My wife and I are going to be moving from Waco, Texas to Providence,
Rhode Island this summer.  My question is: what is the cheapest way to move our
stuff?
Details:
1. We'll be moving from U.S. zipcode 76712 to 02906.
2. I have only a vague idea of how much stuff we have.  We have a
two-bedroom apartment in Texas, but most of the furniture isn't worth
moving.  I'm guess it would be around a thousand pounds.  If it's not
too inconvient, a quote for 2000 pounds would be nice, but I can't
imagine us having that much.
3. The methods I'd like you to consider are: A. Professional movers B.
U-Haul type companies C. Container shipment companies (Example:
http://www.pods.com/ They don't serve texas unfortunately) D. Any
fourth option you can think of would be wonderful.
4. I'll be here to offer clarifications, and if you feel that the
amount of work you do is not comensurate with the initial value of the
question, tell me, and I'll take that into account in the tip.

Hello capaneus-ga!

Moving is definitely a stressful event so I hope that I can help you
with some of the planning. We used two different services for our two
moves and had good experiences with each of them so ultimately there
is no one right way to go. Research is the key, so I hope what I?ve
found can go a long way to giving you a great head start.


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PROFESSIONAL MOVING COMPANIES

I looked into a couple of companies that service your area and provide
online estimates. One interesting thing that I found on the Wheaton
World Wide Moving web site is:

?The price is based on the Household Goods Commercial Tariff. All
interstate moving companies must adhere to the rates in the tariff,
although most will offer some type of discount, based upon various
criteria of your move. For example, large moves will likely receive a
larger discount than smaller moves. And moves scheduled during peak
periods (usually the end and beginning of the summer months) will not
be as highly discounted as those which occur during the off-season.?
http://www.wheatonworldwide.com/costs/index.htm

This may explain why the two companies I found offered the exact same
estimate for your move.


Allied Van Lines is a full-service professional moving company that is
available for your move from Waco to Providence. Assuming a Summer
2006 move with about 2000 lb in cargo, their estimate was
$1,750-2,370. You can provide contact information on their website and
an agent will contact you to discuss specifics. They can then provide
you with a narrower estimate of the cost of your move.
http://us.allied.com/DesktopDefault.aspx


North American Van Lines is another full-service professional moving
company with service in your area. With the same assumptions (Summer
2006, 2000 lb) I received an identical estimate of $1,750-2,370 for
your move. Again, if you provide them with personal contact
information you can receive a narrower estimate for your specific
needs.
http://www.navl.com/


United Van Lines is one more full-service professional moving company
that services your area. They did not have an online estimate service,
but if you enter personal information a local agent will contact you
with information. I suspect that because of the tariff issues
mentioned above, you will receive an estimate similar to the others
I?ve provided.
http://www.unitedvanlines.com/mover/


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DO-IT-YOURSELF

U-haul is probably the most recognizable outfit, but not the only one
available. We used it ourselves for our first move. We, too, were
moving from a small apartment with very little furniture and it suited
us quite well. They have a nice site for rates and reservations and
you can get an online quote there. Of course, they will try to get you
to rent a dolly and furniture pads, in addition to trying to sell you
packing supplies. I ran the quote for your particular move and got the
following information. The base rate is for truck or trailer only,
before taxes and other supplies.

10-foot truck, appropriate for an ?apartment,? 393 cubic feet, $680
14-foot truck, appropriate for a 1-2 bedroom house, 669 cubic feet, $687
17-foot truck, appropriate for a 2-3 bedroom house, 849 cubic feet,
$716 (probably big for your purposes)

6-foot by 12-foot trailer, about 400 cubic feet, $287
This would require a vehicle that could haul the trailer. U-haul does
sell and install hitches if you require it. We ultimately opted for
this trailer and were happy with it.

http://reservations.uhaul.com/(32ggpr551ulc3c451hankp45)/Default.aspx?refer=uhaulcom



Budget Truck Rental is another do-it-yourself company providing
one-way moves between Waco and Providence. They weren?t quite as cheap
as U-haul initially and didn?t have a trailer option available.
Depending on your needs they may be an appropriate choice, however.

10-foot truck, appropriate for an apartment, or 1-2 rooms, 380 cubic feet, $941
16-foot truck, appropriate for a 1-2 bedroom house, 800 cubic feet, $976

http://www.budgettruck.com/reservation/default.asp?partnerid=65


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PORTABLE STORAGE CONTAINERS

It was quite difficult to find a company similar to PODS that offers
portable storage containers not only for storage, but for moving as
well. Box Trotters bills themselves as the ?original? portable storage
company. Their sister site, ContainerRentals.com offers moving from
Waco to Providence, but rates are not available on their website. In
order to do that you will need to provide an email address where they
can contact you with the rate.
http://www.containerrental.com/


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YOU PACK IT, THEY MOVE IT

Another option for you is ABF/U-pack. We used them for our
cross-country move and were generally pleased with the services they
provide. ABF is a freight company that will allow you to pack one of
their trailers for your own personal move. They drop off a trailer at
your house for 2 days and you pack your belonging onto it. You
partition off your load and a professional driver comes and picks up
the trailer. You pay by the linear foot that you use, and ABF packs
the rest of the trailer with a shipment going to your general area.
The trailer is dropped off at your destination and you have up to 2
days to unload it. It is sort of a hybrid of a do-it-yourself company
and a professional mover. You have the freedom to pack things as you
would like, and then let a professional drive it. The best of both
worlds!

Their quote system also requires that you provide an email address, so
you will have to check into them yourself, but I remember that they
were quite competitive with the do-it-yourself companies, especially
when you consider that with ABF/U-pack you don?t pay extra for gas and
tolls. There is also a place to provide a competitive quote so they
can try to keep it in the same range to get your business.
http://www.upack.com/default.asp#


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I know moving can be a stressful time so I hope that the information
I?ve provided is helpful to you. If you have need of any clarification
please let me know how I can help. Oh, and one other thing?I grew up
outside of Providence, so I know the area pretty well. For a relaxing
time and beautiful scenery, I highly recommend visiting Newport, R.I.
Also, while you?re unpacking and moving in, make sure that you get
yourselves lunch from D?Angelo?s. (You can find a restaurant locator,
menu, and coupon at their site, www.dangelos.com.) You?ll wonder why
you ever ate a sandwich from Subway! Good luck with your move!

Sincerely,
Boquinha-ga


Search strategy:

Online search
Personal experience


Search terms:

Professional movers
Related:www.pods.com
Portable storage container

I've found that renting a uHaul and hiring labor from eMove has been
the cheapest way to move.  That said, driving a uHaul for several
hours isn't very comfortable and the stress of moving yourself and
navigating a large vehicle in unfamiliar places just doesn't seem
worth it to me.  For a little extra, I now leave it to the pros.

You may want to try <a href='http://www.movescope.com'
target='_blank'>Movescope.com</a>...you can describe your move, post
it, and have small to medium-sized movers bid for the work.  It's free
- for movers too - and you may get more affordable quotes than from
the large van lines.  On Movescope, you pay the movers directly -
usually upon delivery - and you won't need your credit card on the
site.

There's also <a href='http://www.uship.com'
target='_blank'>uShip.com</a> - they're also pretty good.  With uShip,
you pay up-front and they charge movers around 8%...I'm not sure if
that leads to more expensive bids.  But they serve individual truckers
and freight haulers as well, so you may find a deal.

I hope that helps - good luck with your move.  As fair disclosure, I
want to mention that I operate Movescope (which is a great site,
btw!), but it really depends on whether you decide to move yourself or
hire movers.

T