Anyone use Pods to move across the country?

As usual with these things, the main issue normally is what to do in the unattended parts of the journey if you were doing Uhaul yourself (theft is a real issue if you need to sleep somewhere with it).

I'd be more comfortable either with a journey that I can do in a single drive or have a moving company that has insurance for it. To me the insurance part is how I would decide on Pods vs. something else.

Yeah, the drive is 28 hours....there will be 2 of us driving (if we did UHaul), but I really don't want to do that straight thorugh....

So it's an issue parking a UHaul overnight? People cut the lock and rip you off?

We checked into it last fall and the price was stupidly high compared to driving uhaul. We have never had a theft issue, 6 or so moves with uhaul.

Ooh yeah, prices have gone up substantially.

I went through my files and it appears we paid just under $3900 for two 16' PODs, moved from central Florida to Houston area. This was early 2020, so right at the beginning of the pandemic.

Doing more research, it looks like the UHaul version of pods might be the best bet. It's not much more than the cost of a truck rental alone...after adding fuel costs I'm pretty sure the truck would be more expensive.

For her, there's also the cost to fly whomever drives a truck back home too, since she has to drive her car.

Jim, that sounds like an amazing experience...clearly aided by your prep I suspect. I really don't know what my daughter's tolerance is for cost or how much stuff she has that isn't el-cheapo target grade stuff.

I've always been leery about having someone else pack my stuff as my younger sister (no pics) has moved a fair number of times and used a number if different moving companies. She's had stuff "disappear" literally every single time. The amazing part is that it's always nice, expensive stuff (like an heirloom fur coat and jewelry) that came up missing.

Last time I moved, I packed everything but the stuff that wasn't very interesting: garage stuff, TV's, lamps, etc. All valuables were either packed and moved by us or just packed by us. This was viable because we were only moving 40 miles. We made several dozen trips hauling the important stuff ourselves (no way a moving company was getting anywhere near my guitars and amps, for example).

Moving into my neighborhood eh ? Does she play an instrument or sing ? (just kidding)

Crime rate isn't as high in Olympia compared to Seattle or Tacoma, but it happens.

I've seen lots of Pods locally.

I've also noticed a rise in wrong way drivers and road rage shooters over the last 5 years.

And the cops can't pursue robbery suspects(or much else).

No real gangs like LA but occasional homeless issues and druggies.

Coming from a big city, Olympia might be a little safer for her.

Still got a porch pirate or two !

I would keep a steely eye on a Pod or a Uhaul.

Punks like to use stolen trucks to drag off ATMs or crash into Marijuana stores pretty routinely.

So, there's probably a 99% chance she'll be ok if she's careful.

If she's driving a Kia or Hyundai, she might want to get another car in Washington State.

I'm old and probably paranoid though.

Hope that helps...

We used PODS back in 2015 when we moved from Phoenix to Tennessee. It was a pleasant experience and would use them again. We had 2 of them filled floor to ceiling all the way to the door. The only problem we had was some bad weather delays and it took nearly a week to get them delivered to us on arrival, but that wasn't their fault. A huge ice storm that covered multiple states halted OTR commerce for about a week. We were stuck in a hotel in Texas for 3 days due to icy roads. It took us 6 days to get there instead of the three we had planned.

I pulled a U-Haul trailer behind my truck that had our bed, clothes, and personal items in it so we weren't without those things when we arrived. I had my Hammond organ 3 Leslies and all my guitar amps in that trailer as well. There's no way I would put those in the PODS. I also transported all my guitars in our Tahoe myself. My wife was driving it. It was a pain moving about 15 guitars in and out of hotel rooms every day for 4 days but I wasn't putting them in a non climate controlled environment or into something they could get damaged in. It turns out that was a smart move due to the icy temps. Our German Shepherd and Alaskan Malamute stayed in the hotel room when we went out to a restaurant so the guitars were safe. I did a real good job of securing everything in place inside the PODS but moving guitars in them 1800 miles was too much of a risk if the load shifted.

They're an easy target for car thieves.

It seems like a Kia is used in some news reported crime in Western Washington about once or twice a month !

Kia is providing free steering locks to our Olympia Police station as per last month.

Supposedly Kia fixed this issue in 2022 models but sold a LOT of vulnerable cars in Washington prior.

It's a bit confusing which cars are vulnerable but apparently not to car thieves...which we seem to have a LOT of.

And pot shops might as well paint a big X on themselves with a picture of a Kia following an arrow to the X. They get smashed routinely.

So many Kias and Hyundais are being stolen that some cities are attempting to sue the car manufacturers for the costs of handling them.

Some insurers have significantly jacked up rates on the vulnerable Kias and Hyundais, if they'll insure them at all.

Hence, my comment.



 

I've moved cross country several times. Some things I've found:

Pods can take a long time. Check the time estimates.

Hiring a mover was the cheapest option each time. Yes, the cheapest. My guess is because I don't have a lot of stuff. An agent comes and looks at what you have and you get an estimate from that. No wasted space for the truck because it is on there with other people's stuff, and I was only paying for the space I was using. This may have been because I was often moving in/out of Vermont, which isn't really on the way to/from anywhere and costs get weird. Not going to say it will be cheaper for anyone else, but it could be worth checking.

Driving a uhaul yourself seems fine when you're picturing flat, straight highway. Most longer trips in the continental US will eventually involve some mountain passes, busy metro areas, and other things. Not everyone wants to deal with that. "Next fall" could be late enough for some random rocky mountain snow storms. If your daughter hasn't driven any of these routes, it may be worth showing her what some of these passes/steep grades in different areas look like. I know a few of the routes through there, and I don't think you'll find a way that won't have anything tricky. Or, maybe she knows them better than me and could do it all in reverse.

Packing yourself isn't too hard, but there is a bit of an art to it to know how to do it so stuff doesn't break. Not just the boxes - that part is easy - but arranging the boxes within the container. Make fun of professional movers all you want, they know how to keep stuff tight in there. If someone has that skill, great. If you don't think they could ship a pillow without it shattering, consider some pros. Stuff will bounce around in pods if not packed right.

Ha. Someone around Seattle just used a Uhaul truck to bash into a store and try to steal an ATM this week.

They are probably looking for another one to finish the job...