At some point, we’ve had three simultaneous reservations for “pack it yourself” moving and storage services:
- PODS
- UHaul UBoxes
- U-Pack
PODS for 2 16’x8’x8′ units was going to be about as much as filling the U-Pack trailer (27’x8’x9′). PODS offers slightly more cubic footage for that arrangement, and about 18% more square footage for a full trailer. There were two upsides for U-Pack: monthly storage was about 10% additional per month whereas PODS was about 20% additional per month.
The UHaul UBoxes were 8’x5’x8′, but the internal dimensions were slightly smaller than that. The cost was similar to the other two for the initial move, but the upside was that 30 days of storage/rental were included. (Monthly storage was in between the other two services.) One problem that I thought of with the smaller units is that a lot of space could be wasted by having 1-foot gaps due to not being able to fill the space.
Flexibility
If I recall correctly, PODS needs several days notice for pickup and drop-off, and their truck needs an easy space to get in and out of. One of the PODS would likely have had to been outside our gates (which probably would have blocked the street).
UHaul only gave Thursday and Saturday drop-off options for its boxes, which we could probably have worked around. However, limited availability for drop-off could also mean spilling over into an extra month rental just because convenience didn’t allow drop-off to happen sooner.
U-Pack uses a 28-foot trailer that otherwise has no special requirements and uses the same drivers as any other tractor-trailer, as far as I can tell. They contract out to trucking companies for transport, and our trailer was provided by Old Dominion. While the trailer looks unwieldy, the driver was able to maneuver the trailer into our backyard without much effort, unlike the massive PODS we’ve used before seem to require.
TBD
What we don’t know yet is how much space we’ll actually require, but U-Pack is beneficial here, too, because if we’re able to tightly pack our belongings, then we’re not charged for the unused space at the back of the trailer. We’ll see where we are when loaded.