With movers, what do you not trust them with?

Let me preface this by saying that I don't distrust movers, per se. I'm sure they're lovely, and if I knew any personally, I would be a good friend to him or her. In any case, I have heard horror stories of movers taking things that don't really belong to them. Tools, for instance, or jewelry perhaps. The tools thing worries me a little as I do have some hand tools and had planned on taking them with me in my car on a cross-country move that I have coming up in less than a month.

What's the hive's position on this? Wrenches, sockets, etc. I don't have a roll-around box or similar, but I do have a few small tool boxes that I can get a lot of my gear into, and I can use small plastic tubs for the rest if I did want to take them in the car. What would you do? What have you known could happen / should I be worried or is this nonsense?

if it's packed up in boxes, taped securely shut, and maybe named something innoculus that you know is tools, you should be fine. Make them think you are a bookworm and label them with different kinds of books. It will mask the heaviness of the tools- but you will need to keep them from clanging around

Teenage daughters

In reply to mad_machine:

So small boxes and newspaper around every item, maybe with some tape? "BIBLES" and "COPIES OF WAR AND PEACE" in fat black marker?

With movers, you pack what you care about before they get there. Put numbers on the boxes and keep a spreadsheet so you can find your E36 M3 later but refrain from writing things like "all of my weed, cash and guns" and "wife's diamond jewelry" on the actual boxes.

Let them move sealed numbered boxes and furniture. If it's all E36 M3 you don't care about like fine china, heirloom music boxes and stupid figurines let them pack it so you have someone to blame for the broken E36 M3 you don't ever have to unpack :)

We moved the things we would have been upset if they broke.

I think the full list was this:

• stereo
• vinyl records and CDs.
• most of our kitchen (plates, cups, vitamix)
• guitars

It was basically anything that was "irreplaceable" and easily breakable. There were more things we moved on our own, but that was just out of convenience.

Seal boxes w/ packing tape and number them, do not disclose the contents.

Only you know the numbered box contents.

Mark fragile or whatever necessary.

I can't seal the boxes and signed away that due to insurance. The story given was "they'll open any closed box, check the packing quality that you've done ahead of time, and add/remove/etc change it if they don't like what they see. If they are okay with what you've done, they'll close it. Don't seal anything".

In reply to pres589:

If they're going to go around breaking seals, I definitely wouldn't allow them near the teenage daughter.

My buddy foolishly left his pistol in a dresser drawer. It was in a locked box, buried in underwear. When the movers got to his new house, 600 miles and two days later, the box was empty.

There was a story on the news a few months ago about a family that hired movers off of Craigslist. They showed up with a tractor trailer, carefully boxed up everything, loaded it into the truck and disappeared with the entire contents of their home.

Choose carefully.

When we moved from Ontario to Michigan they would not move anything we packed ourselves. You should have seen the size of the gorilla they had packing my wife's good china, and not a single chip or scratch. I was very pleased with their work.

LOL at "teenage daughter"

My first thought had been "marital aids"

I'd think most tools would be ok, I'd want to keep cash, vital documents (passports, birth certificates, etc), guns, jewelry, and small valuables close to hand. Most everything else a mover is going to have seen so often as to not be tempted by.

FWIW, it may not even be legal for them to move your firearms.

I always put the things I am taking with me in the car before they show up. For the valuable things I show them to the driver. He is the manager of the mover. Offer him a hundred bucks or so and ask him to please be careful with these things.

The packers that show up the day or two before are not the people who care about the move. These are part time or temp workers. When the guy comes around to give a quote ask about getting your specific things packed the right way.

>Scott

Good info and responses. I think I will pack most of the tools and my record player and important paperwork into the car. Everything else can be handled by the moving company.

Didn't read the posts. I would NEVER hire movers again. The one time I did it was an absolute nightmare. They took longer than they said, tried to charge twice as much and what they broke was worth twice what we paid them. The stuff they stole wasn't worth too much, but rifling through my wifes' underwear drawer almost landed me in jail (glad I didn't catch them before they headed down the street).
Next time, I'll move myself, piece by piece, alone, on a 10-speed bicycle before I hire any crooks again.

When I last moved, over the course of a few weeks, I packed a lot of stuff into a Pod with my wife. It was all my tools, car parts and crap from my basement and attic. That was to declutter the house for showings and to keep things safe and secure. I had that stored offsite at the Pods storage facility for a few months until I closed on the new house. When I sold my old house, I took all of the elecronics, computers and valuable things to the new house (an hour away) myself. I hired movers to move everything else but I packed it all up with my wife and labeled the boxes only with what room they were to delivered to. No contents listed. I broke down as much furniture as I could and all the drawers were empty. I was there as the movers loaded everything up at the old house and I met them at the new house to supervise the unloading. I was so well organized that the move went quicker than the movers anticipated and I actually got a refund on part of the moving fee. Nothing was stolen or broken by them and I was completely done with that part of the move in a single day. Once I was settled into the new house, I had the Pod delivered and my family came over and unloaded it with me in one day. I've moved almost a dozen times in my adult life, usually using a Uhaul and friends and family. This move was by far the easiest and less stressful.

I've moved once. Did it all myself.

I strongly recommend a house fire and a large insurance check.

Company I will work for is paying for relo and the moving company used has been used by Company for a long time. Lot of, uh, fun stories thou!

Two corporate moves, no problem either time .... but, I gave them a $100 tip after loadup, and the same after delivery, and fed them pizza both times. I suspect that goes a long way, and I also will say both crews busted butt. Take pics of everything, even when they are packing.

One interesting thing was the pickup crew was also the delivery crew om both occasions, even though it was an OH to WI move first time, and a WI to OH move the second time. No idea is that is the norm, or not.

If I were doing a move where it was my $$ paying for it, I'd make sure to get a binding estimate. That way, they cannot hold your possessions for ransom (yes, that actually does happen auite often without the binding type of estimate). I'd also buy the replacement cost insurance from the mover ... it's pretty cheap from what others have told me, and the standard mover insurance is a joke.

Moving.org is a good info resource ... look for a certified ProMover.

Hope this helps others out there!!

Really old thread.  Spam deleted. 

I'm going to add to this. 

Use a reputable mover.

Some friends just moved from SC to MI. They used a shady cut-rate mover that was substantially cheaper than anyone else. 6 guys showed up in a Budget truck to load everything. When the truck was full, that was it. That was all they loaded. My friends ended up renting a Uhaul to move the rest of it. 

It took 6 weeks before their stuff showed up. When they tried to contact the company, the website was offline and the phone number disconnected. They thought it had all been stolen. When the movers did show up it was two guys and a truck and they dumped everything in the front yard and left. Several items were missing like the TV and stereo equipment. Their safe had been trashed trying to get it open. The police basically told them there was nothing they could do beyond filing a report. 

The only saving grace throughout the entire move was his shop. He rented a POD that he loaded himself and had delivered at the new house. The POD showed up in perfect shape. 

In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :

Yup.  Find someone licensed and insured.  Buddy of mine just moved from Atl to Jacksonville.  Didn't use a licensed mover, they showed up with his stuff and before unloading said "you owe us another $1500, no matter what your contract says."

Cops couldn't/wouldn't do anything.  He had to pay them and is currently trying to sue them. Its not going well.

+1 on the reputable mover. For our cross country move we looked for reputable movers on moving.org, found some decent ones (but cheap they weren't) that provided binding estimates and they mostly did a good job. Showed up at the other end (I think) a day later than originally promised, with everything intact. But I really don't want to find out how the one that offered to do the same job for 2/3rds of the money would have worked out.

And yes, we shipped all the tools etc with them. I took the really important stuff with me like the work-related computers and a bunch of documents, the rest went on the moving truck.