Moving. Just the word is enough to make you tired, isn’t it? I’ve been there. You’re staring at all your junk thinking, “I can’t do this.” So you start looking up movers.
And you see a price. “$99 an hour!” or “Flat Rate Move: $799!” It looks so good. Too good.
Let me tell you a quick story. My cousin Jenny hired movers based on an online quote last year. The quote said $800. The final bill was $2,300. She almost cried. I felt terrible for her.
So let’s get real about what this actually costs. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it.
The Clock is Ticking (And You’re Paying For It)
First off, that hourly rate is a lie. Okay, not a lie, but it’s not the whole truth. The clock starts when their truck leaves THEIR warehouse. If they hit traffic on the way to you? You’re paying for that. If the guys take a mandatory 30-minute lunch break in the middle of your move? You’re paying for that. If your new apartment has a super slow elevator, and it takes forever? You guessed it.
For long-distance moves, they charge by weight. They’ll give you a “visual estimate,” but the final price is what the truck weighs on a big scale. It’s like they’re pricing your life by the pound. It feels weird.
The “Gotcha” Fees That Wreck Your Budget
Then come the add-ons. This is where they get you.
Packing
If you have them pack for you, the cost explodes. I’m not kidding. The boxes, the tape, the paper… and the labor. Wrapping a single wine glass takes time, and time is money. One customer told me the movers charged him $200 just to pack his kitchen. Just the kitchen!
Insurance
This one is sneaky. The free insurance is basically useless. It might cover 60 cents per pound per item. So if they drop your $2,000 big-screen TV that weighs 50 pounds… you get $30. To actually cover the value of your stuff, you have to buy an upgrade. Of course.
The “Oops, Your House is Difficult” Fee. They have a name for it: “accessorial charges.” It’s moverspeak for “this is harder than we thought.”
- Is the truck going to have to park far away? That’s a “long carry” fee.
- Lots of stairs? That’s a fee.
- Got a piano? That’s a big fee. A very big fee.
A Smarter Way: Use Storage to Your Advantage
Here’s a trick I tell everyone at our storage place. You don’t have to do the whole move in one crazy, expensive day. Make it a two-step process.
Hire movers for a few hours to do the heavy lifting—to get everything out of your old place and into one of our storage units. That’s it. That’s a simple, predictable job for them.
Now you’ve got breathing room. You can take your time cleaning the old place. You can get the keys to the new place and maybe even paint a room without tripping over boxes. There’s no panic.
Then, when you’re ready, you hire a different set of movers (or even just some guys with a truck) for a couple of hours to move your stuff from storage to your new home. It’s a smaller, cheaper job. Spreading it out like this saves a ton of stress and can often save you money, too. We see people do this all the time, and they always tell me how much easier it was.
Timing is Everything (And Money)
Oh, and when you move matters. A lot. A Saturday at the end of the month in the summer is the most expensive time possible. A Tuesday in February is way, way cheaper. If you can be flexible, you can save a bundle.
Your Moving-Day Interrogation Checklist
So before you hire anyone, you gotta be a little rude. Ask them point-blank:
- “Is this the absolute final price, or can it change?”
- “What are ALL the extra fees you charge? Don’t leave any out.”
- “Tell me about the insurance. What does the free one really cover?”
The Bottom Line
Look, hiring movers can be a lifesaver. It can save your back and your sanity. But that initial quote is often just the entry fee. The real cost is in all the little things they don’t shout about in their ads.
Plan for those little things. Use a storage unit to give yourself a break in the middle. And ask a million questions.
And hey, you know where to find me if you need a place to stash your stuff while you figure it all out. My door is always open. Now, go get a glass of water. Just looking at all those boxes is making me thirsty.
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