A+ in Moving: Transporting a Student’s Thesis Project with Dolly

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Any graduate student or PhD candidate will tell you: thesis projects are an (awesome) nightmare. While they’re the key to getting your degree and graduating, they involve years of hard work, hours spent researching, and unexpected challenges at every turn.

But here’s something most graduate students won’t have to struggle with: the task of moving their oversized research project’s model. Which is exactly the unexpected challenged Chicago student Joshua faced.

Not-So-Smooth Sailing

“My thesis was about using cruise ships for mass evacuation and natural disaster refugee housing,” Joshua explains. The thesis involved a to-scale wooden model of a cruise ship, and the model was a bit of an oddly shaped behemoth. “The ship was too large not to have some sort of moving service. It was simply too large to transport with Uber or Lyft and too small to rent a truck or U-Haul.”

As much as Joshua knew it would be a hassle to move, he had no choice. After his graduate showcase, he couldn’t just leave it behind. “[It needed to move] from my graduate design show to my place after taking down my exhibition space. We needed to clear out all of our artwork and drawings in a three day window (or a one day window for me, since I was traveling).”

With just one day to move it out and no easy way to move it, you could say Joshua was feeling a little anchored down. Until he remembered something that might be able to help.

Dolly Cruises to the Rescue

“I remembered seeing Dolly ads in the subway a year or so ago, and then one of my colleagues used Dolly to transport her model from our studios to the design show. So it was a no-brainer and I decided to use it!”

Within a few minutes of booking, Joshua had been assigned a Helper, and the next morning, he met his Helper, Kevin, at the design show. Kevin loaded the cruise ship project into his cargo van and drove to Joshua’s apartment.

“Kevin went above and beyond to help out. He even helped carry the ship model into my apartment building lobby.”

With his ship model moved, Joshua was clear to travel without worrying about losing his thesis project. And as for Dolly, he’s now a regular customer. “Just book a Dolly! It’s worthy every penny.”