|
Genuine real-deal interstate mover here. I've got a couple tips to save cash. 1) Sort your crap. Throw stuff away. Start early. The less room it takes, the less truck you need. It's opposite when using pros long-distance. Moving companies charge by the pound for intra/interstate moves. That means pitch the old magazines before you throw out the guest bed. 2) Get good boxes. Apple boxes you scrounged out of the Safeway dumpster are not going to protect your fine china. Get double-strength cartons for that (called dish barrels/packs). They are strong enough to park a car on. Craigslist "free" listings is a good place to find this stuff. 3) Bubble wrap and packing peanuts are a rip-off. Use crumpled up newsprint for cushioning. Roll all fragile items in 3-4 layers of newsprint. The rolling gives it better strength. Make sure to fill your boxes to the top or they will crush. Use crumpled newsprint if you can't find anything. 4) Take your stuff apart. Ikea/Pottery Barn ready-to-assemble particle board furniture does not move well. If you leave it together it will fall apart in transit. Break it down into flat pieces and put the hardware in plastic baggies. Make sure to label the parts so you can re-assemble it. 5) If you are loading your own truck, do not box your blankets. Road vibrations will seriously screw up wood finishes. Use your blankets as padding for furniture. 6) When loading the truck make sure you load the most awkward stuff first. That way you still have plenty of small nik-naks to fill all the little spaces. If you don't you will leave lots of wasted space at the end when you load them and/or have to leave them behind because you ran out of room. 7) If moving professionally make sure to get several different price quotes beforehand. Throw out the highest and lowest before selecting your company. If a esimate is significantly higher it means they are trying to fleece you. If it is too low it means they have forgotten something and the guys who show up to do the job will be unprepared or underpaid. Get all contracts in writing. Do nothing completely over the phone or on-line. If they want your business they will send a flesh-and-blood sales representative to your home to accurately price your move. 8) Check your homeowners/renter's policy. They sometimes cover your goods while moving. 9) Keep your reciepts. Moving expenses are tax deductable. File form 3903 with your next tax return.
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2011 23:21
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 20:34 |
|
|
Cheesus posted:Any recommendations for good mattress bags? The few I saw on Amazon had less than stellar reviews. Take a strap and lie it on the ground. Upend the matress onto the strap. You and friend grab ends of strap. Lift mattress by lifting strap with one hand and balancing with other. If you are planning mini-storing any upolstered furniture look into buying some stretch film (like they use on pallets) to cover the fabric bits and keep them from getting soiled. You can get it at U-Haul too. Don't use it on leather though because leather sweats and will discolor. Cheesus posted:Also, any opinions of U-Pack moving (http://www.upack.com)? I like the idea of packing my own trailer but not having to drive it. I looked into PODS but they don't deliver to my destination. On that note it should be pointed out that temp guys aren't trained movers. I know they say they are, but they aren't. They're temps. They will break things. They do not know what they are doing. Use them only as a last resort.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2011 05:31
|
|
|
Just a friendly reminder to NOT schedule your professional move in late June. The college kids the moving companies have hired for the summer are not fully trained yet and they CANNOT handle the volume. It's chaos and your stuff will likely be mishandled and/or late. Everybody moving has this great plan to load on the 20-30th of June and do the great family vacation to see Mt Rushmore and whatnot on the 4th of July and deliver around now. EVERYBODY. Of course the commissioned sales people (who are slightly better than used car salesman) overbook and the entire industry is strained to the breaking point. We (over-the-road drivers) then spend the rest of the summer hauling the backlog of broken and mishandled late shipments out of warehouse with a few bargain-basement national account shipments sprinkled in. It sucks delivering broken shipments. Especially the really cut-rate ones that you wind up doing for free because the shipper is PISSED at the van line and/or warehouse and claim every nick and scratch, which are then blamed on the driver, and we have to pay for it out-of-pocket. My advice is to move in February and not Jun-Aug. Nobody is doing poo poo in the early spring (I'm usually parked at home and don't work until late March) and the moving companies are willing to cut massive deals to keep their staff busy. You could probably get your move at cost or near to it if you play your cards right. Hell, have them ship your car too because gently caress driving in snow. Then you get everything moved cheaper and you get the top-shelf core staff handling it the entire way. Sorry for the late update of this major moving issue but it was just brought to the forefront of my mind when I had to hire some random dude to help me deliver a baby grand piano because NOBODY was available from the van line I am affiliated with. All my other shipments I delivered by myself or with my brother. It has been a rough couple weeks for me. If your shipment is in transit now you should pray and also make sure to stop at reptile gardens after Rushmore. The kids will love it.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2013 04:58
|
|
|
Trilineatus posted:Godspeed, good trucker, godspeed. The important bit is that I survived "hell week" in June with most of my sanity and without major injury/expense.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2013 05:25
|
|
|
Captain Novolin posted:I had a couple big-rear end spiders in my place that freaked me out, but I figured they came in when I had my windows open to cool off last week. But now I know they were probably just chilling in my kitchen and getting fat off the massive loving colony of ants under/behind my fridge. I've submitted a ticket with my landlord but holy poo poo, these fuckers are all over my kitchen counters now and there's nothing I can do. I picked up some traps from the hardware store to at least I've put some cinnamon on my counters to try to contain them but hopefully they can do something to fix this Use powdered laundry detergent. First step is to roll your fridge out and clean the floor. Don't be surprised if underneath your fridge is dirty. Really really filthy gross disgusting. The ants are there eating whatever decomposing food fell off the counter or leaked out of the fridge. Don't feel bad about it it happens to everybody. Clean the drip pan of your fridge too while you are at it. I bet it is also really gross. Then sprinkle whatever cheap-rear end laundry detergent you can find on the freshly-cleaned floor and move your fridge back into place. Ants will leave because the delicious rotten food has been replaced with poison. It also has a wonderful spring-time scent.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2013 05:51
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 20:34 |
|
|
Costello Jello posted:It's funny because I have a friend who just did exactly that, Mt Rushmore on July 4th and all. The worst offenders of the big booking companies just carve off 5% of the commission off the top and put it into an escrow account to pay the claims that inevitably follow (For the record my claims to linehaul percentage is 0.05%). Why should I even bother doing any of their work if they are going to take money from me for a net benefit to their lovely operation handled by morons that will do nothing but ruin my reputation? It's like they quit trying to do a good job before they even began. But they have the hands-down slickest sales staff so they survive. The mom-and-pop agent I grew up in could never pull it off. Too rough around the edges and they don't know computers (I'm their friggen IT guy ffs! ME!!!) so they rely on the chamber of commerce and the yellow pages for all their press. The problem is straight up corporate sleaze and slick marketing. Like I said, the sales staff are just more polished used car dealers and people are usually suckers. They show up in a suit and promise you the world then say some price and you usually go for it after discarding the bids of 3-4 other guys in suits whose prices were slightly higher. Some rough-edged cranky guy like me or my boss who prices it like it is doesn't stand a chance. We either get discarded because we aren't pretty enough or we aren't cheap enough. But we are RIGHT! The good news is that I am happy to report that all the major US carriers are very good on the whole and have great staffs and really do try to do a good job. It's who you book through that is the problem and the drivers that they also put on the road to haul their garbage that pollute EVERYTHING. Know your agent and know your driver. BTW, I'm usually a sub-contractor so don't poo-poo them. Old Mom and Pop do not book near enough to keep me busy so I have to contract to the van line through my agent to haul the majority of my shipments. Which is good news for everyone. I get paid as a sub-contractor from people I know and trust. The van line has somebody they can rely on. And the shippers... well... those tire tracks across my back are because I dove in front of a bus headed straight for you. I can fight that battle better than they can. And, to avoid portraying myself as some kind of moving martyr, it's cheaper to just take responsibility and let them do their worst. The industry bar is, after all, set for the lowest common denominator. Which is 5% claims/LH... apparently.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2013 07:03
|
|