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thegeek
Premium Member
join:2008-02-21
right here

thegeek to Simple Guy

Premium Member

to Simple Guy

Re: [Rant] Pack Rat Internet web site for moving and storing inf

The difference is with U-Haul they upsell you on everything at the counter when you go to pick up the truck. Pack Rat and PODs and other similar services must upsell you in advance before they roll a truck to your location.

I worked for a moving company in college. Let me offer a bit of advice for moving. Before reserving any sort of self-moving service do some research on how to properly pack and load a truck/container. All of these self serve companies thrive on the fact that the average person has absolutely no clue what they are doing and they use entirely way too much space to pack and load. It is not unreasonable to be able to pack an entire 3 bedroom house into a 14' U-haul. But they will tell you that you need a 20' minimum. Which is true if you don't know what you are doing. But an easy way to spend a hell of a lot more money than necessary.

Also, rent the moving blankets. Get twice as many as you think you will need. They will recommend a certain amount which is about double what you will really need. It's worth the cost though if you value your furniture.

Another pro-tip. If you can get your hands on a big roll of shrink-wrap use it to entirely wrap up your couches with all the cushions and pillows inside. Then stand them up on end inside the truck and tie them to the wall with some cheap rope. That saves a significant amount of space.
Simple Guy
join:2012-05-16

Simple Guy

Member

Funny thing I got an email from them today saying they hoped I liked the quote they sent me and also included some other standard boilerplate info.

The strange thing is what they advertise or offer is very convenient to people in my position and overall makes great sense. There should be a big market for what they advertise.

I'll eventually call them as I am curious as to how their prices compare to renting a U-Haul type truck for the move of about 500-700 mile range. (Final destination not yet decided upon.)

I will eventually call them but I will try their website one more time first to see if my altering some stuff I get better results.

After all my email address obviously went through OK to them.

psafux
Premium Member
join:2005-11-10

psafux to thegeek

Premium Member

to thegeek
said by thegeek:

The difference is with U-Haul they upsell you on everything at the counter when you go to pick up the truck.

Having worked at U-haul for a period of time, I can assure you the truck size recommendations are based on the corporate office documents, not "how can we screw the customer". As is the case with most corporate-managed businesses, the retail locations were more or less forced to speak that which corp dictated, regardless of our own thoughts & opinions (lest ye be terminated). It is reasonable to expect that a person who is forced to rent a U-haul (or one of its competitors) won't be well-versed on proper loading. The sizes are based on square footage loading capacity.

I will also admit I hated corporate - so take it for what its worth.

Edit to add:
For what its worth, I don't recall ever recommending or forcing anyone to upgrade their truck and we only had one (in the time I worked there) come back wanting to go from a 17' to 24'. I can say the same of my coworkers while I was there. YMMV as always.

thegeek
Premium Member
join:2008-02-21
right here

thegeek

Premium Member

Yes, most are versed in proper loading, that is why i recommended he do some research as well as offered a good tip.

And it may not have been your particular store saying "how can we screw the customer." The decisions on sizes do come from corporate. But corporate's mind set is "how can we screw the customer." Well not exactly in those terms. It's more like "how can we maximize our profit." Profit is maximized by overselling the customer.

psafux
Premium Member
join:2005-11-10

psafux

Premium Member

Show me a company not interested in maximizing profit and I will show you a company that won't be around in a year or two..

I understand your point though. There are profit margins and there is taking advantage of the populous.

thegeek
Premium Member
join:2008-02-21
right here

thegeek

Premium Member

I wasn't saying that it's not OK for a company to maximize profit. I was simply trying to help someone save a buck.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to thegeek

Premium Member

to thegeek
said by thegeek:

The difference is with U-Haul they upsell you on everything at the counter when you go to pick up the truck.

Don't i know it. my "$19.99 truck" was $134.some change after all was said and done.