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xaarman posted:I'm in the military and move a lot, so here is my experience. While this is specific to the military, they only use civilian contractors so it's always Mayflower or whomever else is in the area. Both my moves were over 1500 miles. This is good info. I've used movers a few times now, but for short distance moves (across the city/10 miles), so they were smaller, local companies. In my experience, these shorter distance moves are much less organized, but still super helpful. You hire a truck and moving staff by the hour. The norm was 2 men, but you could pay extra to have a 3rd man (presumably moving your poo poo faster, so a higher rate). They ask how many bedrooms, how many sq ft if you know, whether you have giant items like a piano or exercise equipment, and whether you want them to pack your stuff or not. Judging by this information, plus the number of guys you hired and the locations of the apartments, they calculate about how many hours it will take them (and then schedule the guys for more moves that day if possible). The day of, they will show up at your door at the scheduled time, and have you sign the contract and read the rules about who is responsible if they break something. Then they'll walk through the apartment to see what big items and furniture you have and how many boxes to plan out what to take first. Then they will wrap any glass table tops, pictures, etc. with big cloth quilt kind of things. In my experience, they do not disassemble any furniture unless they have to. Personally I'd rather do that myself anyway. Then they'll just get to work moving everything out. They don't always take the furniture first, because sometimes they pack boxes in the space above the cab. They know how this works best so just trust them. In my experience, they have been VERY fast and very careful, but of course that may vary. As an example, I hired two guys to move my 3 br apt. I have an eleptical machine, two beds, two couches, two people's stuff, and lots of kitchen stuff and books. Moving everything out and packing the truck took less than 2 hours, and moving it 10 miles away and unpacking into the rooms I wanted everything took another 2 hours. Total, less than 4 hours. It's really amazing and so helpful. For reference, I believe the price was $135/hr, but that was a couple years ago now. One thing to check into is whether the company will allow you to help move things out, or if they want you to sit and watch instead. I've never encountered the latter, but I made sure to ask in case they wanted the most money possible or something. I wouldn't hire movers that wouldn't allow me to help, personally. Tips for hiring movers: 1. Indicate before they get there where they can park the truck. Most will have side doors, so don't worry about having room behind the truck. Let them know if they can pull up on the lawn or something, though they likely will not want to do this for liability reasons anyway. Find out from your new landlord where it's best to park the truck there as well. 2. TIP! These guys work their asses off. If you have lots of stairs, or weird furniture that doesn't fit well down the hall, take these kinds of things into account. If they are extra fast and don't dawdle, they're saving you money, so recognize that. I've tipped each guy $20-$40 depending on how awesome they were. 3. Pack your poo poo well. They usually state that they will not move boxes that are not able to close fully. That means if you have poo poo poking out and the flaps cannot go down all the way, they won't take them. If the boxes are not taped thoroughly and are flimsy, they will not take them. Just make sure they're structurally sound. This will all be stated by them, and probably on the contract you have to sign as well. 4. Offer beverage, and/or food. Be nice to them, they'll be nice to your stuff. If you hate moving and you're not broke, I really recommend hiring movers. As long as you pack all your stuff yourself, short-distance movers can be surprisingly inexpensive and save SO much headache. Even my super cheapass boyfriend, who thought I was nuts for hiring movers, now swears by it. Having everything completely moved within a few hours is an incredible feeling.
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May 14, 2011 09:55
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 20:16 |
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