Feb 3, 2010

How to Calculate and Save on Your Move Cost?

If you are moving from a city to another, the moving company you hire will estimate your move costs on the basis of your possessions. If you are moving long distance including cross-country move, you will be charged by weight of your belongings. If you are moving within the same town, you will be charged on an hourly rate.

You have some options to reduce your moving cost. If you are moving to a new home that is only a few hours driving from your old one, you can hire a local mover who will drive your belongings to the destination and charge you for the total time it took to complete the whole move including their return back. If, on the other hand, you are moving long distance, you can hire a moving company that has the facility to store your items in a transitional storage and then bring to your new destination on a long distance truck. This might take some longer, but may prove much cheaper.

Moving Charges- Cubic Feet or Pounds?

Sometimes when you get moving estimates from multiple companies, you get confused as some moving companies talk of charging you on the basis of volume (cubic feet) and some others say that they will charge on the basis of weight (pound). It is always beneficial to opt for the company that charges on the basis of weight. By industry standards, cubic feet are converted to pounds as 1 to 7 for household goods. It will depend upon the weight of your items as to how much cubic feet they occupy? However, moving companies can charge you more on the basis of cubic feet.

When the people from your moving company load the truck, the space occupied by your items depends on how the things are placed inside the truck. If it is a bad loading, it might result in rise of up to 20-30% in the volume. Now when your things are again loaded on a long distance truck from the  transitional storage of the movers, they will be loaded on the truck very carefully and positioned in a well organized manner so that they may take as little space as possible. However, they will charge you for the cubic feet that resulted on the truck which came from your home to their storage.

So, it is clear that you have very little control over the final bill if going by cubic feet. On the other hand, the weight of your shipment does not depend on how the truck is loaded. Although there are ways to show the weight a little higher than the actual weight, it can not be as drastic as the difference in volume can be made. However, the best way is to go by flat or fixed rate where you agree with the moving company on a single price that would be paid for your move. It includes all the services movers will provide you with and the list of items that they will move for you.

If anyway you choose to pay on the basis of pounds or cubic feet, you will need to know how to convert the units of measurement. Here is the unit conversion calculator and many other moving tools for your use.

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