Packing
Instructions
Check out VaultPak |
Welcome to Penny Pincher, our small shipment service
Now you can ship your small shipment with more choices, more options, and more savings than before. To determine how much or how little your savings will be, this introduction will provide you with the information that you need to make the informed decision.
Our Penny Pincher Service is like a sliding cost/labor scale. The more
work that you need us to do, the more that it costs. The more work that
you do, the less that it costs us and the more time, labor, tools, and skill
that it can potentially cost you. Our Penny Pincher Moving Service is designed
for shipments that are small according to industry statistics. Most of
the shipments that fall into this criterion are around 1 thousand pounds,
but may be significantly less or more.
Determining Packing, Crating, Boxing or Palletizing Strategies
As you know, Choosing our Penny Pincher Option for your moving plan requires
that your shipment be packed and crated. Penny Pincher is not a blanket
wrap service. A blanket wrap service is where you or your hired labor, physically moves your goods from their origin location, places your goods into some type of a truck, wraps your goods with protective padding(blankets) and transports to your destination. You may know blanket wrap shipments if you've ever had a van line move you or your family. Penny Pincher is not like this. Therefore, your shipment must be protected from risk of damage by properly packing it.
How well that you pack, crate, palletize and prepare your Penny Pincher service will ultimately determine how much or how little the risk of damage and loss is. The Penny Pincher service primarily involves 2 methods of shipping your small shipment and is determined on how much you have, what resources that you have available to you, your skill level, and your budget.
Shipping Option 1: Shipping in Multiple Boxes/Packages
By far our most popular option for a Penny Pincher move is by shipping in multiple boxes.
This first method is where your shipment goes as individual items. For
example if you have 10 items to ship, 10 separate items are loaded into
the truck, transported on the truck, and 10 separate items are unloaded
from the truck at your final destination. If you are making this choice,
each item must be labeled, once you have it packed up, just as if you were
mailing it at the post office. Each item must contain the physical street
address where it is to be delivered(If it is going to a storage facility,
place the street address of the storage facility on it.) along with your
return address. Typically, with this option, everything goes in cardboard boxes, which is acceptable, provided the boxes are in good condition.
Shipping Option 2: The Wooden Crate |
Use 2, 3, or 4 sets Bathroom Scales and some help
If you want to get real creative, you may be able to judge some or all
of your shipment's weight by using 2 sets of bathroom scales, or 3 or 4.
Here is how to do it. Since most homeowners don't own more than one set
of bathroom scales, go to your friends, family, and neighbors to "borrow"
one or more sets of bathroom scales. If you are weighing dressers, tables,
beds, for example, most have 4 legs. With some help, lift each corner of
the dresser, bed, table, etc., and place a scale under it. Do this on each
leg until you have a scale under each corner. Then, record the weight on
each scale. What's your total? Repeat this process for each item that you
are shipping. If you are shipping boxes, weigh each box on the scale. Large boxes may require that you use 2 scales. Keep an inventory of the items that
you are shipping. Then, once you have completed the list, total up the weight.
This will give you a close approximation of how much that you have. Now,
wasn't that easy!
Planning Your Penny Pincher Move
In preparing for your Penny Pincher move, there are 4 major steps of
the task, to prepare and manage the shipment:
1. How to pack
2. Where to pack
3. Will you deliver your shipment to the freight terminal or do you need it picked up?
4. At your destination, will you pick up your shipment from the freight terminal, once it arrives or will you need it delivered?
How to Pack
Option 1: The Individual pack
Option 2: The Penny Pincher Wooden Crate Option
Welcome to our Penny Pincher Wooden Crate Shipping Service Option The
wooden crate service, in terms of cost, is a step above the Penny Pincher
service where you pack and crate each item individually because it cost
more in terms of labor and materials.
These 2 packing and crating options will determine where you will pack
it up. Do you have space where you are? Or, will your shipment need to
be moved to another location? Or, will you be able to combine your packing
with a truck or trailer rental so that you can get the necessary tools and
materials so that you can pack your items up in the back of the truck, and
then transport to our LTL trucking terminal? What works best for you is
determined by how much time and skill that you have.
One other option that you can consider is that you can have a custom-built wooden crate delivered directly to your loading location from one of Box Trotters' affiliates. To take advantage of this service, and to order the right sized wooden crate, you'll need to complete a fairly detailed inventory. This inventory will determine how much cubic space that your shipment will require and will help our associates to fabricate a wooden shipping crate specifically for your needs. Call, fax or email us if you would like an inventory form faxed to you.
How to get it to the freight terminal
There are possibly 2 types of freight terminals that will be involved
in your Penny Pincher move. The first is full service moving and storage
company, such as a van line agent. If you are requesting that your goods
be picked up by "inside delivery" or delivered at your destination
by "inside delivery", then this is the type of operation that
will be handling this part of your move. Where you are moving from, once
your goods are picked up by our agent, they will then be taken to our agent's
terminal, where they will be properly packed and crated for the long distance
shipment. Then, once they are packed and crated, they will be delivered
to an local LTL terminal or picked up at the movers terminal by one of our
long distance agents.
Why does it cost more?
First, a wooden crate must be built, either by you or by our agent. If
your shipment requires more that one crate, more than one crate will have
to be built. This costs materials, labor, and money. Then, if you are building
it, you must have a garage or a suitable area to build it. Then, each item
that's going inside the wooden crate must be properly wrapped with paper
pads.
What are the dimensions and capacity of a standard wooden crate?
Of course wooden crates can be designed and built to a wide range of
specifications. However, the standard wooden crate size is:
Dimensions
8' High x 4' Wide x 4' Deep.
Volume:
Cubic capacity is around:
256 cubic feet
Average weight capacity:
1,500 pounds
Where can you crate? Are You In Storage?
If your shipment is in storage, you may be in luck, in terms of the crating
process being a little more convenient, compared to having your goods inside
an apartment 10 floors up in New York City. Building wooden crates inside
an apartment may be out of the question. There are door opening issues,
elevator clearance issues, etc. An uncrated sofa takes up much less space
than a crated one. However, if you are already in storage, or you can rent
a trailer and move your items to storage, it may give you a place with space
to build the crates. Be sure that if you are moving to storage to complete
the process, that you request a storage unit that is sufficiently sized
and has electrical hook-up. You can refer to our packing and crating diagrams
to get an idea of what skill level is required to build the crates, what
type of tools are required, as well as crate designs that may work best
for you.
Handling the Wooden Box
Now that the crate is loaded, which, by now is very heavy, must be delivered
to the truck terminal so that it can be handled with a fork lift(a small
tractor that lifts the wooden crate and moves it from the terminal to the
truck).
If you are transferring your goods to a storage facility for crating,
be sure to ask if they have a fork lift, loading dock, or other options
for moving and loading your crates into a freight truck for transport.
What will it cost if I want the labor?
Take the cost that you have been given already, which probably does not
include residential pick up or residential delivery, the per 100 pounds,
and add around .21 per pound for residential pick up and around .15 per
pound for residential delivery to be added to the transportation cost. Our
nationwide average for a full service move is around $100 dollars per 100
pounds. This is the national average but it will give you an idea of what
it costs for us to provide the labor to come to your residence, pick up
the shipment inside your home, load it into a truck, take it to a warehouse,
unload the truck, build a wooden crate, load the crate, and transfer the
loaded crate to the truck that will take the wooden crate to its destination.
Can the Wooden Crate be delivered and left for you to load?
Our agents use their equipment on a regular basis and they are reluctant
to deliver it for it to sit, without charging for it. Their equipment is
how they pay their bills. The delivery and rental will cost anywhere from
$75 dollars to $150 dollars and more for delivery, depending on how far
you are away from their terminal and how much traffic and tolls must be
paid for in terms of labor and money. To leave the truck or trailer for
loading can range from $100 per day and up if you have a place to park it.
Thanks for considering the wooden crate option of our Penny Pincher service
for your moving needs. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate
to call or email us.
