Reliable Craigslist Movers
March 10, 2010 by admin
Filed under Moving Tips and Advice, Moving labor
One of the many questions that I get asked a lot is: “Are Craigslist movers reliable?” And the answer to that is simple. Some are and some aren’t. You have do your home work on all the movers you may hire no matter where you find them. And it doesn’t matter if you find through friends, Craigslist, Yellowpages, or on Google.
I made a quick video about reliable Craigslist movers; enjoy:
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Moving Systems
December 10, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moving Tips and Advice, Moving Truck Rental, Moving company rates, Moving labor
There are several moving systems.
Depending on your move the moving system that you should use will vary. I.e. a small local move will most likely best served by a do it yourself move; and a large long distance move may be bettered served by a full service mover or vanline.
The best way to determine what is best for you is to know what each kind of moving system there is and to ask a lot of questions.
I know that moving can be tough and stressful that is why I have this website and all these articles: I want to address every question that may come up and answer them. I am also very accessible via email or the telephone.
But this article is about the different moving systems out there. So lets get into them:
Do it yourself moving:
Quite obviously this kinda of speaks for itself.
This is the moving system you may use when you have a small local move.
moving yourself may not be viable to you – or even cheaper – if you have a larger move in town. However, if you have a 1 bedroom apartment (or even a small 2 bedroom) or smaller this may be a great option.
It is not uncommon to rent a U-Haul (or Penske, Budget or Ryder) moving truck, load it up with a bunch family and/or friends and move to your new place down the road.
This can be very cheap. But don’t kid yourself: moving yourself is the most stressful of all the moving systems out there. You have no insurance protections or any other fail-safes. Something goes wrong…and it is all on you.
Secondly, you must weigh in the hidden cost factors: Gas, Mileage (the real killer), Boxes, dollies and blankets, etc. These are all added to overall cost of the move if you can not or do not have way to provide them yourself.
That cheap do it yourself move may quickly become more expensive to do than if you hired a full service mover.
Moving Labor:
A moving labor moving system is more than just hiring a couple of guys off Craigslist or elsewhere to load and unload your moving truck or trailer. There is a bit more.
There are few different business models that I categorize under moving labor: There are the “you load, we drive” style of movers. The most famous of these types of moving labors are ABF and PODS.
What these companies do is bring you a trailer or shipping container and you have to load them yourself or hire the muscle to do it for you.
This can be very inexpensive to move your household goods very long distances, but they are too expensive really for the shorter, in state moves.
Again, there are not a lot of insurance protections for you here. If something is damaged or stolen (highly unlikely) then “oh well”. Not much you can do about it.
Moving labor also can go hand-in-hand with a do it yourself move. You rent a moving truck from a moving truck rental place and then hire laborers to load and unload your moving truck. This also goes with “you load, we drive” types.
But like I said there is far more risk in this type of moving than with your full service style movers.
But this can be very cheap if nothing goes wrong.
Full Service Moving:
These are companies like mine – U-Save Moving, Two men and Truck, All My Sons, Moishe’s, etc.
These companies, when hired, will do everything for you. They’ll box up your household, store your households possessions if needed, load and unload the trucks, and even assemble your furniture and place it in the right rooms for you. These companies are insured and licensed for your protection.
And best of all, they are there for you every step of the way.
Using a full service mover lessens the stress factor by a 1000x easy. Sure it can be expensive, but not in all cases.
Typically, a medium to large move locally will be cheaper with a full service mover than if you were to do it yourself believe it or not, PLUS you get the peace of mind knowing that you are insured.
Most of the movers are pillars of their communities. Being members of the BBB or Chamber of Commerce and other social and charitable organizations.
Reversely, there are a lot of scammers in this moving system. There are many that have a pick up and trailer and think they can become movers. So one really has to be on guard initially until they hire a licensed and insured full service mover.
A good rule of thumb in hiring a full service moving company is the amount of information that you can find out about the company and their principles. The more info you can find, typically, the better the company.
Just try it: Google me – Jae Burnham – or my company – U-Save Moving – and notice the amount of information there is about me and this company. I am all over the place. I am on Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, Flickr. I have listings with every major search engines. I am in the Yellowpages and Yellowbook. I am not hiding.
Any company that little to no information easily accessible should NOT be used.
Vanliners:
When moving across the country this moving system may be most affordable option for you. I would not recommend them for local or even across the state moves.
The most notable vanliners are Mayflower, Allied, United and if you have to, Bekins (voted one of the worst by J.D. Powers and Associates.)
The problem with this type of moving system is that it takes far longer for your possessions to reach your destination than if you were to use a full service mover.
Where typically a full service movers can deliver your possessions in a day or two, vanliners will take a week or two to deliver your goods.
Another negative point is that your possessions may be unloaded and reloaded a couple of times, adding to the chance that your stuff is lost, damaged or even stolen.
However, rarely will you find a vanliner that is not insured and licensed.
These companies usually are usually very bureaucratic. Meaning if there is an issue with something lost, damaged or stolen it is very hard to reach someone that can make a decision and give you satisfaction with your claims. There is a lot of red tape and hoops to jump through and many just give up.
However, for the most part, many of these moves are smooth and problem free.
So you can see there are many moving systems and each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. Not all moving systems will be right for you. You need to know what each moving system is and how it could benefit you personally.
Choosing a moving solely based off the cheapest usually ends in disaster and will leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Asking questions and studying the industry will give you a basic education and allow you to make educated choices for which moving system is for you.
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Do It Yourself Moving
November 26, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moving Tips and Advice, Moving Truck Rental, Moving company rates, Moving labor
In today’s economy many of you are turning to do it yourself moving. You are looking at your alternatives in saving money because you don’t want to pay a full service mover to move you: And truthfully no one can really blame you. However, there are certain truths about do it yourself moving that may sway to using a full service mover instead of doing it yourself.
When looking at do it yourself moving you need to look at the costs of it. Now don’t get me wrong; you can save yourself a lot of money by moving yourself, but you also have to figure in the hidden costs of moving yourself versus paying a full service mover.
Moving Truck Rentals:
Renting a moving truck for your move requires a bit of planning. I have written reviews on the moving trucks that you could rent for your move. U-Haul, Penske, Budget, Ryder and even Enterprise all rent moving trucks, but I don’t recommend them all for certain moves.
For instance, for your local, in-town moves U-Haul will give you the best service and rates, but Penske and Budget are better for your longer and larger moves going across the state.
Now for your out of state moves I recommend either Budget or Ryder. Penske is also a good choice but they are a little more expensive. Ryder is great if you can bring the truck back to the original location. Ryder does not do one-way rentals. Budget and Penske do.
You can expect about 10 to 12 miles per gallon of fuel. This is true for U-Haul, Penske, Budget, Ryder and Enterprise. However, realize the newer trucks that you would rent from Budget, Penske and Ryder may actually get up to 15 mpg.
Rental rates are all pretty much the same as well ranging from $20 for the smaller trucks to $60 for the larger trucks per day. One way rental rates will be determined by availability and distance. Moving from Michigan to California may cost about $1000 during the winter months, but may cost about $1800 during the busier summer months.
And finally, don’t forget about the mileage costs. U-Haul is always the most expensive. You will pay about $.79 to $.99 per mile, while with Budget, Penske and Ryder you can haggle them down to $.11 and $.12/mile. The more miles the more it will cost.
Of course you have to return the moving trucks back with the same amount of fuel as you had when you left.
Moving Help:
In do it yourself moving you are going to need moving labor to load and unload your truck. Whether it is you personally, friends and family, or hire help you are going to need people to help with the loading and unloading.
Doing it yourself is always be free. However, this will add a lot of time to the the rental. I have heard of it talking as much as a week to load a moving truck. The more help you have the better (and faster) it is.
You may not have to pay your family and friends with real dollars, but it will cost your something e.g. food, beer, etc.
But understand, when you have family and friends loading and unloading the moving truck, they are not professional movers so the loading and unloading will not be great, and the chance of damage to your possessions are far greater.
If you don’t have access to family and friends then you may have to hire professionals. Typically you will have to pay about $40/hr for two men and most moves take about 3 to 4 hours for loading and unloading together. You can expect to pay about $200 in labor when it is all said and done.
You can find good labor with either Hire-A-Helper.com or MovingHelper.com. These laborers are all rated so you know before you hire them if they are good and reputable right from the start.
Or you could go to Craigslist and hire moving help from there. While you may hire good reputable moving help from here, it will be less reliable then the above places.
When hiring off Craigslist look for ads that are professional in appearance and structure. The more time they have put into an ad the more likely they are a good moving company.
At the very least they should include their name, phone number and an email address. If the ad doesn’t have at least those three things in it move on…it is usually a scammer.
Finally, who will drive the moving truck rental for you. You or somebody else. If you don’t have a lot of experience driving large trucks then you should have somebody that does do the driving. Driving through a big city or mountains can be tricky if you don’t have the experience. Of course by sticking to the freeways you will be mostly okay.
Now lets do the math for a typical move and see how the figures add up with a do it yourself move or hiring full service move.
In our example lets move you from Lansing, MI to Detroit. Fairly typical. Lets figure out the the do it yourself move first (this moves is for a 3 bedroom house):
Rental truck: $40/day
insurance: $15
Gas: $83
Mileage: $148.5 (150 mi @.99/mi)
Labor: $200 (hired laborers)
Misc: $30
Total: $433
Of course this may not be your move. Maybe you are just in town, or you are moving out of state. And in those cases the figures would be different obviously. But the idea is still the same.
Full Service Movers:
Full service movers are movers that will do the job, start to finish, themselves. They bring everything to the move and do it all. You can sit back and relax watching the football game while they slave.
Typically you can expect movers to charge between $70 to $95/hour for two movers. And for three movers between $90 and $120/hour.
In towns moves these hourly rates are typical. However for moves that are 40 miles or more some movers will follow a tariff. Some won’t depending if they belong to the Movers Association for their state or not. So in those cases you could pay about $1500 for move from Lansing to Detroit may be more depending on the time of year.
But in all cases these rates include the truck, men, dollies, blankets, straps, tools, plastic, insurance, fuel, etc.
So lets take the same example above and compare it to a do it yourself move:
Service: $425 ($85/hr for 5 hours) (not a Movers Association move)
Movers Assoc move: $1500
So based on the above you can see by hiring a full service mover you could actually have a cheaper move than by doing it yourself for this situation.
Do it yourself moving is only cheaper if you are doing an in-town move. You larger and longer moves you will actually save money by using a full service mover.
So before you go a rent that U-Haul call up some full service movers and compare. You’ll get a lot better service with full service movers then by doing it yourself…that is for sure.
Do it yourself moving is an option, but don’t forget to look at all your options first.
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Where To Find And Get Moving Labor Services
April 5, 2009 by jburnham
Filed under Moving labor
As opposed to full service moving companies, moving labor services can provide a high quality and inexpensive alternative to moving.
What are moving labor services:
Moving labor services are individuals and/or moving labor companies that provide labor for your moving needs. They are different from traditional full service moving companies because they do not provide a truck in which to transport your possessions.
Simply put: they are there just for the grunt work of the move. They can and will drive the moving truck that you provide, and they can and will pack/unpack your belongings as well. Nor are these types of moving providers licensed and insured like traditional full service or long distance moving companies.
Moving labor providers can preform much of what other moving companies can perform. They can do the following:
- Packing/unpacking
- loading/unloading
- assembly/reassembly
- blanketing and wrapping furniture
They can handle everything that other moving companies can. They have many similarities in how they operate and bill customers. You’ll find services very comparable with only one slight difference. Because these moving helpers do not provide the truck their hourly and/or flat rate fees are much lower, thereby giving you a much needed break in the pocketbook.
Where you can find and hire moving labor services:
There are typically for major places that you can find these moving helpers:
These are the best sources for find moving labor services. I’ll briefly go each one so that you know what you can expect from each.
Craigslist: Most of the moving labor providers list their services here. It is cheap but very effective. Many of you probably have already looked here in your search for moving help. However, too many moving scammers also list their “services” here, so you need to be on the lookout when using this resource.
Yellowpages: Great source for finding reliable and trustworthy moving labor services. However, few moving labor helpers have any kind of presence here. You may have to long and hard to find a company like this there.
Movinghelper.com: The moving truck rental company UHual owns and runs this service. Basically this is a directory of moving labor providers. The cool thing about this resource is that the moving help is customer rated, so you can “kick the tires” as they say. You can also pick and chose which moving help providers you want by price and/or reputation.
Hireahelper.com: Is exactly like movinghelper.com except that you not only find moving helpers there but you can get excellent day labor, housecleaning help and landscaping help as well. All the helpers that are listed in this directory are also customer rated so know in advance there person reputation.
Beware of the moving and labor broker scams:
There are many companies out there that have look and feel movinghelper.com and hireahelper.com. These companies have one major difference: They do not allow you to see the performance of these moving labor providers. So you may get a good company, or most likely, get a very bad company.
I would stay away from any moving labor services that will not let you see the moving help providers reputation in advance. You will not have any control if you these labor brokers.
Helpful articles that will help with your moving decision:
I have written quite a lot on the moving industry in this website/blog. You could spends hours, if not days going through all the information that I provide. So I decided to help you. Below is a listing of articles that I have written that will help you with you moving help.
Moving and Labor Broker Scam on Craigslist
Qualities A Moving Company Should Have
How Moving Truck Rentals Can Be A Cheap Moving Option
Moving Helpers Can Be A Real Help Moving
I hope that you have enjoyed this post. If you have then please do me the honor of clicking on the “thumbs up” button at the top right of this site and voting for me.
And if you have enjoyed this post, please be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed also at the top of this website to get and read further articles about the moving industry.
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Moving Helpers Can Be A Real Help Moving
April 1, 2009 by jburnham
Filed under Moving labor
How You Can Hire Cheap Moving Helpers For your Move And Get As Good Or Better Service Than Full Service Movers.
Many people know that renting a moving truck can be a very inexpensive option to hiring a full service moving company. But many people don’t know that they can hire very reputable moving helpers (and sometimes women) to load and unload their moving truck for very cheap.
Lets say that you have a 2 bedroom apartment to move 10 miles. If you were to hire a full service mover you could expect to pay about $85/hr for a two man crew. The move would be roughly three hours time, plus there would most likely be a small travel charge of $50 to $75 and the billing would begin when the movers left their shop until they returned. Lets say they are about 15 minutes away. Okay…now do the math: 3 hours to do the move @ $85/hr = $255 + $50 travel fee = $305 + time to and from the shop @ 15min ea. (15 x 2 =30. $85/2 = $42.5) = $347.50.
$347.50 to move your 2 bedroom apartment 10 miles.
Now lets take a look at how much hiring good moving helpers is: Truck rental from U-hual for a 17′ truck = 39.95/day + mileage of approx. $.79/mile and you will probably travel about 30 miles total (30mi x .79 = $23.7) = $63.65 + gas to refuel the truck (approx. $10) = $73.65. You can hire a 2 man moving helper crew on average of $45/hr (3hr move)+ $50 travel fee = $185 + truck fee = $258.65.
$258.65 for renting a moving truck and hiring good, reputable moving helpers. That’s a savings of $88.85. Almost a $100 in savings by hiring reputable moving helpers.
And you would get as good or even better service. There are places where you can hire this labor where these helpers are customer rated.
Where you can find a hire these moving helpers:
There are only really two sources for good reputable moving helpers. They are movinghelper.com and hireahelper.com. Only thee two source have customer rated moving help. The other sources broker out the moving help so you never know who you may get.
Of course there is always Craigslist. Many of the moving helpers (not the actual moving companies) listed there I wouldn’t give a second glance. Hiring moving helpers there is like playing the lottery. If you do hire moving helpers from Craigslist make sure you follow all my advice on this website.
I hope that this helped. Good luck with your moves. I hope to maybe hear from you. If you liked this article please bookmark it by clicking on the “thumbs up” button at the top of the page.
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How Moving Truck Rentals Can Be A Cheap Moving Option
March 29, 2009 by jburnham
Filed under Moving Truck Rental, Moving labor
In my moving business I often rent moving trucks as opposed to using my own fleet. The reason is simple: It is cheaper to rent a moving truck from the closest city where I am moving someone to or from.
I cover a lot of ground in my state of Michigan. It is just not economical for me or for my customers to drive my trucks to a move that may be up to 100 miles or more, so I rent a truck from that area instead.
So as a result I know a lot about renting moving trucks, and I can confidently recommend which moving truck rental places would be preferable with different situations.
So, whether you rent from Uhual, Penske, Budget, Ryder or even Enterprise I have the info that you can use to pick the right moving truck rentals for you.
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Moving and Labor Broker Scam on Craigslist
March 26, 2009 by jburnham
Filed under Moving labor, Moving scams
Try as they might, the truth of the Moving and Labor Broker Scam on Craigslist will be heard!
CONSUMERS RED ALERT
Don’t think every nice sounding post on Craigslist is from a reputable moving company or individual professional laborer.
Chances are 90% of the time they are not. But don’t worry, I’m here to help you look at this scam more closely.
The scam is called “The Moving Broker Scam” and now “The Labor Broker Scam” and it is the biggest fastest UNREPORTED cash trap that leaves many “Brokers” making the fast buck and for most consumers and individuals developing their own career professions, absolutely ripped off.
The ad may pose themselves as a an individual moving company or a an individual that specializes in a particular labor profession, but in reality is not.
The moving company and laborer in reality are all owned by the same Brokers and their people, that dupes consumers and individual professionals by pretending they are contacting a real business.
The reality is they are Brokers, and are a group of people masking themselves as a business hustlin’ for the fast cash.
Most of the time you can’t find a physical address and if a problem arises they are nowhere to be found.
Their price offer may sound sweet to the consumer and the offer of a large amount of jobs to you as a developing career professional may be filled with promise, but it will end up sour and you will get what you pay for. If the offer sounds too good to be true, then you are right. Its a ripoff. Its a scam.
If you unknowingly associated yourself either as a consumer or an individual career professional with any of these brokers simply walk away and consider yourself fortunate that your time and money has not been terribly wasted.
As a consumer, always, always, INVESTIGATE, RESEARCH and GO WITH WORD OF MOUTH when finding a mover or a labor professional.
As an individual career professional, be the brightest star in your field with long term credibility, have a VERIFIABLE name and physical address. In the long term, your company and services will always speak for themselves.Your reputation ALWAYS precedes you.
P.S.
Request to Craigslist that this new information be included and retitled as BEFORE HIRING A MOVER/LABORER.
For additional resources Google “Moving Broker Scam”, “Moving Labor Scam”, “Labor Broker Scam” etc…
You will find many articles on this scam such as these:
Craigslist Mover Scams
Hiring a Moving Broker Could Leave You Broke
Beware the Moving Brokers: They Could Leave You Broke
RIPOFF REPORT:
Report: Moving Labor Services
Beware of the Big Bad Moving Broker
Moving Labor Brokers Fraudulent, a scam operation, never provided services Miami Florida
Your Best Moving Company and Labor Professional is out there. Just be patient and thorough.
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Hire-a-Helper Scam: Fact or Fiction
December 31, 2008 by jburnham
Filed under Moving labor, Moving scams
I can’t believe the number of people that come to my website because they were asking about Hire-a-helper website scams. Inevitably they are confused as to what Hire-a-helper is and isn’t. And what they are really looking for is information on moving companies using moving brokerages. Lets actually see if we can sort this out so that the confusion is eradicated.
Hire-a-helper is an actual company that has listings of people that will do various jobs around the house for you. One of those services is moving. But they also list Lawn help, Cleaning and Day labor services as well.
How hire-a-helper works is simple. Someone like myself is a mover (or any of the above service providers). We sign up with Hire-a-helper for free. Hire-a-helper will then advertise the services mentioned above on the internet and other places. You find the company. Then you go through the listings noting the individuals that provide those services.
You chose which provider you are going to use. You do this by looking at the customer reviews that each provider has on them with the hire-a-helper service. You can also see how much each of the providers will charge for those services. All the service providers charge a different amount so you can pick the best one based cost and customer reviews.
Some of these providers may be actual companies and many have proper licensing and insurance, others do not. You are free to do your own research and pick the right one for you. Then you pay Hire-a-helper using a credit card. Hire-a-helper will then give you a coded number which you will give to the provider when he has done the contracted job satisfactorily. If the provider is bad you can withhold the payment code and the provider will not then get paid.
Based I what I just described to you above, you cannot be scammed using Hire-a-helper.
Now moving brokerage companies are a whole other matter. What this is a website. A website like 123Moving.com. You enter in your information about your move. You will then get a call from the brokerage and they will sell you a bill of goods (no pun intended) and making all sorts of promises. However, they are NOT the moving company and sometimes the moving companies that brokerages hire are not all that ethical or reliable. Or the brokerages make promises that the moving companies cannot keep.
Needless to say you then have a bad moving experience which you will then chalk up to being scammed. Honestly, the moving brokerages have a horrible reputation, and should NEVER be used. You should either use Hire-a-Helper or call a moving company up directly and do your research on them yourself.
So I hope that this little article has helped you understand the hire a helper scam a bit more. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of this article and let me know what else I can write about to more infomr you about moving.
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Cheap Moving Labor FAQs
December 18, 2008 by jburnham
Filed under Moving labor
Many people are moving somewhere, but many of those people cannot afford full service moving companies that can charge up to $130/hr. Your only solution, besides doing it yourself, is to hire cheap moving labor.
The FAQs:
What is cheap moving labor?
These guys are hired guns only. They are hired muscle. They can only load or unload a POD, trailer or truck. They cannot move you from one city to another, they cannot move you across country. These guys can be very good and helpful.
How does cheap moving labor work?
You need to rent a truck like Uhual, Penske or Budget, or you can hire POD or a “you load/we drive” company like ABF. You’ll then call up the moving labor company to come out an either load or unload your rental.
How much do they charge?
That will differ from company to company. Usually the market dictates what they will charge. But expect to pay them a fair hourly wage plus some travel time.
Where can I find cheap moving labor?
I find that rarely they will advertise in the Yellowpages or some other reputable media venue. Occasionally I will see a moving labor company advertise in a newspaper. Where you will find these types of companies is on the internet, and heavily on Craigslist. Another way to find them is to ask your family and friends for referrals. Also you will flyers on bulletin boards throughout your city occasionally. Below I have links you can go to to hire cheap moving labor from reputable companies.
Will move companies provide cheap moving labor?
Some will; some won’t. My company does. But I know of a great moving company that will not. They will only do the full moves. Only one way to be sure: Call them up and ask.
Are cheap moving labor companies insured and licensed?
The short answer: No. The long answer is that moving labor companies can get insurance for their companies similar to that of other professional home service companies like landscaping, cleaning maids and the like. But there is no insurance or bonding that I know specifically tailored to moving labor companies. So if they say they are insured and bonded request that you see their policy first before you hire them.
Are cheap moving labor companies regulated by the government like moving companies?
No No No. You have to do your own research on these guys. It is a buyer beware situation when you use this as a solution. I have only found one company that is registered with the BBB. However, the good news is that there are cheap moving labor broker companies that have customer rated lab0rs for you to hire. Below is a list of the best that I have found. Some of these internet broker companies are even claim to be licensed and insured.
Cheap Moving Labor Providers:
This company provides more than just moving labor. You can also find landscapers, cleaning maids, etc. All of the laborers are customer rated. You can hire these guys over the internet with a credit card. You don’t have to pay the laborers at all, they get paid by HireAHelper. Do expect to pay a 2 hour minimum for this service.
Movinglaborbrokers.com/movinglaborprofessionals.com
This company only provides moving labor. There is a 4 hour minimum requirement for this service. You can pay by credit card with the labor provider but only for the downpayment. These rest will be provided to the laborers themselves. The laborers may not be able to accept credit cards so be ready with cash or a check. This company says that they are licensed and insured. You cannot choose the laborers nor can you rate the laborers after the job is done.
This company also only provides moving labor services. They do have a customer hotline whioch you can use if there is any question. You can’t choose your laborers nor can you rate their service. Like the company above you pay a downpayment via credit card and the rest of the fee to the laborers. Be prepared with cash or check if they can’t accept credit cards. There is a 4 hour minimum charge.
This company is owned and operated by Uhaul. All their laborers are customer rated. Also the laborers maybe actual full service moving companies so some of these laborers maybe licensed and insured. There is a 2 hour minimum charge and the full fee is charged by credit card to emove.com. You do not pay the laborers at all except maybe a tip. There is a customer service hotline, but it is not a very good and often misquote and mishandle calls. My suggestion is to choose actual full service moving companies off this list and ask them any questions you have. Emove just takes the money and then leaves you hanging.