Office moves involve the transportation of multiple valuable equipment such as PCs, copiers and other machinery. Chances are you won’t have kept every box for every piece of hardware in your office so you should hire suitable containers from your moving company to protect your property in transit. If you have a lot of PCs you may prefer to hire a specialist to disconnect them, pack them up and then set them up again if you don’t have these skills in-house. If you lease equipment it’s also worthwhile checking your agreement in case they mention what you need to do to move it. Some leasing companies will not allow you to move equipment yourself and may insist that they do it for you (and they’ll probably charge for it!).  Because of liability issues, movers should never relocate leased equipment, unless you have the prior approval of the equipment vendor.

Equipment Preparation

• Copiers require service before and after a move. In spite of their frequent use and everyday wear and tear, copiers are relatively sensitive pieces of equipment and should be handled with the utmost care. Your vendor may be required to relocate the equipment for you so as not to void the warranty or lease provisions. They should perform the before and after servicing. If you own your copier, contact your service vendor and ask for a recommendation on moving your copier.

• Other equipment, such as fax machines, postage meters, and typewriters (yes – they are still used), should be repackaged in their original cartons, if possible. If you did not keep the original packaging materials, ask your mover to provide the appropriate boxes and material to secure these items during the move.

General Tips and Guidelines

• As with information and telecom technology, determine whether any office equipment cannot be relocated by your mover. Also, contact your equipment leasing company for moving guidelines and requirements.

• Make arrangements to have a dedicated power source and network connections for your copier and any other equipment, including laser printers.

• Check with your insurance company to make sure all equipment is adequately covered under your existing policy during the move.

• As with high-tech systems, keep track of all equipment cables, power cords, and phone wiring. Label cords accordingly, and keep them with their specific piece of equipment.

• Keep all equipment manuals and service logs in a centralized location during the move to keep them from being misplaced.