Moving Van Vs PODs
 

Good Morning Ladies! I sure could use some input about the pros & cons of moving with the POD system vs the moving van. We are moving from Atlanta to Mt Dora Fl where we will have to rent until our house is built. That will mean two major moves in 6 months. Has anyone used the PODs? Any advice on this whole moving thing would be appreciated!

I have used PODS three different times moving from IL to CO and was very pleased with them. Never any problems and they were very professional.

just ask about bed bugs. are their vans or pods cleaned, etc.

You have to decide how much work you want to do yourself. My main advice is to pack differently than you would if you were moving straight to your new home since you're renting for 6 months while it's being built. Pack the things you can live without for the 6 months really well so they can just stay packed. Label everything well and use color coding to mark things for storage.

What moving co have any of y'all used & were you happy with them. The cleaning question was a good one to ask & I would not have thought of it, thank you!!!

I work for a storage company, and would suggest that you buy the plastic mattress, sofa and chair covers. They run under $6 each, and are like huge plastic bags. Seal your mattresses and any upholstered furniture in these covers, close with a stong tape to make them airtight. This will keep dirt, dust, and unwanted little critters out of your furniture.

My best friend used a pod for moving from Chicago to Las Vegas a couple of years ago...the only thing I can really advise is to utilize the stabilizer holes attached to the walls...you can feed either a rope or clothesline across the pod after packing the front end. You can do this every couple of feet while filling to the front/back of the pod.
My friend had zero breakage/no shifting of the boxes due to this extra step.

You've gotten some good tips. I work for a storage facility which is also Oregon's largest independent Uhaul dealer. We rent the trucks, and also rent the Uboxes. (PODS).

When you talk about a moving van, are you talking about the semi trucks and trailers or a Uhaul/Budget/Penske truck?

Things to consider. The more your items are handled, the more opportunity for damage. After doing this job for the past nine and a half years, and being a trucker before that, I've learned that I would NEVER let my things go via the "big boys" aka, Allied, Mayflower, etc. To start with, unless you order (and PAY for) a "dedicated trailer" your things will be moved along with someone else's. Not only that, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen one of those trucks in a truck stop with someone's furniture and boxes out on the pavement while they transferred from one truck to another.

With a moving van (Uhaul, Penske, Budget, etc), you are looking at packing, loading the truck, driving to your destination, unloading into storage, and then when you find your home, loading back into a truck, driving to the new home, unloading and unpacking. Each of those steps has it's own potential for damage.

Choosing a POD or a Ubox (they're the same thing), you load the POD, they come get it, truck it to the location, store it, deliver it to your new home, and you unload it. Fewer steps, less potential for damages. It would be more expensive than a do-it-yourself with the Uhaul/storage/Uhaul/home, but IMO, would be worth it in the long run.

I can send you our company's packing/moving/storage tips if you'd like...PM me with your address. :)

I think Charlee gives you some good tips.

I've not used either system, but I had a good friend who recently moved. She used a POD, and the benefits I saw were that she was able to store a lot of stuff in the POD while her house was on the market, so she was able to present her house without clutter and valuables. Once the house sold, she packed the rest of her stuff, moved it, and was able to unpack the POD at her leisure, instead of cramming everything into her garage and unpacking everything in one day.

I used a pod for my last move and will use it again if I ever move again. My two favorite things were no lifting, you just walk onto the pod and being able to have it ahead of time so you can load the pod as you pack. Also with the pods, you can have them store it for as long as you need. So if you had a lot of things you don't need during the time you are renting, pods would store it and deliver it to your new home when you are ready for it. The only disadvantage I see is if you have a lot of stuff to move in which case it might be cheaper to use a mover or of course you could just rent two pods. They were very professional.

Good info to have!! Thanks so much Ladies. Now I am really wondering if bed bugs & other critters are really a problem? What about them getting into boxes that have soft goods in them? I don't even want to think about shrink wrapping everything!!!!:shock:

You might want to investigate other POD type companies as well. I read about the PODS being wood and a type of OSB board on the interior which can harbor bugs, cockroaches etc. OMG, my worst nightmare and I'm sure yours too. i believe "Pack Rat" and ABF Freight have those little pods that are all steel. Make sure that you disinfect it and spray with Home Defense by Ortho all over the interior before putting anything in there. I have always used a mover because I have no way to pack a pod by myself, or unpack, and put a NO INFESTATION clause in the contract before hiring them. Make them guarantee their truck is clean. But would consider using a pod type if they were cost effective.

I used them when I moved from Seattle to Fl. Great company to work with.

We used POD's when moving from Texas to Iowa. Did a lot of the packing and loading ourselves, but when it got to be too much we hired movers from a local company (like Two Guy's Will Move You) to help out. Had them pack my kitchen also. We had a three month delay before our new house was completed when we were living in our RV, so storage was necessary. We had 3 pods total, and were able to order when we wanted one delivered, load it, and have them take it away to storage. Then we'd have the next one delivered, and so on. Our pods were stored in their facility in Texas until we were ready for them. Then they were trucked to an Iowa storage facility, and again we were able to have them delivered one at a time. We kept track of what was in each pod, and unloaded what we needed the most first. Once again, we hired some local movers to move the big stuff into the house.

If we had hired a big truck moving company, they would have had to pack and load the truck, go to the storage facility and unload, and then reload and transport 3 months later. The storage and loading and reloading was going to cost a big bundle. With the pods and hiring movers for help with the heavy stuff and packing the kitchen items, it was way more cost effective than the big movers. And our belongings only had to be loaded and unloaded once. And we knew that only our belongings were in those pods. Way less chance of breakage (if you pack well) and loss with pods. One more thing, storage of pods is in an enclosed warehouse facility, so no worry of weather damaging anything.

I've heard many, many complaints about PODS regarding longish storage - mice damage, roach infestation were both common. I have no personal experience. Here's a link with complaints. I would NEVER work with this company.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/movers/pods.html

Wow, what horrible experiences these individuals encountered. No way would I allow anyone I know use them.

I feel like a professional mover myself, having moved over 35 times in my 31 years of marriage (husband is a builder!)
We have used everything, sans PODS for moving, from the nationals (NEVER again) to do it yourself - younger days!
Our latest move from Idaho to NC, we used ABF, and had good luck. We also saved a lot of $$ in the process. We did
all the packing ourselves, and as we were going into a rental also, had to double pack - one set of boxes for storage, one for using for 6 months. We separated the items in the garage - one section storage, one rental.

ABF drops off a trailer box at your residence (in the street) and leaves it for 3 days. We hired a local mover to take
the items from the garage and pack them in the ABF trailer rental stuff in first, then storage after. On the third day,
ABF came and picked up the trailer and drove it across country to our storage facility. There we hired a local mover
to unload and pack the storage unit. We then had a couple of days to load up the storage facility truck and take our
boxes to the rental house (ours was furnished, so we could do the boxes ourselves). You could always have the local
mover pack your local use truck and unload as well. Your choice.

We had good luck with moving this way, and would do it again (oh, please, no). It's no wonder I never get anything done!!

The quilt board ladies are the best with sharing great info!!! I visit other forums but no one is better than my quilters :thumbup:

Moved one year ago using one of the pod systems. I had a great experience. The tips about sealing the bedding and upholstered items is ALWAYS a good idea - but that won't protect your clothes from insects and mice. Perhaps purchase and pack repellant in each pod. We used Moth Balls and Flea Collars...(But I don't know what actually repels mice or insects??? try this link http://www.earth-kind.com/learn/mice...ners-or-scams/ )

Our things were in transit for only a short period of time and then in storage for just under 2 months. If I was going to do it again (and I was going to be living somewhere temporarily)... I'd pack "things I need now" in one pod and "things I'm going to leave in storage" in all the others.

don't be afraid of it. Just hire professionals to pack the pods (and even your boxes if you don't know how to do it correctly) - that's what we did. Quick delivery/pickup on both ends. Our things in storage were in great shape.

but be sure to check on the storage rates.... some include storage and some add large extra charges.... When moving and comparing your rates - it's not all "apples".... sometimes there are "oranges" too! (and a few nuts like me...;))

We used a pod when we moved from Tavares, FL, back to GA, a few years ago. It worked great. We needed to have the furniture in storage until the house was ready. It was kept in their climate-controlled warehouse. They dropped it off and we loaded it over several days at our own pace. Everything came through the move just fine and we were very pleased. Mt. Dora is the next town over from Tavares and we really loved that area. Good luck.

BTW, we put lots of mothballs in our boxes and some d-Con in the pod. We found no evidence of any pests.

This may sound way crazy, but was perfect for my folks when they moved from Minnesota to Arizona - dad found a cube van for sale - essentially a "LARGE UHAUL TRUCK" it was in good shape, reasonably priced. He bought it for whatever$$. Filled it and drove it to AZ, parked it in their driveway and unloaded it in their own time frame, which wasn't immediatly as they had carpeting and painting to do in the house once they got to AZ - so it may have been a couple months B/4 they emptied it - then dad sold it at a profit! That way other than the cost of gas, there was not much expense to the move for them.

Most moving companies offer some version of a "pods" or container that's dropped off, picked up and delivered. So you may be better served reaching out to a few movers and see if they offer it. Good idea also to compare to "regular" moving services where they do the lifting and loading for you. In my experience, the cost difference hasn't been that much, at least for shorter moves. This article https://threemovers.com/how-much-do-...st-for-moving/ has some info in regard to the costs, but you can get a more clear idea if you actually get a quote from movers (get a couple & compare).