Moving Companies - Weight of your shipment

Weight can be an important factor when you are moving just across town, or across the country. The weight of your load, the total weight of the contents of your home, can come out to be much higher than you ever thought. The weight of a shipment is the basis for fees that moving companies will charge. To help you understand this process a little more, we are going to help you with a little insight into weights and how they are determined.


Often times moving companies will have a minimum weight that you will be charged when you use their services. For example, if you are moving twenty boxes of pillows, you are going to be charged for a minimum of 1,000 pounds, so you might as well ship four couches along with those twenty boxes of pillows. What is meant by the example is that moving companies have minimums just like every other trucking service.


If you have more than the minimum you will be charged accordingly but you should be aware of what the moving companies minimum is in case you have a small amount of contents that does require moving. Check with the moving company you are considering using so you know what their minimum weights are compared to how much you might be shipping or moving.


Moving companies are required by law to tell you about minimum charges if you have a small order that you are shipping that falls below what their minimum charges and weights are. Be sure to listen closely when you are talking or reading about a company you want to have move you.


Some moving companies will base their services on miles, hours or space. If you are worried about weight, ask the moving company to provide before and after truck weights with and without your contents on the truck so you know how much your items really weigh. If you are billed on hours and miles, you know how many miles you traveled from one location to the next so this can be easily checked. You can even check miles before going to the new location by using any of the map services and putting the two addresses in, this will be a very close gauge on the mileage for your move.


When you are having items loaded on the truck, count the number of items. On a weigh sheet, your moving company may list every item, every box individually so knowing the amount of items or number of boxes that you have when you are being charged on individual weights.


Agreed pick up and delivery dates should be in writing. If there are any changes to what is written you should get a change order in hand. Perhaps the truck broken down, get an order from the company faxed to you so you have record of why it is late. Or perhaps you wanted pick up on a Tuesday but the company called and can't make it until Saturday. Get it in writing as to the reason, and include a new binding estimate that matches those dates for your best protection when using a moving company.

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