The Man's Message
Established 2003 | "Tetritus fortis sine gym"
Friday, November 28, 2025
Crew of the Weeks
With a blast from the past, dynamic duo Thomas Williams & Ian Keleher take home COTW this issue managing to re-impress their customer who hadn't moved with MWAV in over a decade.
"Would recommend Man With A van. I used them 12 years ago and they wonderful then and still the same. They go the extra mile and are so professional and helpful, at such a stressful time they moving one less thing to worry about. Don't choose a removalist because they are cheaper at such a stressful time you need an exceptional removal. Do yourself a favour and use Man With A Van, couldn't speak highly enough of them."
Nice work you two, come catch Jack Tandy around the depot to collect your reward.
RSVP To The Xmas Party
Man With A Van Lifties™ Christmas Party
We will celebrate Christmas this year! We will be slipping off the steel caps and stepping onto the green for a sophisticated evening of lawn bowls @ Fitzroy Bowls Club on Saturday, 20 December 5pm - 10pm.
As is tradition, the party will also incorporate the Lifties™ Awards Ceremony, which honours the best and not so best elements of the year at MWAV.
It's always a real hoot so please RSVP and roll the evening away.
Cranburners: Transport to and from the party will be organised for you to attend as we’d love to have as many of you there as possible.
Click >>here<< to RSVP to the Xmas Party
Cast Your Vote
You have been sent an email asking you to vote on who should be the new Health & Safety Rep alongside Thom Lidgerwood in Abbotsford. Vote now!
Voting closes @ 5pm today (Friday).
And Keep Casting your Votes
You have been sent an email or two - or three - asking you to vote on which members of staff you feel need to be honoured at this year's Lifties™ Awards ceremony. The awards will include but are not limited to: Best Noob, Best Trainer, Gold Headset, Cranburner of the year, & The Gold Liftie.
The deadline to respond to these e-mails is 5pm Monday, 1st December.
Brush up on Broom Etiquette
Don't slide brooms into the roof cavity as it breaks the handles. Slip them into the blankets stack where they can be useful for longer. Please.
Huh? What was that?
Please be mindful of your phone volume when you’re in the passenger seat. It is very distracting to drivers when you are playing your snaptocs at full volume. In other words, please be mindful of others when you walk in the world.
December Roster
A big thanks to everyone who has put in their availability through to Sunday, 4 January, 2026. Following discussion with our MWAV staff representatives, the roster will continue to be finalised each Wednesday for the week starting two weeks in advance. If you have any questions or concerns about your roster, please get in contact with Matt.
Cranbourne - Changes
Cranbourne's favourite officer, TJ Sagele, has been tasked with a few new responsibilities to help get the Cranbourne Depot back to its best.
TJ will be in at 6:30am on Mondays, Tuesdays, & Wednesdays to: look over the fleet and check all the equipment is in order - make sure you and your team mate are running on time, every time. Conduct Random Breath Tests - help Richie with basic vehicle and equipment maintenance - schedule movers onto non-lifting tasks, such as truck cleaning, depot cleaning, office cleaning, toilet cleaning, bin emptying and dish washing. He’ll also be around to help answer questions and direct enquiries to management as appropriate. Give him a clap on the back and a helping hand next time you see him!
Richie Mansbridge our fleet and depot manager, will now be seen regularly on a Friday arvo at Cranbourne. He has been tasked with firing up the weekly BBQ as well as checking out the trucks for any maintenance issues. Say hello if you’re in on Fridays, and always report any vehicle issues via the MWAV report hub (https://tny.mwav.org/report) so he can fix ‘em.
Abbotsford - Which truck should you take first?
Always take the trucks closest to sign on computer first. First empty Bay 9, then Bay 8, followed by Bay 7, you get the picture. Bay 1 should be the last column to be vacated.
When you return, Fill up Bay 1 first, then Bay 2, so on and so forth...
Also, please please please, make sure the phones and EFTPOS terminals are charging properly before signing off. Tomorrow's team will be far less grumpy with fully juiced phones and EFTPOS terminals. Please and thank you.
Summer is here!
With summer comes sunshine. With sunshine comes heat. With heat comes dehydration. With dehydration comes death. Stay hydrated this summer and look out for the danger signs in yourself and in your lifting partner.
Also - Make sure you SLIP on a hat, SLOP on enough sunscreen, SLAP on a shirt, & WRAP your face in some shades.
Most importantly - Take 2 minutes to get your head around our
>>Heat Policy<<
& our
>>Temperature Extremes (Hot & Cold) Policy<<
Bill Cleveland's Container Report
And now with the container report, here's Bill Cleveland:
"The MWAV container market achieved new highs this week with a gross total of 148 containers. Cans were steady at 101, up 4 while glass bottles recovered from its recent slump with a market high of 11 versus 2 the last count. Plastic bottles were steady at 36 a modest gain of 3 from the last report.
Sunny warmer weather is likely to be the driver of this strong result. The forecast is for rain through much of the next reporting period but the hard work of the drivers may still produce a respectable report. And that's containers."
Thanks Bill. Keep recycling your containers, MWAV.
The Vibe
Though not quite the dizzying heights of last issue's stunning stats, the vibes remain broadly positive with only a select few negative comments. Feedback mostly focuses on damaged items or marked walls/floors so please remember to take extra care out there during the silly season.
Tommy's Tales
A recent run of damaged whitegoods has rinsed the damage department with dinged-up doors and dropped dryers. This LG washer's door - pictured above - suffered an unfortunate run in with the outdoor step - also picture above - as the door latch came loose, swinging the door into the corner of the step.
With an excellent damage report submitted by the team and make/model info from the customer, it's a simple enough fix from there to source a replacement part and replace the old with the new.
Remember to pop an elastic band or strap around anything with doors or drawers that can potentially swing open while lifting, you never know when that cabinet door might fly open. 🫣
Suggestion Box
Suggestion: "All three toilets are covered in shit. The kitchen is full of dishes and smells bad. The current situation is unhygienic and disgusting in general. Everyone needs to take some personal responsibility for their cleanliness and we need cleaners more than once a week for a workforce of this size and disposition." - Richie M.
Response: Thanks for the anonymous suggestion, R. Mansbridge. Whilst it would be considered common courtesy for people to clean up after themselves, The Man acknowledges that this is not always a realistic possibility. The cleaners have been propositioned with doing an extra day per week on the floors of the kitchen, BBQ area and toilets as well as they're getting pretty grimy.
Suggestion: "Ashes on the TV upstairs? Watching the English continue to embarrass themselves could really give a boost to team morale. An ad-free viewing experience would be ideal, but if we don’t wanna give Murdoch more money then I’d settle for the free broadcast on 7+."
Response: Very keen on implementing this idea. It should be sorted by the time the first ball is bowled in the capital city of Australian sporting prowess - Brisbane. PS Murdoch sold his interests in Australian PayTV market to Len Blavatnik, owner of DAZN, back in April.
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Would you like to send in an anonymous suggestion to make MWAV a better place to work? Please do so with complete anonymity right here:
tny.mwav.org/report
Gig Guide
Hey! Tommy J here, a friend and I have made some atmospheric jungle/dnb tracks, early-2000's-PSone kind of vibe, it's on streaming platforms etc but you can also check it out on youtube along with some neat visuals I made. 😇
Youtube - youtube.com/watch?v=yBgTA5C45WE
Bandcamp - warprider99.bandcamp.com