Our Experience on Working During the Pandemic

Our Experience Working During the Pandemic — How Simple Moves Kept Families Moving Safely

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a sudden standstill in early 2020, the moving industry faced a unique and unprecedented challenge. People still needed to relocate — leases expired, homes were sold, employment transfers sent workers to new cities, families outgrew their spaces, and seniors needed to transition to care facilities. Life did not stop simply because a pandemic was declared. But the rules of engagement changed overnight, and every aspect of how moving companies operated had to be completely rethought in a matter of weeks.

Updated for 2026 — this guide reflects the latest moving tips and pricing for the Greater Vancouver area.

At Simple Moves & Storage, we were classified as an Essential Service from the very beginning of the pandemic, which meant we had both the legal authority and the moral responsibility to continue serving families and businesses throughout the Lower Mainland. People were counting on us during one of the most uncertain periods in recent history, and we took that trust seriously.

This is the full story of how we adapted our operations, what specific protocols we implemented, what we learned from the experience, and how those hard-won lessons continue to shape the way we run our company today — years after the last restrictions were lifted.

The Core Challenge — Moving Is a Close-Contact Activity

The fundamental problem was straightforward to understand but genuinely difficult to solve: professional moving is inherently a close-contact activity that cannot be performed remotely or at a safe distance. When two or three movers need to carry a heavy sofa down a narrow staircase, there is physically no way to maintain two metres of distance between them. Loading a moving truck requires coordinated teamwork in tight, enclosed spaces. Wrapping furniture, disassembling beds, and navigating hallways all involve close physical proximity between crew members.

Beyond the crew-to-crew contact, there was the equally sensitive issue of entering someone’s home — the most personal and private of environments. Customers were understandably anxious about having a team of strangers walking through their bedrooms, kitchens, and living spaces during a time when even going to the grocery store felt risky.

We recognized immediately that we could not eliminate close contact between our crew members during the physical work of moving. That was simply the nature of the job. What we could do — and what we committed to doing with absolute consistency — was minimize unnecessary contact, implement rigorous hygiene and sanitization protocols, communicate transparently with our customers about every precaution we were taking, and create an environment where both our crew and our customers felt as safe as possible under extraordinary circumstances.

The Safety Protocols We Developed and Implemented

Simple Moves developed a comprehensive set of pandemic safety procedures that went significantly beyond the minimum requirements set by provincial health authorities. We did not wait for mandates — we proactively developed protocols based on the best available information and updated them as public health guidance evolved.

Vehicle and Equipment Sanitization

Our moving trucks were regularly pressure washed inside and out — not just the exterior panels, but the entire cargo area, the truck cab, door handles, ramps, dollies, straps, and every surface that a crew member or customer’s belongings would contact during a move. We added hospital-grade sanitizing towels and disinfectant liquids to every truck as standard equipment, and crews were trained to sanitize high-touch surfaces at regular intervals throughout each job. Between jobs, trucks received a thorough disinfection before the next customer’s belongings were loaded.

Customer Safety Measures

We asked clients to stay in a well-ventilated area, on a balcony or patio, or outdoors while our crew worked inside their home. This request was not about being unfriendly or creating distance between us and the people we were serving — it was purely about reducing the number of people breathing shared air in enclosed spaces like hallways, bedrooms, and kitchens. With multiple movers actively working in these spaces, having the homeowner in a separate area significantly reduced the overall risk of transmission for everyone involved.

We communicated this protocol clearly before moving day so customers knew what to expect and could plan accordingly. Most people appreciated the straightforward approach and told us they felt more comfortable knowing we had thought through these details in advance.

Daily Crew Health Monitoring

Every crew member completed a daily health screening questionnaire before reporting to work each morning. The screening covered symptoms, potential exposures, and recent travel. Anyone showing symptoms — even mild ones like a sore throat or slight cough — was required to stay home without any penalty to their pay or their standing with the company. We maintained trained backup crews specifically so that a sick call would never result in a cancelled or delayed move for our customers. The customer’s move would go ahead as scheduled regardless of individual crew availability.

Personal Protective Equipment and Hygiene Standards

Masks, disposable gloves, and hand sanitizer became part of our standard equipment alongside moving blankets, dollies, and stretch wrap. Crews sanitized their hands before entering each home and after leaving. High-touch surfaces in the customer’s home — front door handles, stairway railings, light switches in rooms where we were working — were wiped down with disinfectant during the move. Gloves were changed between homes on multi-stop moving days. We also provided masks to customers who needed them.

Contactless Documentation and Payment

We rapidly shifted to digital contracts, electronic signatures, and contactless payment methods to eliminate the need for shared pens, clipboards, paper invoices, and physical cash handling. Quotes, booking confirmations, move-day instructions, and invoices moved entirely to email and text-based communication. This transition happened within weeks of the first lockdown announcements, and customers immediately responded positively to the convenience and safety of the paperless approach.

What Our Customers Experienced During Pandemic Moves

For the hundreds of families and businesses we moved during the pandemic period, the experience looked noticeably different from a pre-COVID move, but the quality of service and the care for their belongings remained exactly the same. The feedback we received consistently highlighted three things customers valued most:

• Clear, proactive communication: Customers told us they appreciated receiving detailed information about our safety protocols before moving day, rather than having to ask or wonder what precautions were being taken.
• Visible commitment to hygiene: Seeing our crews actively sanitizing, wearing PPE, and following established procedures gave customers tangible confidence that we were taking the situation seriously — not just saying the right words.
• Respect and empathy: We never made anyone feel like their move was an inconvenience or that their safety concerns were excessive. Moving during a pandemic was stressful enough without feeling judged for being cautious.

Many customers told us they were genuinely nervous about having strangers in their home during a pandemic. We addressed that concern directly and specifically by explaining our protocols in detail before moving day, sending written safety guidelines about how to prepare their home for our arrival, and giving customers the option to be in a completely separate room, on a balcony, or outside in the yard during the active moving phase. That transparency and flexibility built the kind of trust that turned first-time pandemic customers into long-term advocates for our company.

Three Best Rated Recognition

Three Best Rated, a well-known independent review and rating platform, reached out to Simple Moves as a 2021 ThreeBestRated award-winning moving company in North Vancouver, BC, to learn how we managed to maintain our high service standards during the pandemic while keeping customers and crew members safe. Their recognition validated what our entire team already felt — that doing the right thing, even when it is significantly harder, more expensive, and more operationally complex, builds the kind of reputation that outlasts any crisis.

We shared our approach openly: “Our vehicles are regularly pressure washed inside and out. Our movers would have sanitizing towels and liquids in the trucks and offices to help stop the spread of Covid-19 during moving.” We also shared the honest reality of the physical limitations we faced: “Often several movers are needed for a heavier furniture piece, and social distancing is not possible during a move. Movers are at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus, and thus we hope to see clients who are patient and understanding of our procedures in these hard times.”

Permanent Lessons That Continue to Shape Our Operations

The pandemic forced us to examine every single aspect of our operations under a microscope, and many of the improvements and innovations we made during that period have become permanent fixtures in how Simple Moves operates today:

Elevated Hygiene Standards Are Here to Stay

Even after every public health restriction was officially lifted, we maintained our enhanced cleaning and sanitization protocols for trucks, equipment, and moving supplies. Clean vehicles, sanitized dollies and blankets, and fresh-smelling truck interiors are simply better for our customers and our crew members, regardless of whether a pandemic is active or not. Once you raise the bar, there is no good reason to lower it.

Digital-First Communication and Documentation

The shift to digital contracts, electronic signatures, text-based updates, and email-based communication proved so overwhelmingly popular with our customers that we never went back to paper-based processes. Digital documentation is faster to process, more convenient for customers who are managing a hundred other details during their move, easier to store and retrieve, and creates a better record for everyone involved. It also eliminates the environmental waste of printed paperwork.

Crew Wellness as a Core Priority

The practice of encouraging sick crew members to stay home without fear of losing shifts, facing penalties, or being passed over for future work has become a permanent and deeply held part of our workplace culture. Healthy, well-rested movers perform better, make fewer mistakes, have better attitudes, and provide the kind of customer experience that earns five-star reviews. Customers deserve a crew that is operating at full capacity — physically, mentally, and emotionally — every single day.

Emergency Preparedness Planning

We developed comprehensive contingency plans for various disruption scenarios — not just future pandemics, but extreme weather events like atmospheric rivers and heat domes, supply chain disruptions affecting packing materials and vehicle parts, and other situations that could affect our ability to serve customers on schedule. The pandemic taught us a powerful lesson: preparedness is not optional in the service industry, and the companies that have plans in place before a crisis hits are the ones that survive, adapt, and ultimately thrive.

Our Growth Through Adversity

While many businesses across every sector contracted, scaled back, or permanently closed during the pandemic period, Simple Moves & Storage went in the opposite direction. We expanded our fleet of moving trucks, grew our storage service capacity, increased our office and operational space, and set a company goal to help over 500 families and small businesses with their relocation needs in a single year. We also broadened our service menu to include disposal of unwanted furnishings, move-out cleaning with professional carpet cleaning options, and long-distance moving services between BC and Alberta and between BC and Ontario.

That growth was not achieved in spite of the pandemic — it was, in meaningful part, because of how we responded to it. Customers who personally witnessed us taking safety seriously, communicating honestly, and delivering excellent service during the most uncertain and frightening period in recent memory became loyal, vocal advocates for our company. Their Google reviews, personal referrals, and word-of-mouth recommendations fuelled our expansion and continue to drive a significant portion of our business today.

Moving Forward with Confidence and Experience

The pandemic chapter is behind us all, but the lessons we learned and the operational improvements we made during that period are permanently woven into the fabric of how Simple Moves operates every day. When you hire us for your move today, you benefit from a company that was genuinely stress-tested under the most demanding, unpredictable conditions imaginable — and came through that test stronger, more organized, more resilient, and more deeply committed to customer care than ever before.

As a full service moving company, Simple Moves & Storage provides both the professional movers and the trucks for every job we take on. Whether you are moving across the street in North Vancouver or across the province to Calgary or Toronto, we bring the same level of thorough preparation, genuine professionalism, and attentive care that carried us through the pandemic and earned us recognition as one of the top-rated moving companies in the entire Lower Mainland.

Ready to book your move with a company you can truly trust? Call us at (604) 398-4680 or get a free quote online today.