NEW Loading and hauling disasters

A friend of mine used to work for a distributor in Denver, CO years ago. A woman brought in a Baby Pac-Man for repair. When she picked it up, she failed to strap the game into the back of her truck. As she went up the onramp, the game slid toward the tailgate and did something similar to a backflip over the tailgate and was smashed to bits on the onramp. The woman then tried frantically to pick up the remains.

I think of this every time I load an appliance or furniture at work and the person says something like "I forgot to bring my straps" or "We are only going a few blocks, it'll be fine." Then, I cringe a little and note on the paperwork that they failed to secure the merchandise.
 
Years ago I sold an empty and crappy star wars cockpit machine to an interstate guy

I was horrified as I watched the removal company strap it to a pallet for me

The just tore 2 x trenches into the fragile sides with their straps

Luckily the buyer was remaking the sides anyway.

It was horrible still

That's all i got
 
BITD I was hauling a Vector pinball that I had just bought and had it in the bed with legs off and the head UP....and NOT tied down...Didn't even think about anything until I hit the railroad track crossing! I snapped the head off but I was able to fix it and I remember a friend ending up buying it many years later cause I recognized my repair job!
 
I had a Sea Wolf that was damaged beyond reasonable repair when it fell off a loading dock as I was getting ready to load it into a truck. No one was touching it or even standing next to it, it looked like a ghost decided to push it over. Really bizarre.

It ended up helping 2 other collectors get theirs working.
 
FWIW, I just wanted to say thanks to the forum itself for helping me prevent moving disasters. Before I ever moved a game I posted here (my very first post I think) and people told me the basics in that thread and others I read back then:

1) Make sure monitor is secure
2) make sure boards, power brick,etc. are secure
3) be aware of loose brackets & secure the bezel if no back door so it doesn't blow out
4) Never use bungy cords :p.

All that seems like common sense, but had I not asked as a total newb I have no doubt I would have had a disaster or two in the beginning. Especially since I didn't own ratchet straps yet and had loads of bungy cords :p.

Oh, and in the event a total newb is reading this and needs to buy straps I would recommend that you buy the widest ones at the store (or get wider ones online). They spread the pressure out and make it less likely that you'll damage a cab. I learned that lesson the hard way with 1" straps that I had too tight as I compressed the mdf on a cab and you could see a 1" wide dent in it after I unloaded it. Oh, and go for 12' in length over 8' or 10'.
 
FWIW, I just wanted to say thanks to the forum itself for helping me prevent moving disasters. Before I ever moved a game I posted here (my very first post I think) and people told me the basics in that thread and others I read back then:

1) Make sure monitor is secure
2) make sure boards, power brick,etc. are secure
3) be aware of loose brackets & secure the bezel if no back door so it doesn't blow out
4) Never use bungy cords :p.

All that seems like common sense, but had I not asked as a total newb I have no doubt I would have had a disaster or two in the beginning. Especially since I didn't own ratchet straps yet and had loads of bungy cords :p.

Oh, and in the event a total newb is reading this and needs to buy straps I would recommend that you buy the widest ones at the store (or get wider ones online). They spread the pressure out and make it less likely that you'll damage a cab. I learned that lesson the hard way with 1" straps that I had too tight as I compressed the mdf on a cab and you could see a 1" wide dent in it after I unloaded it. Oh, and go for 12' in length over 8' or 10'.

you ever move a jukebox or claw machine? lol
I moved an NSM 100 cd jukebox and forgot to secure the cd caddies.
 
I bought a very mint almost nos Popeye bezel, as I was taking it into the garage to put on my machine it slipped out of my hands and you know the rest! The corner cracked right off! Unbelievable! Butterfingers
 
I had just sold a Twilight Zone pinball machine, got it down three flights of stairs by myself. Went to load it in the suv, lifting the bottom of the machine with my back when it rolled off to the side. Ended up cracking the head and breaking the backglass glass. Banged the head back in place and replaced the glass and all was good!
 
I was moving my old Kangaroo (no back door) with my brother, the back of the dolly whacked the next tube and *hissssssssssssss*. :(
 
Anybody ever have any bad luck loading or moving an arcade machine?

I've probably had more, but I can think of 3 off hand, although one of them was intentional.

1) Found an op raid in south Florida while on vacation. Took a local collector with me as he had a pick up truck. We found 3 Black Widows (two of them with Amplifone tubes). GREAT! Unfortunately, they were termite infected. We still wanted the parts though. We didn't have any tools with us to be able to part them out. We put them on the back of his pick up, unsecured unpurpose, with the tail gate open, folded down. He purposely blasted over some railroad tracks a few times until they all fell off. We took all the parts. Left termite ridden Black Widow carcasses on the side of the road along the rail road tracks (probably shouldn't have said that in a public forum).

2) Found an op raid in South Dakota. Took a buddy with who had an open bed trailer hitched to his vehicle. It was a 14 hour drive each way. Found a great haul of stuff. We had his vehicle totally packed. You could have not fit in as much as an Atari A/R board in there. The passenger was riding with stuff on their lap. We had the trailer filled as much as we could too. 13 hours and 45 minutes on the way home and no problems. 15 minutes, about 5-6 miles from home, at 3AM in the morning on a deserted Chicago area expressway, a b/w XY monitor falls off the open trailer. Never saw such a fireworks show from the sparks. We couldn't leave that big of a hunk of trash on the expressway. If someone hit it, it would do some serious damage to their vehicle. There I am running down the expressway to pick up what I could. Tube was completely shattered of course. Everything else was present, but very twisted up. In less than 48 hours after we got home, my buddy replaced the tube and completely unbent the chassis and repaired the monitor. He's using it to this day!

3) Picking up a free old e&m pinball game locally. Was carrying the head down a flight of stairs. On the first step, my toe sticks and I slipped. Dropped the pinball head and as it fell, I also fell, head over heels. right behind it, down 24 stairs. The pinball head exploded on impact and so did I. Broke my hip, had to have a couple ambulance trips, surgery, and was in the hospital for 3 weeks and on crutches for 4 months after that and in physical therapy for over a year. At one point I added up the medical bills and that free pinball game cost over $350,000 in medical bills. Thank goodness for insurance!
 
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Couple months ago I bought a Phoenix. I was so excited I didn't think to check that everything was secure and bolted. Console, bezel and trim all went splat at we leaned it into the back of the pickup.
Very luckily nothing broke. Not as bad as most of the stories here, but I barfed in my mouth a little.
 
right behind it, down 24 stairs. The pinball head exploded on impact and so did I. Broke my hip, had to have a couple ambulance trips, surgery, and was in the hospital for 3 weeks and on crutches for 4 months after that and in physical therapy for over a year. At one point I added up the medical bills and that free pinball game cost over $350,000 in medical bills. Thank goodness for insurance!

Good God man what a story! Yowzers :eek:!
 
Was delivering a Kickman cabaret to Steve at Grinkers and there were two guys loading in other games. They offered to wheel in the Kickman. They proceeded to drop the game off the dolly and right on its side. Bam!

Miraculously, nothing broke. If anything broke on that particular game, the parts are virtually irreplaceable. So lucky.
 
Was delivering a Kickman cabaret to Steve at Grinkers and there were two guys loading in other games. They offered to wheel in the Kickman. They proceeded to drop the game off the dolly and right on its side. Bam!

Miraculously, nothing broke. If anything broke on that particular game, the parts are virtually irreplaceable. So lucky.

Yes... we were fortunate that (1) it was a short game and (2) it dropped perfectly on its side.
 
Picture this, a $50K machine falling off the
back of a truck because the dimwitted truck
driver left the back doors open.

 
I was loading one at an auction one time with my brother, on an old rickety hand truck. So he's all nervous it's going to fall off the dolly (wasn't a very heavy game) but I'm saying "OH ITS FINE, I'VE GOT IT!" . So we roll a few more feet across the parking lot, and the wind catches it a little bit, the asphalt had a little dip in it, and the game fell sideways off the dolly.

You could see it in slow motion, it slowly fell, landed on it's side, and completely collapsed, lol. Every seam in the game came apart, so the bottom fell off, all 4 sides came apart, the monitor rolled off on it's screen, etc.

We picked up all the pieces, took it home and nailed it all back together, still worked.
 
I learned the hard way to check monitors when I loaded a cab in the truck after an auction and heard the psssssssssht. Damn thing wasn't bolted in.
 
Load straps

If this helps anybody, then I did some good to the world. I do not drive tractors trailers any more, ( it was a brief stint ) but they taught me in school that after you load your cargo and drive down the road a few miles, stop and recheck all your straps or hold downs. I have always remembered this and used that information with my arcade trips.
You be surprised how loose your straps can get after bouncing and stretching after just a couple of miles. Hope this tip helps someone in the future.
 
My very first cab was a somewhat small street fighter II that i was moving into my basement with my dad. He had just come from the gym and his grip slipped , and I was at the bottom about 2 steps up.
When I opened my eyes, I was at the bottom with my knee underneath both hands still under it, and a tiny streak in my drawers :D
I've invested in a hand cart since then, but If you're moving a cab down stairs by hand, I recommend being at least 6'6" with some sort of combat training, or someone could die. I got lucky!
 
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