Moving across the USA

Moved from Commiefornia to Florida in '17. I did "most" of the packing, had pros come in and pack the extremely fragile stuff (Greek vases, an altar, and a few other things) into 5 large boxes that went into my car, and the rest was moved by the moving company. Cost just under $10K.
I sold or got rid of a butt ton of stuff though - it basically costs $1/lb cross country.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rick Flair
My In-laws live just south of Springfield on 52 acres I keep trying to get my wife to move back there but always get the fock no no way in hell. But I think the area is not bad except for the humidity
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rick Flair
I moved from Detroit to Phoenix in 2015. My third cross country move in 16 years.
At the time PODS was not shipping cross country from Detroit.

I used ABF Upack containers for part of our move. very happy with the experience. The Upack containers are about half size or smaller compared to a POD. I got the second ABF container for half price. These containers allowed us to occupy our AZ house while we were selling the Michigan house.

I used Mayflower for the rest of our stuff. Also a good experience. It’s all about your sales rep. He and I estimated the weight and locked in a price. Price could go down but not up. Estimate was very close. We got a few bucks back. I saw the weight ticket before the driver started loading and followed him to the scales after he loaded our stuff.

If you get a bad vibe off the rep. call another company because IMO he or she can make or break the move. I fired the first rep from allied before we got very far in the process. My Mayflower rep brought us special boxes for TVs, mattresses, pictures, dishes etc. no extra charge. Wouldn’t hurt to ask about these items if you go with a company. Special boxes can be required and aren’t cheap.

Every piece, box etc. will get a numbered sticker. Have someone on the receiving end that has the sole job of checking each number off a master list especially if someone else’s stuff is still on the truck.

We packed everything ourselves. Moving usually sucks but moving cross country sucks more! Stay organized, keep paperwork etc all together so it doesn’t get packed.
Buy at least two tape machines, and a whole box of sharpies. Fill every box full and tight. Many plastic totes will collapse if they are on the bottom of a 10 ft. stack if there’s even a little room in the tote. Write contents on the top and at least one side of the box. Top, and two adjacent sides is even better.

ABF was a great way to move my shop. I built small pallets for both the drill press and the bandsaw and strapped the machines to the walls of the containers.

My wife and I drove one vehicle out. Remember though, you have to beat the moving van to your new location depending on their schedule. We were last on, therefore first off.

I sold my 15 year old, rusty truck, in Michigan and had previously bought my Jeep in AZ and stored it out there with a friend.

Sorry for the random thoughts. Just typing as things come to mind.
 
If you get a bad vibe off the rep. call another company because IMO he or she can make or break the move.
Good advice. We had one estimator who did a walkthrough on one of our moves & he seemed like a real dipshit. 2500 sq ft home, he was in there for about 30 seconds. I called my company relocation advisor & told her I think this dude is way off on his estimate, she said don't worry about it it'll be fine.

When the guy from the moving company showed up the day prior to packing he looked around my house, looked at the estimate, and said "ain't no way in hell I'm moving you for what this guy wrote up." It delayed the move by about two weeks which screwed up all our logistics.
 
Thanks all so far. You gave me a lot of insight and experience to help me out. We are going to weigh options but really, the box delivery has my attention and shipping vehicles too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Apparition and mrjp
I was in a similar situation a couple years ago and I can't imagine doing it without the help of movers. We were tempted to do some of it ourselves (and we did put some stuff in the cars before driving), but in the end were very happy we hired help. For what it's worth, the company we used was called Three Men and A Truck and they were great. They also shipped a car for us.
 
We did a coast to coast move in 2013. We rented the largest truck Penske had and did everything ourselves. I forget what the truck cost but I remember the fuel cost was $2k. I drove the truck and my wife drove our pickup along with our one cat. It was a lot of work but sort of an adventure too.
 
The OP has already moved, but just for reference.

We hired a local mover. We quoted PODS but the price was bonkers in comparison.

The mover was kindof an off the books type. Had a custom built 26' trailer that he towed behind a 1 ton pickup. Everything was unmarked so he didn't catch the attention of authorities... He just looked like a guy hauling a race car or some UTVs out to Moab. I didn't ask a lot of questions, lol.

He charged $4800 to move 600 miles. We knew we had a little more than this truck would hold so we got a small enclosed Uhaul trailer and when we ran out of room again we grabbed a Suburban from the airport. I think his trailer might have been shorter in height than a box truck. After the suburban and the uhaul and some other miscellaneous expenses we came in right around $6k.
 
Last edited: