question about do it yourself moves
Question:
Has anyone used boxtrotters, abf, or any of the other self moving type companies? which do you recommend and what are the main differences between the various companies?
Answer:
_My wife and I moved the family (3 boys) 500 miles 18 months ago.
I looked into the moving companies but could not justify the cost.
We rented largest truck possible without a commercial drivers
license. Whatever did not fit, I shipped on pallets via ABF
and had them deliver it to the driveway. Held massive garage
sale and donated the things not sold to Goodwill (tax receipt)
If memory serves it was about 225.00 for a 28 foot truck. Reserve
as early as possible, a longer lead time provides a far better
price. Gas and tolls, another 100.00 Had 5 or 6 pallets on ABF
and it was about 230.00. Flew in my Bro in Law to drive the second
family car and help load the truck - about 130.00 return
It was well under 1000.00, the moving companies wanted in
the neighborhood of 4 to 6,000.00
_What puzzles me is how in the heck the moving companies are managing to
lose money when they're basically providing a driver, a helper, and
some insurance for $5,000. Surely a driver and a helper don't pull
a $5,000 salary for a 12 hour day?!
The full-serving moving industry *has* to be the most poorly managed
industry in America.
_You know, good question, we have been using them for years, Perhaps it is
Allied Business Freight. THere a good size company in the north east. Akin
to Roadway, JB Hunt and other long haul regional truckers. I don't think
that I would send furniture on a trucking company unless it is crated,
padded, and padded again. If you do this it must have fork lift slots or
they will just push it around with tow motors. These dock guys can be
brutal. It gets cross docked (like the airport scheme) there is a central
facility where they all go, the freight is unloaded, routed, and put on
another truck. The pallets were standard 4x4 and anywhere from 4 foot high
to 7 foot high.
As for the 5K they charge - who the heck knows where it goes. I imagine,
gas is big, tolls, driver time, hotel, running the truck back empty or
flying the driver home from a one way long haul, insurance plus of course,
profit. Profit is certainly not a dirty word, but they really would have
had to justify that proposal BIG TIME.
_I'd assume that the truck itself is a HUGE expense for them, and I'm sure
that liability insurance, running the office, office staff, advertising,
gas for the truck, some profit margin, etc. are built into the price on top
of the few things that you mention (the driver, the helper and insurance).
Did you think about those things?
_the $1,000 included the truck and fuel and the liability
insurance for the truck. It also included the truck rental company's
office and office staff. All it didn't include was the driver and his
helper. Yes. Like I said, all that is included in the $1,000 that a self-serve
move of this distance costs. It appears that the full-service moving
industry has a horrendous overhead, that they can't make make money on
$5,000 (above cost of truck, fuel, and liability insurance) for a
12-hour move. (Virtually all of the "majors" are losing money at the
moment).
_My vote is for expensive national advertising, plus all the damage
claims from busted stuff. If you move yourself, you can't complain,
but if there is a scratch on the country club lady's $XX,000
whatever.....
Come to think of it, another expense would be all that
sales/estimating effort where the homeowner calls 6 companies all of
whom send somebody 'nice' to the house with brochures and have to take
the time for written estimates. A little different from calling up a
trucking dispatcher and saying "I got 5 pallets for ya".
The utilization on the trucks probably sucks, too. Unlike a motor
freight outfit that mixes people's loads on a truck to fill it and
usually has some slack in what day they get it there, I'd expect the
mover to have more sitting around waiting for a moving job, which has
to be delivered on an exact schedule, and then returning empty.
How much is it worth? Dunno, but if several independant competitors
are ending up near the same price point, must be some reason for it.
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