I'm retired military and have moved more times than I can recall; I'm never doing this again! I want to start by mentioning that the truck drivers at ABF were great - both during pick-up as well as when they dropped my stuff off at the new address. If it hadn't been for them I would have been woefully ignorant of the "fine print" that I didn't read before deciding to do this. Also, they warned me of the serious safety hazards involved in using the trailer equipment!
1. I followed the advice of the website and got the trailer as I had more two bedroom's worth of stuff; that was pointless. I didn't even use 10% of the available space in the trailer.
2. When I made the reservation I didn't see any mention of reserving a certain amount of floor-space, but after I made the actual reservation I noticed it said I had reserved "7 feet" - don't know where that number came from. Fortunately the folks at ABF warned me of the additional fee for each additional foot of floor space used. They told me they had seen people miss that little gem more than once and pay tens of thousands more after their trailer had been picked up. I looked closer at the 9 pages of information U-Pack sent me and noticed they would charge me over $100.00 per additional foot of floor-space used. They don't use this trailer for anything else, so picture a huge trailer with a tiny bit of stuff crammed into a tiny slice of space at the very front (7 feet of floor space, stacked up about 12 feet high), then tons of empty space (21 feet of unused floor-to-ceiling space). I paid almost $3,000.00 for that. Last I checked, it was weight, not distribution of matter, that made a difference in fuel consumption.
3. The trailer floor is at chest-height and the ramp easily weighs a LOT (website says it weighs 140 lbs, but even the truck driver at my final destination said he thinks it's more than that). You have to drag that thing in and out of the trailer, hold up a large latch in a cumbersome location while swinging the legs of the ramp up, over, around and under the ramp (to lock them in place), then continue dragging it - until it hangs by a lip - over the edge of the trailer opening. If you think that's bad; wait until you have to pick it back off the ground and lift it back into the trailer - all while dealing with the latch and legs again! I sure felt my age; especially when I pitched forward while trying to return the ramp one time and having everything come crashing down on the ground. Almost knocked my teeth out on that ramp!
4. The bulkhead doors are a 2-man operation and the instructions (and pictures) do not fully explain how to operate the ratchet in them; this is where my Navy experience came in handy and I was able to close them with the hellp of a friend.
5. Remember how you had to schedule a date both for drop-off as well as for pick-up with U-Pack? Yeah, the truck drivers didn't get that word. Not at either end. They get the drop-off date, but you have to call them at least one working day before you want them to pick up the trailer. This actually worked to my advantage at my departure location when nobody came to pick up the truck on the day I had scheduled it to be picked up. It gave me time to toss in those last-minute cleaning items I'd planned to just leave behind. But for anyone who wants their stuff delivered in a timely manner this could be a drag - I had scheduled the pick-up on a Friday, so when I called ABF to ask when they would arrive, they told me they couldn't pick it up until Monday. Three more days of staying in a motel for me, but fortunately my new employers picked up that tab anyway.
6. Now I'm at my new address and have unpacked all my stuff, and I suddenly have realize that - unlike when you hire actual movers - U-Pack doesn't say a word about disposal of packing material. When you hire a moving company, they come back in a few days and pick up boxes. Considering how useless they have been in every other way, I expect I'll be told "no" when I call and ask later (since they don't have 24/7 customer service).
Nope. I'm reverting to U-Haul moves after this. Sure I have to worry about either towing my car or returning for it after my move, but it will be infinitely cheaper, I'll be in control of the schedule, and I know they have trucks and trailers that are designed for moving without risking life and limb. read more