Moving One Item Out of State

If you live in another state and while traveling decide to purchase a bed or huge antique... Don't.

Let me try that again.

If you live in another state and while traveling decide to purchase a bed or huge antique and decide to contact a mover to move it, please do not be surprised that the cost might be $1000 or more.

Moving companies have a minimum weight charge that they use on all of their moves. It's doesn't matter if it is one item or one household. This is more to over the cost of running the truck & insuring the item then to pay the driver. It is not there to prevent people from hiring them or to make it difficult for you to move your item. It is there to protect the company.

Now, some people might ask if we could 'tak it on' or 'sneak it on' to the back of a truck if we have a truck going that way. Once upon a time companies were able to do this but now, due to insurance reasons, they can't. You can ask, but do not expect any answer other then no.

I feel really bad telling people this. UPS could be an option or you could rent a truck and drive it your self. Personally I would get a rental and drive it because I would totally shop along the way.

Planing to Move

I can't tell you how many times I have paused while talking to a person on the phone because they "are planning ahead" or "want to get the ball rolling" for their move that they want to happen in three days.

Most companies have a seven day registration policy. In my opinion it is there to prevent last minuet switches to driver schedules. The last thing any moving company wants to do is have a driver stuck on the other side of the country and possibly delay other moves.

If this happens in the summer, durring our bussy seasion, I have to tell people that we can not do their move. A few have asked for my manager and would hang up on him because he would give them the same answer. Generaly in the summer we are booking moves two weeks out so a last minuet thing just can not happen.

In the winter, during our slow season, once in a RARE while we can pull something like that off. but we have started to see a pick up in appointments during this time and this makes last minuet moves like this almost imposable.

To save your self some frustration you want to get an estimate about two weeks or more before your desired move date. If you are worried about getting stuck with a last minuet move; contact a moving company a check to see how long their estimats are good for. If you have a sales agent come out ask them if there is anything that  could be done if you have to be out of your home sooner then you thought.

Please Leave a Voice-mail Messege

I can not stress this enugh. Leaving a voice-mail messege is the best way to get your information to the person that you are looking for if they are not available.

Seriously, voice-mails are not your enemy.

I can not tell you how many of our shippers have not left important messages and wondered why they never received a call back when they needed it. Most were about changes to their pick up or delivery dates. This information is very, very important and should be left in your message. As well as a good call back number that you can answer.

Too many times have I been asked to take a message that was just a 'have them call me' with no number or sometimes no name. The ones that give me pages of detailed information so fast and get angry that they have to repeat parts until I feel I have it all? That type of message needs to go to voicemail. written messages get lost or forgotten, but mostly lost.

It always seems that when no voice-mail is available everyone only wants to leave a voice-mail. But when It is available they only want me to write the message. Unfortunately this is something were not everyone will be happy.

Moving During the Snowmagedon or Snowpocalypse

This is not the kind of weather you want to move in. Right now it is not to bad here at my office but yesterday was spent contacting customers and other agents to make sure that people knew what was going on.

Over all most wanted to just wait and see what the weather would be like today. Which was good because we only got three inches of snow last night. Only one survey appointment canceled but that's understandable. The street plows have not been by the office yet and our hired guy didn't bother with the parking lot until people showed up. (who then got stuck and had to dig themselves out...)

But again, all the scheduled move we had for today actually happened on time. The movers all made it in to the office and were not snowed into their homes. All the trucks started and were not stuck at the dock. Over all it was a very good day so far.

But! We got very lucky.

If we had gotten the 16 -24 inches that we were warned about then the office would be closed today and we would not have been able to move or help anyone. It doesn't sound like a lot if you imagine a semi-truck driving in it, but if the drive can't get to the office then there is no one to drive the truck. Like wise if the movers get stuck then there is no one to move the furniture into and out of the trucks. Driving bans can also cause havoc with moves because no one wants to rick the fines.

So, with luck this will all be over and we can get back into the nice moving weather.

Moving on the Winter Holidays

I do NOT recommend moving on the holidays.

The week of Christmas and the week for New Years is always booked. It's a short week so that adds to the stress. Commercial moves happen a lot in this time frame because companies don't have to worry about employees and movers getting in each others ways.

Unless the holidays are in the middle of the week the holiday weekends are either booked to death or companies are closed for the holiday. This also happens on the 4th of July, Labor day, Thanksgiving, Memorial day, Presidents day and maybe a few others.

How they managed to keep to schedule and go gray o bald is beyond me.It also seems like the holidays is the designated time that any and everything bad will happen to the moving trucks. We had two trucks go down last wee and I have never seen my managers and dispatchers so stressed. The weather also didn't help matters.

So, if you are planing to move during a holiday you will need to contact a moving company about two months in advance to do a survey and set up your move date. If you wait until the month of your move you might find that holiday week booked already. Calling the week of the holiday to be moved will not do much good and calling the day before will do even less.

A last minuet move never ends well, avoiding one will save you an unpresident amount of stress.

Also as a last note, I will never go into a store on December 24th again. It was down right terrifying.

Customers and Delays

Ah... It's always good to start the day getting screamed at by a customer for another company getting delayed. The short of it is my company accidentally moved a box to his home in Arizona instead of his daughters home. They were both moving from the same house to different locations so unfortunately it can happen. A mistake happened and the box was not picked up as scheduled by the mail service. Things were fixed and everyone was happy.

This last bit is a tad exagerated.

The gentlemen mostly screamed and swore at me on the phone. He was so loud that my co-workers could listen in from a few desks away. Our HR manager was sitting next to me during it and afterwords said if he had been on the receiving end he would have hung up on him. That's how bad this gentalmen was.

I managed to get him to go on hold three times. the first was so I could collect myself and call the woman who set up the pickup. I asked her if she preferred poison or a bullet. She laughed and then said she would contact the mailing company to see what was up.

I picked up his line and let him know the mailing company was being contacted and that he would be called back about it. He was not happy and started screaming about everything under the sun. Including paying for his stay in Arizona. The worst part? He wanted the person who set up the pickup date for the box. My HR guy said not to give him her number because while we are used to him (and can laugh at it) she was not.

After he screamed at me some more I got his number so she could call him. I answered a few more calls and then called her to let her know what was going on. As soon as I said hi she said she should have taken the poison. Apparently he had called a few other people that work for us and gotten her office number.

While it seems like this customer 'won' or something like that, he didn't. His actions just further proved why we try to not end up servicing customers like him. There are so many notes on his account right now I'm amazed the computer still runs. As soon as this latest possible move is completed I'm pretty convinced that we will refuse to move him a third time.

When Packing Medication...

Please, please, please! If you have medication the is necessary for you to continue to live, please do not have the movers pack it up. Also please do not call in yelling at the moving company because you need the medication.

Take some with you or contact your doctor for an emergency prescription.