Lifting Paper is Severely More Painful Than Moving Boxes

Moving is a sore pain in multiple aspects physically and mentally, everyone knows this. It’s exhausting, often times chaotic, usually inconvenient, and everything takes longer than originally predicted. There is a lot of emphasis on the physical aspect of it. The packing, carrying, loading… yes, of course it’s a physically demanding and exhausting process. One thing that seems to be overlooked is the-non physical related baggage that comes with a big move. The paperwork.

I left Toronto, Canada December of 2013 to pursue Grad School in the United States. It has now been over a year since I left and I am still chasing down and learning that certain address change updates didn’t go through, mail forwarding fails constantly, and that I cannot renew necessary documents (such as my Health Card) due to the fact that I am not physically able to make it to a Service Ontario office to submit the necessary paperwork. In today’s day, 2015, I was under the impression I would be able to complete all these tasks online and in an orderly fashion. But this is far from the case. When it comes to the situations that do not fall under the cookie-cutter mold of the exact restrictions of any red tape associated with any document renewal I’ve learned that customer service, unfortunately, is for the most part not knowledgeable on providing solutions. So I am forced to devote copious amounts of time contacting multiple people and being on hold with this organization and that organization until I am provided with (usually really inconvenient) alternatives that do not actually solve my problem. For instance, I am unable to renew my car license sticker since I cannot bring it in for a Drive Clean test. After digging around for alternatives I was offered a one time courtesy offer to be exempt from the Drive Clean for six months, which is still not enough time as I’ll still be in the United States finishing my masters. How do I attend to these issues? How many different organizations do I need to contact before I can renew my driver’s license, car sticker, and health card? As a Canadian citizen I started to feel as if I was being pushed out of my own country, something that doesn’t align with what Canadian culture represents as a whole.

Having said all this, one major gap I see in the market of the business of moving is a little saint, a hero if you will, that will tell you exactly when and how you need to approach dealing with any necessary paperwork. Alerting you of deadlines and specific how-to lists on what needs to be done exactly (not vague general websites that require further searching). The service would work with you from your home country and bridge the lack of communication between your temporary long-term living arrangements with your home country. To me, this provides significantly more peace of mind than what is currently seen as the “moving business.” U-Hauls are nice and dandy but they won’t stay alert to notify you when you’re a week before a crucial document is about to expire. These are the things that are easily forgotten, and a service that fills this need would be greatly appreciated by countless people going through long-term yet temporary living arrangements.