I've used Two Men and a Truck twice. They did a good job both times. You might check them out.
Moving Days
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Not much help but my sister, moving from Texas, hired a larger family owned company out of Mass. that did national moves. They sent an experienced driver of an 18 wheeler who helped pack and arrange/wrap all the furniture and contents. He hired local workers to do the lifting. Maybe go with family owned and operated. If it costs a little more its worth it.
Only state to state i did was Mass to Cali and Intuit set it all up and paid for it, i have on the other hand helped a friend move twice, and the first one she got royally screwed over with "over charges" and a mover smoking a joint in her old place while they were packing up, i kid you not. The only solid advice i can give you is stay away from the "moving brokers", stick with a nationwide mover that you deal with directly and no middle men. Also please sent all tobacco and pipes to me for what I'll call safe keeping as i wouldn't trust those movers!
Good luck, Brother.
Good luck, Brother.
F
fMf Piper
Guest
On many of my moves there were duplicate inventory numbers, but the stickers were different colors. However, the color of the sticker never seemed to get noted on the inventory sheet.
Then as they would bring in two or more boxes at time, your are supposed to figure out which number the box is and check it off.
I don't understand with modern technology why they can print and scan barcodes for each item. Then again, that would probably hold them too accountable!
They can use bar codes and a cell phone app. The same concept is used in restaurants for product. While not perfect, it is more efficient than the checklist days.I don't understand with modern technology why they can print and scan barcodes for each item. Then again, that would probably hold them too accountable!
However, a cook worth his salt still checks the product for fresh produce and protein. Send a case of avocados back 3 times and you end up getting the ripe ones from then on (until the NFG wants to try you and see if the result changes ... spoiler, it doesn't).
The last dealings with a mover to get my wife from Long Island to North Carolina wasn't reassuring. Assume you won't be able to fit forty years of accumulation in the new residence so scale it back as much as you can, probably more than is comfortable. You don't want to end up paying a lot for storage of belongings you will never use again. Anything that doesn't "fit" will be carted away for resale by the mover. Items you thought you packed will disappear. The final bill will be more than was negotiated. Anything that is a personal treasure move yourself, and other important items ship. It's a tough transition, and you want to have optimism and good feelings left when you get to your new home, so pare the task down as much as you can. Sorry to be so negative. We did pretty well finally, but there was a lot of thug posturing around getting it done. The breakfast on moving day with the head mover was out of the Sopranos. Bizarre.
Frequent mover here. My learnings:
Insist on a "real" estimate of moving costs and a real, live, in-person estimator. In my experience, some movers will purposefully low ball you to buy your business, but then -- because the move is charged based on actual time and materials consumed -- you'll be left at the end with a substantially higher than expected cost. Insist on getting a real, accurate estimate.
When I do so, and work with a moving company with a good reputation, it works out well. I once made an intrastate move involving two trucks and a crew of eight workers where my actual cost was literally within $5.00 of the estimated cost. I consider that a fluke, but it illustrates my point. They can hit your cost pretty closely if you ask them to do so. It helps to tell them you're shopping based on reputation, not the best cost, assuming everyone's in the ballpark.
Speaking of motivation, tip your moving crew and tell the foreman up front that you'll have a cash tip at the back end. For a full move, I shell out $40 or $50 per worker per move. Yes, it can add up quickly, but I consider it worthwhile. I also offer to buy lunch for them on move-in day, and they usually accept.
For cross country moves, I've usually favored North American Van Lines, but they're a franchise so you don't know what you're getting locally. Vet your moving company thoroughly by looking at online reviews at the very least.
For local moves, I do a reputation search and then go with the mover with the best rep who can meet my date criteria. You'll often find that the best rep movers are the most busy, so book as far ahead as you can.
Just an aside, in my worst ever move, from Florida to Connecticut, my household goods were picked up and loaded by the company my employer hired, Bekins. I then had a delay at the end of the move due to a delay in my closing date for a new house. As a result, Bekins offloaded all my household goods into storage. Then, when I was ready to finalize the move, they had no crews available. They reached out to Mayflower and "sold" their remaining part of the move to them. What an awful experience. A number of items were damaged due to two different cycles of loading and unloading, and of course no one accepted responsibility for anything. And moving insurance isn't worth two expulsions of gas in a windstorm.
Best wishes, and I hope all goes great.
Insist on a "real" estimate of moving costs and a real, live, in-person estimator. In my experience, some movers will purposefully low ball you to buy your business, but then -- because the move is charged based on actual time and materials consumed -- you'll be left at the end with a substantially higher than expected cost. Insist on getting a real, accurate estimate.
When I do so, and work with a moving company with a good reputation, it works out well. I once made an intrastate move involving two trucks and a crew of eight workers where my actual cost was literally within $5.00 of the estimated cost. I consider that a fluke, but it illustrates my point. They can hit your cost pretty closely if you ask them to do so. It helps to tell them you're shopping based on reputation, not the best cost, assuming everyone's in the ballpark.
Speaking of motivation, tip your moving crew and tell the foreman up front that you'll have a cash tip at the back end. For a full move, I shell out $40 or $50 per worker per move. Yes, it can add up quickly, but I consider it worthwhile. I also offer to buy lunch for them on move-in day, and they usually accept.
For cross country moves, I've usually favored North American Van Lines, but they're a franchise so you don't know what you're getting locally. Vet your moving company thoroughly by looking at online reviews at the very least.
For local moves, I do a reputation search and then go with the mover with the best rep who can meet my date criteria. You'll often find that the best rep movers are the most busy, so book as far ahead as you can.
Just an aside, in my worst ever move, from Florida to Connecticut, my household goods were picked up and loaded by the company my employer hired, Bekins. I then had a delay at the end of the move due to a delay in my closing date for a new house. As a result, Bekins offloaded all my household goods into storage. Then, when I was ready to finalize the move, they had no crews available. They reached out to Mayflower and "sold" their remaining part of the move to them. What an awful experience. A number of items were damaged due to two different cycles of loading and unloading, and of course no one accepted responsibility for anything. And moving insurance isn't worth two expulsions of gas in a windstorm.
Best wishes, and I hope all goes great.
Jesse, so far, I've never had an issue with a mover. However, when Xia ( my better half ) last moved, a few boxes did go missing. I suspect since they were unmarked, the "taker" was less than impressed with boxes of women's clothes.
My last move, I hired a company that delivers a container, which I filled, and then locked. They picked up the container and delivered it, the same day, to my new location. Everything arrived just as it was stacked.
Good luck with the move.
Mike
My last move, I hired a company that delivers a container, which I filled, and then locked. They picked up the container and delivered it, the same day, to my new location. Everything arrived just as it was stacked.
Good luck with the move.
Mike
Wire brush, nice to hear you are escaping from la la land, thinking of doing same from N Y. Tips: photo all your prized items, pack well yourself, label all boxes and hand carry all Barlings and tobac. Good luck.
You can send the Barlings To me for safe keeping while you move. I’m happy to take that stress away. I’ll ship back to you after the move and I’ll pay the shipping. I promise to send most of them back. Trust me, I once worked for the government.
Check out Pods. They deliver the container, you pack it, they pick up the container and bring it to your new location. They never touch your stuff.
Years ago, we moved into our current house, a trip of about 50 miles. My wife’s employer paid for the move (it put her closer to work) and packing. I packed my cameras and other work gear myself, and moved it myself. There were a few valuable household pieces, like the silver candle sticks that my parents had bought on their honeymoon, that we put on the diningroom table with the intent to box and move ourselves. Before we knew it, the table was on the truck and we never saw that stuff again. My wife blamed the movers, and was really pissed about it for years.
Skip ahead a decade, and we decide to clean out the basement. The mantra was that if we haven’t used it since the move, out it went. My wife eventually got down to the ten year old layer and found a sealed box from the move, marked “shit from the dining room table” and tossed into the trash pile. I thought, at least for laughs, we should open it. She was adament that was a waste of time, and I was just procrastinating. We had a bad argument about it. Out of spite, I opened it anyways:
A set of keys to the old house.
Unopened phone and electric bills.
Lots of loose change.
Junk mail. Lots of junk mail.
A dog bone.
Pens, pencils, sharpies and toothpicks.
A pair of silver candle sticks.
Those candlesticks had been sitting in a box, eight feet under the dining room, for ten years, while my wife cursed the movers.
Skip ahead a decade, and we decide to clean out the basement. The mantra was that if we haven’t used it since the move, out it went. My wife eventually got down to the ten year old layer and found a sealed box from the move, marked “shit from the dining room table” and tossed into the trash pile. I thought, at least for laughs, we should open it. She was adament that was a waste of time, and I was just procrastinating. We had a bad argument about it. Out of spite, I opened it anyways:
A set of keys to the old house.
Unopened phone and electric bills.
Lots of loose change.
Junk mail. Lots of junk mail.
A dog bone.
Pens, pencils, sharpies and toothpicks.
A pair of silver candle sticks.
Those candlesticks had been sitting in a box, eight feet under the dining room, for ten years, while my wife cursed the movers.
Hello! I am looking for a reliable mover company to move my furniture. After reading the reviews on Vimbox, I decided to give it a miss. Any recommendations as I will be moving to my new cozy house and I hope nothing cock up during the transition period. Thank you!
