If you're hiring a company to ship, make sure they ship using a moving company. I had a company use a freight carrier to ship my stuff with not so bad results, but was told by the driver that I probably overpaid for the care taken.
-avoid U-Haul as they don't maintain their trucks in top condition. Penske and others tend to be better at customer service and maintenance.

U-Haul is a nightmare-I will never do that again-one time moving cross country, the truck broke down in nowhere Texas and we were stuck for a day while they had to bring in another truck...I pass by U-Hauls on the interstate and say a prayer for the poor people driving it.
This last move I hired movers, and although they were a day late and more thna their initial quote (though not a horrible amount more) I would hire movers again just for the sheer fact that I didn't have to carry a dang thing. Worth the money.

Nothing says moving like 6 man friends showing up with a truck, loading up said truck, and moving everything into the new place in about an hour. It helps that I compliment them on their incredible manliness, give them a case of Corona and promise them copious amounts of digital cable.

It really is a sight to behold though. Especially when there's some little bookcase that it takes all of my weight to shift and then one of them comes along and picks it up....with one arm! I love men.

On a side note, I've been party to no less than 4 moves already this year and I agree that U-haul trucks are very, shall we say, basic.

I 3rd Uhaul trucks avoidance.

no pointers otherwise, but a story.

At the beginning of college, my then-girlfriend transferred from FSU to UCF...she rented a big Uhaul, her mom drove it 2.5 hours blablabla...

then we got to her new place: she lived on the 3rd floor of a renovated motel, the kind with exterior balcony-esque hallways. After carrying a couple of boxes up, we realized how difficult it was gonna be to carry furniture etc up those thin stairs and down the thin hallway (mind you, it's me, my dainty then-girlfriend, and her mom).

low and behold, a couple of de-construction guys are demolishing some stuff a couple of bldgs away. They have this awesome lift thing that is big enough to fit a car.

then-girlfriend proceeds to ask them for a little help...they drive their machine to the grassy area directly below her apartment door...we move the uhaul to the same general area...they help us load up the lift...2 vertical trips and about 15 minutes later, all of her stuff is in her apartment.

and the moral of the story is, cute girls are good at getting help moving...I guess that would also be my pointer, too... ;-)

i have moved across the country five times. montana to st.louis, st. louis to san francisco, san francisco to alburquerque, alburquerque to boston, and boston to montana. had movers two of the times and both times took it in the ass. thousands of dollors over intial quote both times. the other times i sold all the shit that didn't matter to me and put everything else in a u-haul trailer. that route seemed to work alot better and i narrowed down the amount of "stuff" i have. granted i didn't really have any furniture for about a year in boston, but it made that $1200 a month one bedroom feel a lot bigger.

ever since the deregulation movement and the abolishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission (started in 1980 and finally killed the ICC in 1994), this business is largely unregulated. The fact that they cross state lines make you pretty vulnerable with little recourse.
I would not use moving companies - period. You're just setting yourself up for some serious heartache.

penske and budget have nicer trucks than u-haul and their prices are usually nicer too. having moved long distance a couple times myself, i'd second the idea of selling/giving away just about everything you own and starting over in the new place. you end up paying more to lug your stuff around than it's worth.

I just recently moved to NYC from Kansas and I packed up my essentials in UPS boxes and sold/left at my parents house the rest, and flew to NYC and waited for my boxes to arrive. For me I didn't have enough stuff to warrant a U-Haul, so I am in the process of buying new stuff.

wow this thread is perfect....

I just got a quote from the movers. I'm moving across canada from west coast to Toronto, have barely a 1 BR appt's worth of stuff and the mover came it at $4G's! Is that rediculous?
I'm considering UHaul or just starting over as said above. The only thing is I designed/built my desk/table and bed and love them both dearly.
Would you guys/gals spend the $1500 to rent a truck and take the loved items across country or put em on craig's list and ship the clothing etc. out there and start over with the furniture?

Spamming an 8-1/2 year old post, classic.

LOL, Miles, I know. Classic.