I’m pretty sure when I left school the moving industry didn’t figure too highly in my career ambitions. Nevertheless, here, I am. Since setting up Buska I’ve been immersed in the moving industry and have had countless facts and figures wash over me.
I’m pretty sure I’ll forget more than I remember. But here are a few facts that I’ve learned that I thought might be worth sharing.
There used to be a few schoolyard jokes about everything being bigger in Texas. Since the rise of the Chinese economy I think everything they’re doing over there is bigger than anything we’ve seen in the west. For example, the heaviest building moved intact is the Fu Gang Building in China. It was successfully relocated in November 2004. The building weighs 15,140 tonnes and is 34 metres tall. The building was only moved 36 metres but it took eleven days to complete the relocation.
Australians seem to have a thing about your car and where you live. It is illegal to live in one state or territory and have a car registered in another. When moving home in Australia it is necessary to change the address on your drivers’ licence as well or face prosecution.
In 2012 110 million out of 313 million Americans held valid passports. While this seems low, it’s twice the number of passports held in 2000 (48 million) and around 15 times 1989’s 7 million. Its hardly surprising to learn then that about 62% of people in the United States currently living in the same state they were born.
Despite not moving too far from the nest Americans are quite active movers. About 16% of Americans move each year. The average American moves 12 times in a lifetime.
The UK aren’t so active. Three million people moved in the UK during 2013 (5% of population, 64 million). Less people came to the UK from abroad. The London region had 52,000 more people leaving the metro area than arriving.
50% of the moves in the UK in 2013 involved two and three bedroom houses.
One of the most common things I’ve seen or read is that moving house is one of the most stressful things you will ever do. We discussed this in a bit of depth in this post, Moving house is not that stressful… Or is it?
If you’re moving house or office soon we can help. Check out our pricing for heavy duty, moulded plastic Buska boxes for both Home and Business Packages HERE and give us a call.