Category:Planning
A local move is a day. A long-distance move is a project, and it fails in different places: not in the loading, but in the paperwork, the timing and the gap between what was quoted and what was charged.
Dedicated load or shared load
This is the first question to ask any carrier, and the answer determines almost everything else.
A dedicated load means your goods are the only ones on the vehicle. You get a delivery date rather than a window, and the crew that loads you is the crew that unloads you.
A shared load means your goods travel with other consignments and are consolidated at a depot. It is cheaper, sometimes considerably, and it is why some quotes come back with a delivery window of eight days.
Neither is wrong. But a quote that does not say which one it is has left itself room to change later.
Budgeting
Ask for these five things in writing:
- The base rate, and what it covers
- Fuel and tolls — included, or extra
- Overnight and per-diem costs for the crew
- Storage-in-transit, if the dates do not meet
- The insurance level, and what “basic liability” pays per pound
Basic liability in this industry is often around sixty cents per pound. A forty-pound television is worth twenty-four dollars under that cover. Full-value protection exists for a reason.
The commonest long-distance complaint is not damage. It is not knowing where anything is, and for how long.
Timing
Build in a buffer. Weather, weight-station checks and traffic all move an arrival by hours; a blown tire moves it by a day. If you have a completion date or a first day at work that cannot slip, put the move two days before it, not the night before.
What to carry yourself
Passports, birth certificates, deeds, medication, jewellery, laptops and anything irreplaceable travel with you. No reputable carrier wants them on the truck either.
