A Comparison of Your 3 Best Options:
Flat Rate vs. Flat Hourly Rate vs. DITY
Once again, the time has come to get your move on. Along with all the many various, and sometimes menial tasks you have just been inundated with - you must soon figure out how you are going to get all of your stuff from the old place to the new one. Like many folks in your shoes you may be debating on hiring a mover at the same time as weighing in the unlikely prospects of a DITY or do-it-yourself move.
After reading a few moving company horror stories or experiencing one or more of your own you may be concerned that an hourly move might reach beyond what you have budgeted. You look around, and you find variations of the two best types of local moving quotes: a Flat Rate quote and a Flat Hourly Rate quote. After a measure of due dilligence you are still left undecided. Both of the two quotes you like best assure you of no hidden fees or difficult calculations.
Flat Rate estimators often have to be more detailed in the questions they ask. Because their phone surveys are usually more detail oriented they commonly have you walk through your house and meticulously list everything to be moved. Get ready for a long conversation and a little bit of work on your part. Some may even have you walk around your house with a tape measure and pace the distance from the closest big truck parking to your door at both locations. This process can be exhausting and may take up to two hours or more for a large house move.
Flat Hourly Rate estimators will certainly depend on your ability to describe in detail the actual amount of things you have to move, how close they can park the Big Moving Truck to your door, the amount of outside stairs to your unit or inside flights of your home, etc. If you are able to be fairly accurate with regards to all of the items you need moved as well as the truck access at origin and destination there is a really good chance that the experienced estimator can give you a quick and accurate, Flat Hourly quote.
Without ever leaving their desk, the real pros can, and often do provide their potential Shipper an accurate quote which should include of all the variable additional costs should the scope of service change.
Unfortunately, the devil is always in the details and when it comes to moving there certainly are more details and variables than most can imagine. For the average person in this highly regulated environment of multiple tariff directives and multiple calculations, the details may sometimes seem overwhelming, deceptive and downright confusing.
Moving Estimates can be
a lot like golfing:
“Most often times the pros will birdie yet there are still some times when...
WE BOGEY!"
It is illegal in California and other states, for any moving company(Carrier) or it's representative to give an estimate to a potential client(Shipper) when the quote is represented as a Flat Rate or Binding Cost or Guaranteed Not-to-Exceed Price, or to even use the word ESTIMATE in their quick quote or “guesstimate” to you (the Shipper) without first transporting themselves to your location and physically looking at what you have to move.
The biggest problem for the moving companies with this requirement is that small local moves that are typically 1,000 - 5,000 lbs. (Studio, 1, and 2 bedroom apartments), generally don't generate enough revenue to support the costs of providing an on-site estimate.
With Flat Hourly Rate Movers, the bigger 3 - 5 bedroom moves may also be quoted quickly and within a reasonable ballpark over the telephone if you are self-packing and/or moving many of your own boxes. In order to receive a reasonably accurate quick quote you must first know your actual box count within 20-30 of the actual boxes to be accurate. Make sure you supply an accurate basic furniture inventory to your estimator (tape measure typically not required), and if you have normal access at all your from and to locations, a good estimator asking the right questions over the phone should be able to get within a 15% average margin for error even on a bad day.
No estimate is truly infallible and even the best estimators have REALLY BAD DAYS.
The largest of moving companies and some of the small one’s can afford to hire salespeople/estimators to answer their phones and/or email. These folks typically sit at a computer and add values to database fields while chatting you up, and taking your moving information. When they are done with the data entry the software totals everything up for them, and in many cases does most of the work for them. Many of these salespeople/estimators are very good at what they do and hundreds of thousands of tons of household goods are moved every year successfully and accurately for Shippers who depend on them.
Many of the smaller moving companies may not have these resources. The worst part of this is that one or more of the many critical elements which encompass the anatomy of your moving estimate are often times missed or left out for whatever reason. And when a small time operator is trying to do customer service without admin or sales support things can get real ugly real fast.
A combination of errors by estimators and misrepresentations by shippers on telephone/email quotes and even visual estimates/orders for service are the most common causes of contract disputes on moving day.
Contract disputes can be just as common with visual pre-move surveys as they are with phone orders...
depending on the parties involved. Avoiding these critical pitfalls is the responsibility not only of the estimator, but also the moving crew. It is the responsibility of the shipper to answer all questions honestly and provide full disclosure with regards to critical information, much of which is included in this article.
This is true with all moves, however, if you have a good Flat Hourly Rate moving crew at an honest and competitive rate with no hidden fees, the list of mistakes that can be made by either the consumer or the estimator most often times will cost the consumer considerably less than the additional variable costs calculated by a Flat Rate mover in the very same scenario.
At the end of the day you can end up paying way more than you budgeted with either a Flat Rate move or a Flat Hourly Rate Mover and for the most common reasons below:
1. You (the Shipper) replied with an under-count of one or more of the many questions you were asked.
2. The moving company representative didn’t ask all the right questions resulting in an under-count.
If a dispute occurs prior to the move, here is what typically happens:
The driver or other company representative will have to explain the difference in the scope of service provided in the "quote" or visual estimate given by the estimator and the actual service requested on moving day. It is the responsibility of the mover to inform the customer at this point, prior to loading the shipment. The worst situation for everyone is where the communication between the shipper, the moving team, and the company representative fails which more often than not is presumably the fault of the moving team for not going over the paperwork properly and performing a complete walk-through and quote verification before beginning the service.
There are several exceptions to this presumption-
Some are listed below:
Regardless of the final resolution; in situations where we find ourselves at an impasse in negotiations, the moving company most often losses even if the consequences are as minimal as loosing the shipper's future and referral business. However, since the dawn of the information era, the educated consumer has rapidly been afforded more and more of an arsenal of defense. The consumer can ultimately cause severe damage to the business of the moving company, and may ultimately become a catalyst for destroying many hopes of new business online and in the real world.
The driver or other company representative will have to explain the difference in the scope of service provided in the "quote" or visual estimate given by the estimator and the actual service requested on moving day. It is the responsibility of the mover to inform the customer at this point, prior to loading the shipment. The worst situation for everyone is where the communication between the shipper, the moving team, and the company representative fails which more often than not is presumably the fault of the moving team for not going over the paperwork properly and performing a complete walk-through and quote verification before beginning the service.
There are several exceptions to this presumption-
Some are listed below:
- Shipper adds items from the "not to be moved list" to the "to be moved list" after agreeing to the initial guaranteed price and scope of service.
- Details of the destination access are not disclosed or differ from the description in any way other than what is disclosed to the mover upon booking the order for service.
- Other additional services are ordered which require one or more change orders for service.
Regardless of the final resolution; in situations where we find ourselves at an impasse in negotiations, the moving company most often losses even if the consequences are as minimal as loosing the shipper's future and referral business. However, since the dawn of the information era, the educated consumer has rapidly been afforded more and more of an arsenal of defense. The consumer can ultimately cause severe damage to the business of the moving company, and may ultimately become a catalyst for destroying many hopes of new business online and in the real world.
As moving companies become more aware of these facts you will certainly find that even many of the less reputable moving companies will be more likely to negotiate fairly with you.
Some of the most difficult experiences movers face today, focus around the inflexible system of new consumer protection laws as well as the internet (blogging, website production, and even on yelp) which opens wide Double Doors to dishonest or "professional shippers" and unscrupulous competitors to get away with so much more than ever before.
Although you may never read these stories. Dishonest people rip-off moving companies all the time. Small time operators suffer tremendously over the mistakes of booking business with these types of individuals.
In addition to these age old pitfalls and many new regulations, we also live in an era of much greater population and cultural diversity than any other time in history. With greater masses of different kinds of people we all too often seem to find communication breakdowns for a multitude of various moving situations.
Communication breakdowns may originate from either side. The emotional and financial stresses often compound, and make moving close to the top of the all time high stress situations you may ever yourself yourself in. Imagine for a minute how many stressed out people your mover deals with every day. Then add that to the environment of over-regulation and cost prohibitive growth that is outlined in 'The Anatomy of A California Local Move'. Got Maalox?
Thankfully, most folks we meet are good honest and friendly people.
If you want to know how to accurately count your costs for your move using some basic fundamental tools still used by pros today, contact me and I can help show you exactly how it is done.
Thank you for reading my blog, and please remember this when it comes to YOUR MOVE:
Be informed, and know what you are paying for. Only then may you truly judge the service you receive.
E-book coming soon: “The Anatomy of a Move”
Secrets of the Moving & Storage industry revealed.
Independent Relocation Consultant
& Small Business Development Specialist
& Small Business Development Specialist
Copyright 2009 all rights reserved
When it's your turn to move...
Experience is the one factor
youcan't FULLY measure
Until moving day.
And that may be TOO LATE for you!
When it's your turn to move...
Experience is the one factor
you
Until moving day.
And that may be TOO LATE for you!
