Moving pods

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be doing a major move in January and was considering one of those moving pods. I've seen people post about it in the past, so I thought enough people on the livejournal might have an opinion about:

1. Which company is good/terrible.

2. How to go about getting a permit to park the pod on my street.

3. Any other thoughts, tips, things I wouldn't have thought of....

Comments

[arinamay.livejournal.com]

1. I used UPack (they have "Relocubes" which are smaller than normal PODS) and they were ok. They were a little late on the drop off and pick up of the Relocbue on both ends.

2. It was very easy to get a permit. I just went to the Somerville parking office, filled out a form, wrote a check, and had my nice big permit to tape to the pod. The only potential problem was street cleaning - obviously you can't have a pod on the street during street cleaning. Not having a car, this never occurred to me!

3. I really liked the size of the Relocube. I was moving a lot of furniture (table, bed, desk, book case, multiple chairs, night stand, end table, etc.) as well as boxes and boxes of my stuff. It all fit! I could have easily fit a couch in there as well, tipped on its end. It was easier to find a place to put the smaller Relocube at my new place - a POD would have been more difficult. But if you have more than a one-bedroom apartment's worth of stuff to move, a Relocube would be too small.

Unlike the pricier companies, the UPack trucks don't always keep the pod level when putting it on or taking it off the truck. I kept this in mind while packing and none of my things were broken, although everything did shift in transit. Also, tying things down can be very helpful to reduce shifting during transit. I just used twine, although something a bit more durable probably would have been better.

When you pack, think vertical. Go to the back of the pod (or to one side) and pack things to the top, then pack the next layer out to the top, etc.