Truck Packing On the Playa

[Kenneth McKlinski]

Not stepping up, from seeing what FiG was put through last year, when does actual loading and Tetrising begin?  

As with load in, light campers are at an advantage for bringing their things over and getting them on the trucks, while last year Steambath Project dismantled early to have the bulk of their things on the truck for Sunday afternoon and I ended up using a cart to bring my bike and camping gear back to the containers across the playa on Monday night since we were meeting the trucks on Tuesday morning.

I would recommend that each camp that has a large baggage train have a couple of people designated to coordinate their load in and one overall person who would be a point of contact, probably someone in the Boston Hive since they have physical presence to the containers.

Another consideration is the large art projects that were loaded on when there was an abundance of hands to help out as opposed to after the event with a substantial number of people heading out by Sunday or Monday as opposed to staying later unless they have a commitment to be there.

I don't have all the answers to these questions, but it is better to be talking about it now rather than over a pile of stuff on Tuesday morning.

Ken

[Michael Dewberry]

That last point is something I've been chewing on. For the load in
Boston, we have the convenient organizing principle of "later arrivals
in the back, early arrivals towards the door" to provide a first pass
of anti-chaos. Is there an equivalent organizing principle for playa
load?

Biggest stuff on first would seem like a good candidate, but I imagine
(at least) two problems: 1) Massive piles of small stuff accumulating
outside the containers until the big stuff is on; 2) Shelf placement
pretty much dictates that the largest of the large items go in last.

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[Jered Floyd]

On-playa load in order isn't generally as big of a deal except for trying to get a dense packing. In my experience, it's been first come, first load. This is because truck unload back in Boston happens in about 15 minutes or so... you take your stuff and leave. (Or you don't show up and it gets thrown out the next day.)

--Jered

[-_FiG]

I can post a more comprehensive and contemplative account of lessons learned, things that work and things that didn't later when I have time (I'm on the clock!) but a few simple things:

1.) No staging at all!  When you bring it, put it directly onto the truck.  Since it all comes off at the same time it doesn't matter if your stuff is not all together.  If you make 2 trips, put the first load into the truck before going back to get the rest of it.  This worked well and kept clutter from accumulating (and multiplying) and impeding others from loading.

2.) Bikes: BANE of the playa load-in!  Everyone was really good at the Boston load-in about packing their bikes.  A lot of people seem to ride their bikes to the truck with some bags/things to load them.  When they get there they simply expect to put their bike onto the truck as-is, and the WILL when you are not looking.  Bikes MUST be packed properly: front wheel removed and tied/zip-tied to frame, handlebars turned 90-degrees and tied in place creating a single flat plain.  This is best for packing.  Bikes not packed in this way take up and absurd amount of room.

3.) Pack it all the way in to the BACK!  Sheer exhaustion (maybe laziness) is demotivating.  After working and partying all week people were poor packers in some cases.  I spent the better part of a day-and-a-half helping people pack and re-pack when I noticed they were doing a poor job of economizing truck space.  The most frequent incidents were people dropping everything on the floor against the inside walls on both sides all the way along the length of the truck.  Make sure people pack it to the back and pack it tightly, no aisles!  This ensures the most economic use of space and prevents clutter from impeding others from accessing the far back which will inevitably have spaces left unused if this happens.  Sadly, I often arrived on my patrol rounds after this was done and then had to reorganized and repack their shit by myself.  That really sucked.  Keep patrols tight and grab people as they pack-in to help do it the right way!


:FiG


> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:51:06 -0400
> Subject: Re: Truck Packing On the Playa
> From: michael....@gmail.com
> To: burnin...@googlegroups.com

[john peterson]

No piles! No aisles!  (Fist in the air)

[The Jason]

Thought on not unscrewing the shelves...
Some thinner items (plywood ect) got "locked" into the shelves along the edge of the container during load in. I'm pretty sure to get them out- the shelves will need to be removed.
Plus- how can we effectivly load with the shelves in place come sun and mon?
Just some thoughts- perhaps I misunderstood...

Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Android phone

[LizM]

Yeah, i guess i forgot that shelves had been left in on the playa... it seems much harder to space-pack effectively that way (we got stuff RIGHT up to the ceiling on both levels) and will trade ease of not-rebuilding them for more bonked heads and spelunking.

I'm sure either way will be ok.

--Liz

[Tish]

Since folks start leaving the playa and loading the trucks even as
early as Friday, the option of removing shelves on playa means someone
has to be available from Friday to Tuesday to replace them as they are
filled. That just doesn't seem feasible to me that we have shelf
building on top of loading (drill and screws on hand) for 4 days.

Since loading the truck starts that early, is it such a huge deal that
it does take a little longer to pack while crawling and ducking?

If someone has to remove a shelf to get an item of theirs off the
container since it's wedged in there, it will have to be replaced
right after the item has been retrieved or it will never be replaced.

Two years ago I was in charge of getting the trucks packed as tightly
as they could be on Sunday. There were 4 of us moving stuff to the
back and packing and getting stuff as tight as possible since there
were items all over the truck from earlier unloading. The more
organized the containers the easier to pack and the more likely folks
will bring stuff to the back. I'll do that again on Sunday before noon
sometime. Do I have any volunteers to help me?

I'm on late crew and will be on playa till Friday late this year. I'll
keep an eye on the containers for those four days and make sure things
aren't being dumped and folks are packing it as tightly as possible.
We can all do that too. Keep and eye on the containers and remind
everyone. "No piles!" And I like it John—"No aisles!"

~tish