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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27309329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27309329 ^ I just asked a question about moving across the country and the s

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27309329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27309329 ^ I just asked a question about moving across the country and the scam-like feeling I get from every moving company that I've talked to. I can't read the full WSJ article because of the paywall, but the opening paragraphs are exactly the thing that I'm afraid of.

colechristensen 5y ago
I’m driving 2000 miles to move across the country starting ... tomorrow morning. After my experience moving in the opposite direction four years ago i opted to not hire a moving company, i bought a used cargo van instead. (2006 Ford E250 with 150,000 miles) The moving service lost several of my boxes, for years i would occasionally look for something i knew i owned and come to the conclusion that it had been among the lost. The moving company was also hugely expensive. Lots of things were cheaper to throw away and buy new rather than pay to ship. I spent about $7000 on a moving company in 2017, I bought a van for $8000 and at the end of the week i’ll still have a van.
- ramraj07 5y ago
  Wait, if you could fit all your stuff in that van, you could have just shipped it all via ups? I consolidated whatever I had to 8 boxes (which would have taken a fifth of the space in that van) and mailed it via usps from TX to NY for 400 bucks. It can’t get cheaper and reliable than that?
  - colechristensen 5y ago
    Oh the van is packed to the gills. USPS will be somewhat more expensive than a moving company.
  - ehnto 5y ago
    Could also rent a van. But it sounds like they want a van anyway, so a win all round.
    - toast0 5y ago
      With the trends in vehicle prices being what they are, they might be able to sell the van on the other side of the trip for more than they bought it for.
      - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
        Vans don't hold value because they aren't that convenient to daily drive, don't project the image a pickup does while screaming blue collar in a way that makes all the potential yuppie buyers head for the hills. Also the used market is chock full of them because of how vehicle depreciation on taxes works and the fact that all the premium businesses that cater to rich people and moneyed industries generally try not to be seen driving run down 20yro vans. Like every vehicle they reach a value floor based on condition.
        ehnto 5y ago
        There are notable exceptions, but I would agree in general. Most of those exceptions are vehicles with cult-followings for "vanlife". Like sportswagons, vanagons, westfalias, even sprinters and transits hold a higher value floor than they used to. If anyone is reading this lamenting being priced out of the Sprinter market for their rad new van build, know that just about any van will do. Sprinters have an image premium, people buy them trying to not look poor while choosing to live in a van and that's bumped the price of the used market up.
        throwaway0a5e 5y ago
        >Sprinters have an image premium, people buy them trying to not look poor while choosing to live in a van and that's bumped the price of the used market up. Yeah, rich people trying to not look poor while recreationaly doing something poor people do out of necessity tends to do all sorts of stupid things to markets when the goods in question are interchangeable between the use cases.
    - colechristensen 5y ago
- bradlys 5y ago
  If all your stuff fits in a van, you don’t have very much. Most people who hire moving companies are filling 25-40ft containers.
pabs3 5y ago
https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-on-the-move-their-stuff-doesnt-always-follow-11622050745?mod=djemalertNEWS https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-on-the-move-their...

colechristensen 5y ago

I’m driving 2000 miles to move across the country starting ... tomorrow morning. After my experience moving in the opposite direction four years ago i opted to not hire a moving company, i bought a used cargo van instead. (2006 Ford E250 with 150,000 miles) The moving service lost several of my boxes, for years i would occasionally look for something i knew i owned and come to the conclusion that it had been among the lost. The moving company was also hugely expensive. Lots of things were cheaper to throw away and buy new rather than pay to ship. I spent about $7000 on a moving company in 2017, I bought a van for $8000 and at the end of the week i’ll still have a van.

ramraj07 5y ago
Wait, if you could fit all your stuff in that van, you could have just shipped it all via ups? I consolidated whatever I had to 8 boxes (which would have taken a fifth of the space in that van) and mailed it via usps from TX to NY for 400 bucks. It can’t get cheaper and reliable than that?
- colechristensen 5y ago
  Oh the van is packed to the gills. USPS will be somewhat more expensive than a moving company.
- ehnto 5y ago
  Could also rent a van. But it sounds like they want a van anyway, so a win all round.
  - toast0 5y ago
    With the trends in vehicle prices being what they are, they might be able to sell the van on the other side of the trip for more than they bought it for.
    - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
      Vans don't hold value because they aren't that convenient to daily drive, don't project the image a pickup does while screaming blue collar in a way that makes all the potential yuppie buyers head for the hills. Also the used market is chock full of them because of how vehicle depreciation on taxes works and the fact that all the premium businesses that cater to rich people and moneyed industries generally try not to be seen driving run down 20yro vans. Like every vehicle they reach a value floor based on condition.
      - ehnto 5y ago
        There are notable exceptions, but I would agree in general. Most of those exceptions are vehicles with cult-followings for "vanlife". Like sportswagons, vanagons, westfalias, even sprinters and transits hold a higher value floor than they used to. If anyone is reading this lamenting being priced out of the Sprinter market for their rad new van build, know that just about any van will do. Sprinters have an image premium, people buy them trying to not look poor while choosing to live in a van and that's bumped the price of the used market up.
        throwaway0a5e 5y ago
        >Sprinters have an image premium, people buy them trying to not look poor while choosing to live in a van and that's bumped the price of the used market up. Yeah, rich people trying to not look poor while recreationaly doing something poor people do out of necessity tends to do all sorts of stupid things to markets when the goods in question are interchangeable between the use cases.
  - colechristensen 5y ago
bradlys 5y ago
If all your stuff fits in a van, you don’t have very much. Most people who hire moving companies are filling 25-40ft containers.

pabs3 5y ago

https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-on-the-move-their-stuff-doesnt-always-follow-11622050745?mod=djemalertNEWS https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-on-the-move-their...