Packing Services near you

Federal law states the mover's general position first: the mover is legally liable for loss or damage that occurs during the transportation of the shipment and all related services identified on the bill of lading. Then it lists what pulls that back. Federal regulations provide that if an individual shipper includes perishable, dangerous or hazardous articles in the shipment without the mover's knowledge, the mover need not assume liability for those articles or for loss or damage caused by their inclusion, and that where a shipper requests the mover to accept such articles, the mover may elect to limit its liability by published tariff provisions.

The booklet adds the packing point in plain words: your acts or omissions causing the loss or damage will limit or reduce the mover's liability, with improper packing of containers you pack yourself, so that they do not provide sufficient protection, as the example. In practice that means a carton you sealed is your carton. If the glassware inside was wrapped in a dish towel and the box was half empty so the contents shifted, the claim is unlikely to succeed however carefully the crew carried it.

The decision that follows is not all or nothing. Have the mover pack the categories where breakage actually happens and where a claim would matter, pack your own books, linen and clothing, and keep the two sets of cartons visibly distinct so nobody has to reconstruct afterwards which was which.

Every professional packing crew works to an exclusion list, and it is shorter than people expect but firmer. The federal moving booklet says directly that federal law forbids you to ship hazardous materials in your household goods boxes or luggage without informing your mover. Federal hazardous materials regulations then set the substantive limits, forbidding the offering for transportation of forbidden explosives, of electrical devices such as batteries and battery-powered devices which are likely to create sparks or generate a dangerous evolution of heat unless packaged in a manner which precludes such an occurrence, and of materials packed together where mixing them is likely to cause a dangerous evolution of heat, or flammable or poisonous gases or vapors, or to produce corrosive materials.

The everyday version of that list is familiar household stock: propane and camping fuel, gasoline and lawnmower fuel, charcoal and lighter fluid, aerosols, solvents, paint and thinners, pool and cleaning chemicals, ammunition, fireworks, matches, batteries of every chemistry, and anything under pressure. Perishables and open food belong in the same conversation for a different reason, since they attract pests and spoil on a truck that may take days.

On an interstate household goods move the inventory is a regulated document and packing is what feeds it. The mover must prepare a written, itemised inventory for each shipment, identifying every carton and every uncartoned item, and must place an identification number corresponding to the inventory on each article. It must be prepared before or at the time of loading, in a manner that gives you the opportunity to observe and verify its accuracy if you ask, and a complete copy signed by both of you must be provided together with a copy of the bill of lading before or at the time of loading.

The record continues at the far end. At delivery the mover must give you the opportunity to observe and verify that the same articles are being delivered and the condition of those articles, to note in writing any missing articles and the condition of any damaged or destroyed ones, and to receive a copy of all such notations. The mover must keep the inventory for at least a year and it forms an integral part of the bill of lading contract.

The practical discipline is to check the inventory as it is written rather than at the end of the day. The crew works in room order, so verify each page while the room it describes is still recognisable, and question any condition code you disagree with there and then. A signed inventory that says a dresser was already scratched is very hard to argue with three weeks later.

Packing is priced as labor plus materials, and the materials are rarely a flat number. Ask whether cartons are billed as used or as an allowance, whether unused cartons are credited back, and whether the crew brings enough to finish so that the last room is not packed in whatever is left. On an hourly local move, packing labor and moving labor are usually separate rates with separate crews, so ask how the day is sequenced and whether a packing crew standing idle is on your clock.

The federal booklet places packing and unpacking in the accessorial category, meaning services you request or that are necessary because of landlord requirements or other special circumstances, and notes that charges for such services may be in addition to the line-haul charges. Where a third party performs part of the work, such as a crate builder or an appliance technician, the booklet describes advanced charges as charges for services performed by someone other than the mover, which the mover pays and adds to your bill of lading.

The comparison that matters is not packing against no packing. It is the cost of having the fragile categories packed professionally against the realistic value of what usually breaks, plus the hours a partly packed house adds to an hourly loading crew. Households consistently underestimate the second.