Moving cross-country! Who moves your stuff the quickest?? (moving company, ABF, Budget)

[kitty3]

I contacted ABF-U pack, who is my first choice to move a housefull of stuff across the country (I'm flying). But they will take 11 business days (translation: 2 weeks) to move my stuff! Is there any other company (full service or not) who moves your stuff faster??
I'll be moving into an empty apartment. I can't imagine 2 weeks sleeping on the floor, no tv, etc. I guess I could bring a sleeping bag on the plane, but no furniture or any of my 'stuff' will be difficult.
(I can't stay in a motel until my stuff comes, because I'm moving with three cats.)

[libbykt]

Even with a full service company, it really just depends on the availability of the equipment on your actual move date, and whether or not there are other households on the truck and where you fall on the route. When we moved from San Diego to Boston, the truck was loaded but it didn't leave the area for another 3 days because it loaded up 2 more households. Then when it got to Boston, ours was the last one unloaded as well, so another couple of days delayed. Plus the truck broke down somewhere in the midwest, and my car was actually on the moving van. I'll never forget waiting for that truck to arrive! So they took close to 2 weeks to get cross country.

When we moved back to California, the truck was loaded and they were out here in about 8 days. It's really hit or miss.

If I were you, I'd get a hotel if it's in your budget. A Residence Inn or someplace pet friendly. In my experience, it's much easier on the kitties to move them into a temporary space and let them stay there while the movers come than to try to lock them into a bathroom or something while you are moving in.

[marita]

Why not have your stuff picked 2 weeks before you leave?At your present location you know people that let you use a TV etc to make you comfy while still in familiar surroundings.

[JoeBud]

kitty3, where are you moving from and to? U-Pack usually has much shorter transit times. Are you moving from or to a very rural/remote area?

[Crew Chief]

LibbyKT, you've pretty much summed up the reality in today's houshold goods moving indsutry. With rock-bottom rates, trucks have to move as close to full as the owner operators (as most movers are) must maximize the revenue their truck brings in. Unfortunately, that's the reality. Joebud has a good point. Since ABF's U-Pack divison lets you fill up your own trailer, I'm sure that the scheduling/transit times will be shorter. What about an extended-stay play atneither end of your move to wiat for your furniture to arrive. I'd imagine one of thchains might accept pets.

[msullivan5]

A full service moving company takes longer than 11 days, sorry for the bad news. I think the only way would be to rent a truck and drive there with your stuff, you could tow a car or send it on a car hauler if you could live with out the car for a little while. Good Luck

[ymbd]

We used ABF to move from NY to TX. OUr trailer was picked up 3 days before we left and arrived in TX 1 day before we did. We drove down. Anyway, ABF estimated 1-2 weeks but in reality our belongings reached Teaxas is 4-5 days.

[frogandtoad]

We lived for a full month (with 3 kids) without our stuff when we moved. It wasn't supposed to be that long, but it was! It wasn't really a big deal actually. We had blow-up mattresses (which we mailed to ourselves before leaving our old house so they would be there when we got there). We also mailed a few toys for the kids. We introduced ourselves to the neighbors, who loaned us a card table and 4 chairs to go with it. Then we bought a few things--not much, but we bought a couple of pots/pans, cheap silverware and plastic plates and bowls at Target, etc.

Really, it's not a big deal!

If you MUST have tv, you could always pack a laptop if you have one, and just rent movies to watch on that.

When all our stuff finally arrived, I remember thinking why the h#$@ do we have all this stuff??? We could live so easily without 99% of it! Cleaning up each night with 3 kids was so easy with about 10 toys vs. a full playroom full!

[kitty3]

WOW!! Awesome idea mailing blow-up mattresses and other stuff to yourself. I never thought of that!! That's why I love this forum....you talk to people and get such great ideas!! Thank you so much.