Tetris Master: How to pack up your van like a pro

It seems like a good idea – arranging van hire from Orana’s Sydney or Brisbane office. Some jobs just need the strength, interior space and load ability of a good ol’ van when a car just won’t cut it. But now you’ve got the van, what’s the best way to load up that beauty? Without performing extreme feats of calculus and geometry, you can put that hire van to good use and pack it like a pro. Follow these five simple rules when loading up your van and you’ll feel like you were born to master the art of Tetris. And to drive a van.

Some of these rules might seem like common sense but we’re going to state them anyway. Because when you’ve hired your van from Orana in Sydney or Brisbane, and you’ve got that big van-worthy job ahead of you, it’s important to get things right on the first go. There’s no time for rookie errors here.

1/ Heavy items first

Your biggest, heaviest, scariest items need to be loaded first, no question about it. Load them in and then make sure they’re pushed all the way up to the front end of the van. This will help them travel securely to the next place and allow you to pack smaller, more fragile items around them and on top. It’s also wise to check on your van’s maximum load capacity and do some arithmetic as you load up. Most vans will have storage capacity for lots of heavy stuff but your antique collection of rustic iron farm equipment might just need a trip of its own.

2/ Complete your rows

Seven times Tetris world champion Jonas Neubauer’s greatest advice for stacking is to try and complete one row before you start another. It’s easier to fill one larger space than several little pockets, so finish one row completely to keep your packing options open. This applies to both vertical and horizontal rows because, as you’ve cleverly figured out, your van's cargo space goes up and down, as well as side to side. You’ll also get a better sense of how much capacity your Orana hire van has left and whether all those unusual presents from Grandma are worth making space for.

3/ Use square boxes

There’s a reason that boxes are usually square, and it’s all because of a little thing mathematician call packing theory. Simply put, the squarer something is, the more efficiently it will pack together with more squares. The only thing more efficient are hexagons, but boxes in the shape of a square are a tad easier to find. So, use boxes to pack your items if you can, and if a box is nowhere to be found, arrange your stuff into cube-like chunks. Even a rough version of this principle will help you pack and stack like a Woolies late shift worker eager to get out before the sun comes up.

4/ Know what’s left

Don’t make the mistake of being so focused on what’s ahead that you forget to look behind. Always make sure you know what’s still left to pack, even if it means a little rearranging as you go. After you’ve called up Orana to hire a van from Sydney or Brisbane, create a rough order for packing and an essential checklist to help things flow smoothly. There’s nothing worse on the day than patting yourself on the back for packing like a pro, only to turn around and find that there’s no room for your three-year-old to come. And last-minute babysitters do not come cheap.

5/ Balance your van

As you pack, consider counter-balancing weightier items on one side of the van with similar heavy objects on the opposite side. This balancing strategy helps even out weight distribution and will also help your Orana hire van handle the road a little more easily, especially turns. It'll also minimise the chances of a crush disaster in the back of the van, or your precious objects going for a slip-and-slide.

So, on the big day, choose the right Van, hire it from Orana's Sydney or Brisbane office and get on packing. If you keep in mind these 5 simple rules, you’ll learn to load up like a pro and never look back. Except, that is, to make sure that at the end of it all, no children are left behind.