Moving Day was a Tradition in New York City that dated back to colonial times. Surprisingly, it didn’t end until World War II.
On February 1, sometimes known as “Rent Day,” landlords in New York City would give notice to their tenants what the new rent would be after the end of the quarter. The tenants would then spend their early spring days searching for new houses and the best deals on rent prices. On May 1, ALL leases in the city expired simultaneously at 9:00 am.
Can you imagine the chaotic madness that ensued in the streets on May 1st? Moving Day had become “pandemonium,” with the streets gridlocked with wagons carting household goods. Emotions ran high between the renters, landlords, and moving companies. Renters thought that this created an unfair advantage for landlords to participate in price gouging, declaring it was an excuse to raise rents every year. Because of the spike in demand, Movers could also charge premiums. At the height of Moving Day in the early 20th century, an estimated one million people in the city all changed their residences at the same time!
Gradually, after numerous lobbying efforts, awareness, supply and demand equalization, and general market forces, “moving day” became “moving week,” and the chaos became a “flurry” of activity. Though Moving Day was still strong in the 1920s and 1930s, the beginning of World War II ended the 150-year-old tradition, partially because of new price controls in the rental market and the lack of able-bodied movers who were enlisted in the war.
What if we started looking at problems as opportunities? We may find that the more we lean into the hairiest problems, we’ll find the biggest opportunities. Perhaps as a general rule, the more there’s pain, the more there will be opportunity to add a lot of value. Even if the forces seem insurmountable and the end result seems impossible, steady focus makes a miracle become realistically achievable. One step at a time.
It always seems impossible until it’s done. -Nelson Mandela