When moving to new accommodations, should you hire a mover or get relatives/friends and a rented truck? It depends on the situation, as Diane Schmidt says in her guide.
For our intra-city move two days ago, we picked the relatives-and-rented-truck option. We had heard horror stories from people who had hired professional movers only to have them sitting for hours (at $100/hour) waiting for the key to arrive or, in the case of moving into a newly built house (as we were doing), being forced to cancel or re-schedule the movers after the builder called to say the house was not ready.
But renting a truck turned out to have its glitches too. I dont know if it was the particular U-Haul depot we visited, but the place didnt appear to be very well run. Both times I was there, customers were spouting off about annoyances such as the phone never being answered, having to wait 15 to 30 minutes in line for the one cashier to take their order, and worse of all, failing to deliver items as promised.
The person in line ahead of me was told his car hitch would not be ready for another 2 to 3 hours. I was told my large truck was not available and would have to settle for one half the size. This would mean two trips instead of one (they did take 50% off the per-kilometer rate). Thank goodness for the kindness of relatives to do a double shift, until just after midnight.
Blogs & Comment
How should you move?
By Larry MacDonald
When moving to new accommodations, should you hire a mover or get relatives/friends and a rented truck? It depends on the situation, as Diane Schmidt says in her guide.
For our intra-city move two days ago, we picked the relatives-and-rented-truck option. We had heard horror stories from people who had hired professional movers only to have them sitting for hours (at $100/hour) waiting for the key to arrive or, in the case of moving into a newly built house (as we were doing), being forced to cancel or re-schedule the movers after the builder called to say the house was not ready.
But renting a truck turned out to have its glitches too. I dont know if it was the particular U-Haul depot we visited, but the place didnt appear to be very well run. Both times I was there, customers were spouting off about annoyances such as the phone never being answered, having to wait 15 to 30 minutes in line for the one cashier to take their order, and worse of all, failing to deliver items as promised.
The person in line ahead of me was told his car hitch would not be ready for another 2 to 3 hours. I was told my large truck was not available and would have to settle for one half the size. This would mean two trips instead of one (they did take 50% off the per-kilometer rate). Thank goodness for the kindness of relatives to do a double shift, until just after midnight.