , even two small parker knowls chairs did not come down .
Filing cabinets…we used to empty them out into tea chests , yes TEA CHESTS remember them??:lol: Wickedly sharp, dangerous things.
Paperwork, files etc full to the brim with just enough room to get your fingertips under the rim, swing the tea chest up onto your back across your shoulders then run up the stairs!!! A lot easy and quicker than using two men to man handle one cabinet up the stairs, especially if you are going up three, four, five floors! Gives the legs, arms, heart and lungs a good work out too!!
bullitt:
Filing cabinets…we used to empty them out into tea chests , yes TEA CHESTS remember them??:lol: Wickedly sharp, dangerous things.
Paperwork, files etc full to the brim with just enough room to get your fingertips under the rim, swing the tea chest up onto your back across your shoulders then run up the stairs!!! A lot easy and quicker than using two men to man handle one cabinet up the stairs, especially if you are going up three, four, five floors! Gives the legs, arms, heart and lungs a good work out too!!
Hi Bullitt
We always recommended leaving filing cabinets full, and moving them full.Filling desk draws with items that were usually on the top of desks, as it made it easier for office staff to get back to work quicker and more efficient.It was a good selling point and helped us get many office removals as often the biggest job was getting everything back into the right places & correctly filed after removal.
I remember almost crying on one occasion when as a teenager I had to carry out a small removal which was on a third floor, with low ceilings and twisted staircases in the oldest area near Durham Cathedral.Taking empty filing cabinets down stairs was hard enough, but full & very heavy it was a nightmare.
However many of our older staff said it cut down the work, because you carried the filing cabs onto the van & that was it, hereas if you emptied into tea chests you had them to carry down extra.
bullitt:
Filing cabinets…we used to empty them out into tea chests , yes TEA CHESTS remember them??:lol: Wickedly sharp, dangerous things.
How did we ever get by doing with all that stuff? What would today’s elfin safetee culture do? They’d have a blue fit at the capers we used to get up to.
Hi Parkroyal2100 , that was all my dad could get in those days , we still see tea chests in sheds etc but I would never offer to move them , I always say to clients not to bother using them , but back in the day that’s all what was available .
Todays packaging material is spot on and recyclable so pleases every one , but try telling a client how much a box is ! , they cannot believe that we have to pay for them , I thing they think they are free , if a a joe public comes in the yard to buy boxes they almost always don’t get the quantity they were set to buy , , they must think we buy them for 1p and sell them for £2p .
Towards the end of the tea chest era brook bonds tea in Manchester started opening them from the side instead of the top, making them to wide to go though the doors, but you are right about one thing they did bite.
, any how we gave up today and we were not willing to damage the plaster etc , turns out the stair carpet and steel angle irons on the stairs was added a few years ago ago for health and safety reasons .
A lot easy and quicker than using two men to man handle one cabinet up the stairs, especially if you are going up three, four, five floors! Gives the legs, arms, heart and lungs a good work out too!! 
