Pods vs. Door to Door- moving/storage units?? (rentals, new home)

[Stockholmaren]

We used PODS when moving from OH to MA, and we found it to be very convenient and inexpensive (<2,000). Since you have a private driveway, there shouldn't be a problem using PODS and it definitely saves you a lot of money over trucking, but it also depends on how much stuff you have.

[kjp4023]

I just moved from Illinois to Florida and used door to door, I hired movers that work with them but are not affiliated with door to door. They picked up my things and drove them to a DTD facility that they work out of packed my stuff and then it was shipped, it took 16 days for my things to arrive in Florida, they do not bring the pods directly to your house, they drop them off at another facility then they drive them up in this case it was Hideaway storage. Then they had movers who they work with that I hired.

I can say it is not the way to go, cost more than expected, had to pay almost $800 dollars to Hideaway just to drive the pods from there location in Sarasota to Tampa. The truck with my Pods was in Tampa but they have to go to the other storage facility first.

What a crock door to door, it should be called Storage to Storage. Plus I paid for extra insurance and 1 item was damaged and they say it in not due to the containers being damaged it's due to the packing of the containers.

I found out that they put your stuff on a truck and that guy drives all over doing other deliveries and pickups that is why it takes so long to get to your final destination, and they were 3 days late. Not sure but I bet it was not a cushioned truck and with all that driving, I am not sure you could pack anything that well with out causing damage. I do not recommend using this type of service for a long distant move. For remodeling and you need to place your things for a month outside your house it works fine.
Total cost with movers was $8,000 wish I would have known about ABF

[tunnrok]

Originally Posted by smarty

My understanding is PODs are mostly use for quick temporary storage (I see many just stay on the property) while doing remodeling. If needed, a truck can pick up the POD and put (the POD) into storage/warehouse. This way you do not need to load /unload twice. However, I do not know if the pricing justify it.

For Door to Door, you have to load the truck and then unload either at your new house or the storage facilities. If you store it, you will have to reload the items onto the truck again before unloading at your new house.

ok "SMARTY" Your discription of both services are quite a bit off. Door to Door and PODS are very similar. The main differences are container sizes and container placement abilities.
PODS (Portable On Demand Storage) has 8X8X12 or 16 foot containers. They drop them off. You load them up with your goods and they come back and pick them up. PODS has outdoor and indoor storage. Of course, they charge a little more for indoor. They are however, limitted due to difficulty in placing containers. There has to be enough room for them to navigate the container. Also they cannot place containers on steep in/declines. As far as pricing goes you just have to call and get a quote. You'll be looking at delivery fee, storage fees, and redelivery.
DoorToDoor has 5x7x8 foot containers only. They also drop them off you load them and they come get them. They are all stored indoors so no price increase for indoor storage. They have more flexibility for container placement because the containers are smaller and their forklifts are easier to navigate. Prices for DoorToDoor are generally cheaper than PODS. You would still be looking at delivery, storage, and redelivery.
Both services offer on-site storage, that is they drop them you use them as long as you need and they come back and get them empty. They both will pick up loaded containers from your old residence and deliver to the new. I am not sure about the PODS cross country moving options but with DoorToDoor they will pick them up and they ship via 18 wheeler to the next location.

[DebSterns]

Originally Posted by NY'er lost in MA

Has anyone had any experience using either/both of these services? We will be moving in ther Spring and have heard they are a good option but wasn't really sure of the differences or pros/cons.

Thanks-

I had 3 of their units delivered to my home - 2 for garage item storage and one for good furniture which was to be insured separately. I told the woman taking the order what I'd be putting in there and was told NO PROBLEM - well there was a problem. I have a large armoire and in order for it to go in that dinky box it would have to be on its side - which would have warped it horribly. I called DTD and had them come and get the units - empty. I understood that I would be losing the delivery fee and the pick-up and a $50 administrative fee - but in reality - they kept all by $27 of a $198 billing. They are rip-off artists - they charged me daily storage on the units when they were sitting in my driveway! Do NOT use these dishonest people!

The units are narrow - flimsy - rough on the interior and had very few tie-down points inside to keep your things from shifting. They were extremely disappointing and seemed to be poorly made. The door on one was so badly warped when it got here that it took all my husband's strength (and he's not a wimp by ANY means) to get it lifted up and closed.

They are very accommodating until they get you hooked - then watch out!! Not good people to work with at all.

[Marlene22]

I used another company for my "cross country" move. Based on what I've read here, Big Box Storage (http://www.bigbox.com) was definitely a better choice that either Pods or DTD. Cost was much less (again, compared to the other posts) and I didn't have any issues at all.

[Moverguy]

Being a member of the professional moving business I find it incredibly amazing to read the stories in these blogs. Haven't we all heard that old saying "If it sounds to good to be true it probably is". For over 20 years I have been in the moving and storage business we also have climate controlled self storage and soon will be joining the portable self storage business. There is NO simple cheap way to move or store. I'm reading about ABF and the moving services they offer but believe me if you don't know how to properly load a truck you WILL use more space than anticipated which means more money and if not properly loaded you will have damage. Their trucks are designed to handle freight not furniture. They don't supply moving blankets and as far as I know their trailers are NOT equipeed with air ride suspensions so they will bounce, quite hrd at times, all the way from point A to point B. As far as storage is concerned you have to take into consideration many factors to find the best solution. How long will you store , where you live, do you have room for a POD or a container in your driveway. Does your town restrict this. Will your goods sit outside in the Hot sun for months, inside a metal container that surely will sweat in certain climates. Again if you call and ask how much storage you need there is almost NO way for any company to tell you that with out actually sending out a representative to survey your home as we do in the moving industry. Then again this costs money and takes time and defeats the purpose of inexpensive do-it-yourself storage. You have to realistic and it never hurst to call around and get a price from all before you make any mistakes in your moving and storage adventures.

[broomy81]

Originally Posted by Moverguy

Being a member of the professional moving business I find it incredibly amazing to read the stories in these blogs. Haven't we all heard that old saying "If it sounds to good to be true it probably is". For over 20 years I have been in the moving and storage business we also have climate controlled self storage and soon will be joining the portable self storage business. There is NO simple cheap way to move or store. I'm reading about ABF and the moving services they offer but believe me if you don't know how to properly load a truck you WILL use more space than anticipated which means more money and if not properly loaded you will have damage. Their trucks are designed to handle freight not furniture. They don't supply moving blankets and as far as I know their trailers are NOT equipeed with air ride suspensions so they will bounce, quite hrd at times, all the way from point A to point B. As far as storage is concerned you have to take into consideration many factors to find the best solution. How long will you store , where you live, do you have room for a POD or a container in your driveway. Does your town restrict this. Will your goods sit outside in the Hot sun for months, inside a metal container that surely will sweat in certain climates. Again if you call and ask how much storage you need there is almost NO way for any company to tell you that with out actually sending out a representative to survey your home as we do in the moving industry. Then again this costs money and takes time and defeats the purpose of inexpensive do-it-yourself storage. You have to realistic and it never hurst to call around and get a price from all before you make any mistakes in your moving and storage adventures.

Hey Moverguy, great post-very informative-you sound like you've done your homework. I've been doing Mobile Storage for 4 years now and you hit a lot of that right on the head. There are sometimes just too many unrealistic expectations when it comes to moving and storage. But some places are guilty of promising more than they can deliver to get the sale in the highly competitive market that we are in.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by Moverguy

Being a member of the professional moving business I find it incredibly amazing to read the stories in these blogs. Haven't we all heard that old saying "If it sounds to good to be true it probably is". For over 20 years I have been in the moving and storage business we also have climate controlled self storage and soon will be joining the portable self storage business. There is NO simple cheap way to move or store.

Moving isn't cheap. But everybody I know that is trying to move differently (containers, etc.) has one main reason: they hate dealing with moving companies. The moving industry has a terrible reputation for honesty, and people are willing to do a lot of work on their own to avoid subjecting themselves to the kind of games movers play.

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

Moving isn't cheap. But everybody I know that is trying to move differently (containers, etc.) has one main reason: they hate dealing with moving companies.

That's for sure. I've done three cross country moves with three different major moving companies and had problems with all three. The moving business seems about as honest and straight-up as used cars lots. I can't say they're all crooks (we delt with a local moving company for a local move and it worked out well). But my experiences with three different national-brand moving companies have been bad--carelessness, not doing what was promised, immense hassle on getting damage claims resolved, poor packing.

[menglin]

Try this site it has reviews and tons of info on many of the moving companies. Tips how not to get scammed. Good luck

Moving: How to avoid Moving Company Scams