On 6/26/2013 11:49 AM, David Griffith wrote:
Sometime in the next few months I will be transporting the contents of
my storage unit in central California to northern Washington. Can I
get some ideas of cost of how to do this? My first thought is to fly
down, rent a truck, fill it up, and drive back to Washington. My
father thinks it would be overall cheaper to rent the truck in in
Washington, drive it down, and drive it back. Still another idea is
to rent a shipping container and put my goodies in that. Can I get
some other ideas, suggestions, and/or advice?
Just rented 27' truck on way LA-KC. about 1800 w/o extras. Extras
included towin car, walkaway insurance. car was 450, ins was about
200. original quote was 2300, discounted.
remember senior / aaa, etc., means 20% is on the table, just ask for it
off any quote. you don't need them, but they'll give it if you ask for it.
I asked about the drive down/back. I think most places operate their
local trucks / 1ways under different corporations and charters now. In
CA the local truck can't be taken outside CA if rented on a casual
basis. And the mileage is not free on local rentals high enough to go
interstate.
The container is likely to be too heavy to be handled if it is loaded
for storage. One way trucks are usually something you can overload
because they are usually known to be loaded by idiots. an overweight
container will likely have to go on an extra wheel heavy load flatbed,
not the usual container carrier.
I found that a full 28' yellow or ABF cut off and loaded was the
cheapest if you get that big a load. also if you had means at both ends
you can get good LTL rates by dropping freight at the terminals. They
like freight that can be forked and fill out spots, and give good rates
on that. Not much different than just a one time freight rate, but if
you had the situation, you could ship it over many loads and make out.
You will need a local dock high truck to get to / from a terminal to
drop stuff off, of course.
One thing that is missing on the one way trucks is a lift gate.
Calculate need to have dock, or freight that can go on the truck via
ramp if you rent a 1 way, or rent a fork lift for a day. I find it very
handy to pack and palletize everything in advance and rent a fork truck
(and I have a couple of pallet jacks), to load a truck. quick load and
unload, and easy to shuffle in storage till I need access.
figure fork lift about a $150 or 200 hit / day. Be sure your location
can handle the dropoff and pickup, and that your ground fits your
forklift, of course. Renting a fork lift intercity can get it stolen or
stripped after drop and before pickup and you are responsible. Or the
storage yard can open and allow it to be dropped.
jim