Moving Companies That Charge You Only For The Space You Use

When you see a line of transport trucks barreling down the highway, there’s a tendency to assume they’re all delivering products of some sort; what we overlook is that a significant number of these aren’t “delivering” per se, but belong to moving companies and are transporting someone’s home or office contents from one location to another. There’s an important distinction between the two. For one, as a consumer, the transportation fees for products are hidden in the price, whereas the cost for moving is directly billable. And while transport companies pack a trailer full, maximizing the use of space, most movers drive a partially full trailer, charging the customer as though it were a complete truckload.

How many times have you collected quotes for a move and joked that it would be cheaper if you just mailed your things to your new address? There’s a grain of truth behind the humor in this case. Moving companies will typically pull up to your house with a full sized trailer and proceed to fill it half full with your belongings, then drive that half-filled trailer to your new address. The trailer is exclusively for your use, so the movers will charge you the full cost of using the truck and trailer (and there always seem to be additional fees added on as well, but that’s another story). There’s another option to using traditional moving companies that consumers can take advantage of to use that free space in their own favor. ABF U-Pack has been operating over 80 years and this company leverages unused space to cut moving costs.

Consider the scenario where the contents of a small apartment are to be moved. Rather than using a large trailer, U-Pack offers the option of a compact “Relo-Cube,” which is dropped off and packed by the customer over the course of three days. The container is picked up, transported and dropped off at the new address for unloading. For a larger job, U-Pack can leave a big trailer, but once the customer has loaded their property, they install a partition within the trailer, so the unused space can be utilized for other cargo. So, unlike most movers, the entire trailer space is used, effectively subsidizing the cost of transporting the consumer’s belongings. This is using the concept of transportation logistics in the most effective manner possible, all but eliminating fuel waste caused by hauling partial loads and directly benefiting consumers as well through lower moving costs.

Darren McQuarrie is a business instructor, specializing in transport logistics, including freight and cargo delivery, Moving Companies and national courier companies. Several of his papers have been included in texts used by colleges across the US. During a recent study of long and short distance moves, McQuarrie showed how many Movers end up billing more than the cost of shipment would warrant, based on charging their customer for a full load when the trailer is only partially full.

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