I’m moving but have a month between when I move out and when I move in to my new place (sigh - a whole different story).
Anyway, I thought of these PODS people who drop a container off in your driveway. You load it, they pick it up, store it, and redeliver it to the destination later.
They had a smokin’ special and I’m getting the whole shebang for $260, not bad compared to two truck rentals large storage unit rental. This includes $5000 of insurance coverage.
The pod itself is 16’x8’x8’ and I have a heavily furnished one-bedroom apartment. Their website calculator suggests I should be able to fit everything into their 12-foot container. ( I have a lot books, for what it’s worth. A professional mover years ago accused me of having “as many books as a preacher-man.” )
Any gotchas or experiences to share before while I still have time to back-out of the deal?
I’ve heard nothing but good things, though I’ve never used them myself. I also know someone who owns the franchise rights for a couple of states, and they seem to have some pretty stringent requirements (much of them monetary) for owners. I’d pull the trigger if the price is right.
I used U-Pack, which offers more or less the same service. So I can’t comment on Pods the company (UPack was wonderful) but my advice is don’t be lazy about tying your stuff down. We were lax and my stuff shifted around a lot – a table leg came loose and the buttons on my TV got all mashed in. It was totally my fault, there are dodads on the walls tie rope to, and they tell you this on the website, but we just didn’t do it. (FTR I thought we should but my mom thought everything was so packed in that it would be fine … but I guess when you use your mom as your free moving service then you really shouldn’t be bitching. )
I have known a couple of people who have used this, and both were very happy with the service. It definitely beats driving a U-Haul across the country or paying for a professional mover (unless you have some valuable stuff you don’t want to take chances with).
A question about PODS- suppose I store some stuff in one and then later think “I really need that umbrella stand”- is there a way to get an item out without having to have the entire thing unloaded or what not? In other words, once you store something is it inaccessible until you cancel the contract?
Nope - you’re supposed to be able to visit the warehouse where they store the pods and they’ll get it off the stack for you. It’s supposed to be a free service, too.
Just thought I’d update my own thread. The PODS people dropped my crate yesterday - they loaded it on the truck backwards so it had to be flipped around to get the door to face my parking lot. The driver told me that it was no problem and did just that.
The truck arrives with a steel frame loaded with hydraulics that dismounts from the truck and is used to lift and move the crate. The crate lifts and drops vertically so load shifting should be pretty minimal when they go to reload.
I’m still going to truss everything down with rope, of course. The trip to the warehouse will include starts and stops, I’m sure.
The driver was friendly & cooperative. Very good representative for his company. The crate itself seems huge, like I have acres of space to get everything in there. I’m sure it’ll look a lot smaller once I get it all loaded though.
I spent my evening going up and down my apartment steps. Moving suX0rs!
Definitely make sure everything is secure. While the crate lifts and drops vertically, it’s a bit like when an elephant walks - he’s moving forward all the time but there’s a whole lot of movement going in other directions too. The PODS lifter shakes the shit out of the crate. It might not seem so when you’re watching, but when you open it up later you’ll think an earthquake hit it. Anything that can move will move. I made the mistake of leaving a few items untethered and I found them far from where I had placed them. Assume that your crate will be treated like a football and you’ll be okay.