Pod/Crate (or similar) services - need suggestions (movers, U-Haul, trailer)

[s0nginmyheart]

Hi,

I am heavily contemplating moving back home to California later this year and have been looking into crate/pod services.

So far I've only come across a few:

www.pods.com
www.youcrate.com
www.u-pack.com

However these are all more than what I really wanted to pay, especially for the amount of items I'm sending back home.

Ideally I'd like to be able to ship my aquarium tank back home (which measures 3' wide x 2.5' deep x 2' tall, each). I'll have some stor-all boxes, probably 5-10 boxes total. The rest of the items will likely be shoved in my car (clothes, computer, etc). U-Pack had a big container that I don't really need...

Does anyone else have any other recommendations I can look into? Thanks in advance~

Oh, I've also looked into the u-haul trailer thing... still a few hundred dollars and I can't seem to justify spending that much on moving so little...

[RikkiTikki]

Most of the boxes offered by the popular mobile/portable container moving services are going to be a lot bigger than what you need.

Most traditional movers use a 190-205 cu ft. liftvan for moving loose HHG but even that sounds like it is too large. Another option is to purchase a "D" container. It's a 60 cu ft. double walled corrugated container that's 54"x41"x48" used for airfreight shipments. It's normally sold with a wooden pallet base.

You could construct it at your home and then arrange to have a general freight common carrier pick it up and deliver it using inside residential forklift service or you could pay a mover to handle your things using the same container option.