Although do-it-yourself moving and moving help may be gaining awareness throughout the country we have found that many people still have trouble organizing a small move. The most common problem we hear from customers is their inability to move and ship a single item or a small number of items outside of their local area. Full-service moving companies generally will not quote such a small move and many of the do-it-yourself moving options simply are not affordable after factoring in the price of fuel and all associated costs. Believe it or not, if you need to move a small number of items or even a single item you do have affordable shipping options available to you.
Single Item or Very Small Moves
In 2004 a website was started that solved a logistical issue for eBay users who required their purchases to be shipped. Although many common items are small enough to ship by traditional methods like UPS and USPS, larger items like furniture, boats, and automobiles could not be shipped in an affordable way.
Along came uShip which changed the shipping and delivery game by allowing truck drivers and trucking companies to bid on shipments along their routes. From the perspective of the buyer (also called a "shipper"), it allowed an affordable way to move single items as well as larger items that traditionally cannot be shipped via UPS. From the perspective of the trucking company, it created additional revenue that boosted the bottom line and offset fuel costs. Today uShip
is a respected marketplace that pairs over 200,000 shipping and delivery companies with customers all over the country.
Minimal Items & Small Moves
For people with more than one or two items but less than a small household move you may find yourself in a similar situation as described above. The cost of renting a truck and fuel may be far too much for your minimal needs, but there are options available. One viable relocation option for any do-it-yourself move is to use a freight moving company. For many of our customers, this service is often used for larger household moves, however, it is available for small moves as well. The most popular and widely used freight moving company is ABF U-Pack. U-Pack has a very reasonable minimum of 4 feet of space, which would work very well for someone that needs to ship more than a single item, but less than a typical household move. This minimum amount of space is likely the most affordable option for multiple item small moves when compared to the cost of DIY moving.