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Amazing write up, thanks for this. Question though - I always thought hiring movers was a higher-end service that targeted richer people? Most people I know ren

Amazing write up, thanks for this. Question though - I always thought hiring movers was a higher-end service that targeted richer people? Most people I know rent a truck or U-haul and get their friends to help move for a case of beer...

goatherders 9y ago
Most of your friends probably aren't moving out of a 4 bedroom house with two small children under foot. The want for help changes on the far side of 30.
ghostly_s 9y ago
How old are you? I think most people find the pool of friends willing to break their back all day for free beer gets pretty small once they're all starting families etc. I hired movers for the first time this year and I'll never go without again. I'm 29 and make a pretty modest professional salary, so it was a big expense for me, but paying a few hundred bucks was well worth it for getting something done in a couple hours that would have taken all days and left me with a sore back for the better part of a week otherwise.
- seibelj 9y ago
  I agree, and I also have hired movers, but anecdotally among my friend group I am the exception. 30 years old Good points though
- greggman 9y ago
  I've moved 25 times. only once have I hired movers and they stole a TV. Having moved so many times I learned the key is to have absolutely everything packed in boxes and or in a state that's ready to move on moving day. if it's all packed it will take < 2 hrs to put it all on a truck and even less to unpack from the truck. If it's not ready to go and any kind of packing had to happen on the day it has always taken 3x to 5x the time.
praneshp 9y ago
In the bay area, last year, it was $70 an hour (2 movers, 90 for 3) with a 3 hour minimum. I just packed my clothes into suitcases, they grabbed everything else into boxes and left it roughly where I wanted them at the destination. It was under $500 with tips; while not trivial, it wasn't a higher-end service for sure.
x0x0 9y ago
Well, U-Haul's business is fucking people. There's a long story, but briefly, they promised a truck would be available, it wasn't, we found another, the manager swore he could see it on the lot... and it wasn't actually there. Meanwhile we had hired people to put stuff in the truck and they were sitting at our apartment waiting for us while we were scrambling a third time to actually get a supposedly fully reserved truck from U-Haul. It turned a stressful move into an utter nightmare. One of the under appreciated benefits of movers is they have their own truck.
- sliken 9y ago
  We rented a u-haul to move cross country for $2k a few months in advance. Then a month or before we moved we changed plans, moved it by a week, we called u-haul and they said $3k. We asked around our friends and heard similar horror stories to yours, "reserved" trucks not available, having to drive to distant locations to get trucks, etc. Fortunately hertz penske saved us with a much better price (much less than the original u-haul) on short notice and gave us a great truck.
pjc50 9y ago
Big difference for long moves or short moves, and large moves or small moves. I needed to move the contents of a three-bedroom house from Cambridge to Edinburgh, 400 miles, and my first quote was £4000! It was eventually done for £1000 by a firm who sent two guys and a massive lorry which took all day to fill. I don't think it could have been done with less than three trips of the largest available van to rent without a special license.

goatherders 9y ago

Most of your friends probably aren't moving out of a 4 bedroom house with two small children under foot. The want for help changes on the far side of 30.

ghostly_s 9y ago

How old are you? I think most people find the pool of friends willing to break their back all day for free beer gets pretty small once they're all starting families etc. I hired movers for the first time this year and I'll never go without again. I'm 29 and make a pretty modest professional salary, so it was a big expense for me, but paying a few hundred bucks was well worth it for getting something done in a couple hours that would have taken all days and left me with a sore back for the better part of a week otherwise.

seibelj 9y ago
I agree, and I also have hired movers, but anecdotally among my friend group I am the exception. 30 years old Good points though
greggman 9y ago
I've moved 25 times. only once have I hired movers and they stole a TV. Having moved so many times I learned the key is to have absolutely everything packed in boxes and or in a state that's ready to move on moving day. if it's all packed it will take < 2 hrs to put it all on a truck and even less to unpack from the truck. If it's not ready to go and any kind of packing had to happen on the day it has always taken 3x to 5x the time.

praneshp 9y ago

In the bay area, last year, it was $70 an hour (2 movers, 90 for 3) with a 3 hour minimum. I just packed my clothes into suitcases, they grabbed everything else into boxes and left it roughly where I wanted them at the destination. It was under $500 with tips; while not trivial, it wasn't a higher-end service for sure.

x0x0 9y ago

Well, U-Haul's business is fucking people. There's a long story, but briefly, they promised a truck would be available, it wasn't, we found another, the manager swore he could see it on the lot... and it wasn't actually there. Meanwhile we had hired people to put stuff in the truck and they were sitting at our apartment waiting for us while we were scrambling a third time to actually get a supposedly fully reserved truck from U-Haul. It turned a stressful move into an utter nightmare. One of the under appreciated benefits of movers is they have their own truck.

sliken 9y ago
We rented a u-haul to move cross country for $2k a few months in advance. Then a month or before we moved we changed plans, moved it by a week, we called u-haul and they said $3k. We asked around our friends and heard similar horror stories to yours, "reserved" trucks not available, having to drive to distant locations to get trucks, etc. Fortunately hertz penske saved us with a much better price (much less than the original u-haul) on short notice and gave us a great truck.

pjc50 9y ago

Big difference for long moves or short moves, and large moves or small moves. I needed to move the contents of a three-bedroom house from Cambridge to Edinburgh, 400 miles, and my first quote was £4000! It was eventually done for £1000 by a firm who sent two guys and a massive lorry which took all day to fill. I don't think it could have been done with less than three trips of the largest available van to rent without a special license.