How to Shift an Elephant?

There is a fundamental lifestyle shift happening in urban India. There is an enormous range of products available to choose from and people are not shy about enjoying life to its fullest. Indians are not constrained to buy from a small selection of products from a retail store. Those days are gone when merchants use to decide which product will stay on the shelf.

Another fundamental change is that Indians don’t use products till the end of the life cycle anymore. Why would they when great offers pour in like Mumbai rains? There are plenty of market places to sell old ones and even more to buy new ones.

Ramesh and Mamtha are a working couple living in a posh 2 bedroom apartment in Bengaluru with their 10-year-old daughter. They would have bought a 3-bedroom apartment long back if they could afford it. Urban India’s real estate is expensive. People spend as much as they can on a comfortable home, so every square foot of the house is precious. Families like the techie couple are in consequence less tolerant towards old stuff laying around in their expensive apartment. They want to make use of every square foot of the well-decorated home.

It’s so much easy to trade portable items like electronics. The couple has stuff like an old sofa which Ramesh bought before marriage and Mamtha claims she didn’t see it before accepting the marriage proposal! Ramesh is also not very fond of the coffee table that his wife’s cousin gifted her for the marriage.

This is a common theme going around urban households in India. People know they need to get rid of old things to get new ones, but the question is how to shift these elephants from their busy lives.

Here is a quick guide to how to deal with the issue:

Identify what you want to dispose of. A general thumb rule can be that if you haven’t used a product for the last 3 years, you may not in the future.
Clean up the product and if required spend some money fixing it. A well-maintained product not only fetches a good price but also easier to find a buyer.
Think about packing. A bubble wrap or old newspapers can keep the product safe during transit.
While quoting price budget for transportation cost. It’s as simple as placing a booking with a blowhorn. Just mention that transportation will be taken care of, and a lot more people may turn up to buy your sofa.
It’s not always about selling, one can think of moving stuff to parents' place or gift to a charity cause.
It feels good when we say adieu to old stuff with respect and of course, we need new stuff to fill the void created by the parting elephant that was sitting there for so many years.

How to Shift an Elephant?

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