What is the Best Method to Use To Ship Household Goods?
If you’re moving, it can be difficult to find the right shipping company to handle all your household items. Choosing a household moving company is not something that you want to take lightly; with literally thousands of them out there, all providing different services, choosing the right company to transport your worldly possessions can be a daunting task.
The best way to narrow down your search is to use our free household goods moving quote request form, which is located on our household moving articles page. If you follow that link, you’ll get access to our exclusive household moving quote form, which takes only a minute to fill out and you’ll get a free moving quote right away.
Self-service moving is when you pack your goods yourself and your moving company simply loads the truck and drives away. Some companies include loading your own goods into the truck as part of their self-service moving packages, but most of the time the moving company personnel will load the truck for you, as they have experience in ensuring that everything is packed safely and securely.
Self-service moving is generally cheaper than full-service, on account of the fact that your moving company has to do less work. Of course, the physical transportation of your vehicle is handled by the moving company, as they are bound by more specific laws and regulations than if you were to move your stuff yourself.
Full-service moving is when your moving company will pack all your goods in boxes for you and load them into the truck. Generally, full-service moving companies will provide all the necessary boxes as part of their fee for full-service moving, but there are some companies that make you buy the boxes extra, so if you’re interested in full-service moving make sure to discuss that with a representative.
We generally recommend full-service moving, as the moving company will provide the boxes and – more importantly – they will be the safest boxes you can ship your goods in, as they are all specially designed based on what will be put in it. For instance, there are specialized flatscreen TV moving boxes that can accommodate televisions of various sizes, as well as wardrobe boxes for clothes that need to stay hanging and should not be folded. Another good one is the dinnerware boxes – they are specially designed to safely transport things such as plates and bowls and other eating utensils.
Full service-moving is generally more expensive of the two options for several reasons, namely the fact that your moving company is doing a lot more work than they would if your shipment were designated as a self-service move. They do all the packing and loading of the truck, as well as the physical transportation of your household items, and they’ll also unpack your goods upon delivery. While it is more expensive, full-service moving also gives you more control over your move in the sense that you essentially tell your movers what you want packed where and where you want things unpacked in your new home. This also adds to the expense, but more often than not it is worth it.
Since 2007 Dave has written all the content and blogs for American Auto Shipping and during this time added the duties of customer support and transport logistics.
He currently resides in Washington with his three kids and their mom and cat. A fan of Marvel movies and good stories, when not shipping cars Dave can be found working on his novel, enjoying a good book or playing some tournament HALO.
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