Should You Use A Shipping Container Or A Truck For Your Local Move?

When planning a local move, you have several options for transporting your belongings. You can hire a company with their own trucks, rent a truck, or use a moving and storage container for transport. This guide will help you make the best choice when it comes to choosing between a truck or a storage container.

Convenience

Containers have one distinct advantage over using a truck in that they provide both storage and transportation. If you are loading the container yourself, you can have it delivered well advance of your moving day and you can take your time packing and loading it. As soon as a box is packed it can be moved into the container. Trucks, whether those of the movers or a rented variety, are usually only onsite for one day. This means you must live surrounded by boxes in the days or weeks leading up to your move.

If you are loading yourself or don't want filled boxes taking up space as you pack, a container is probably the best option.

Storage

Not every house is completely move-in ready. A storage container may be a better choice if you will have some rooms off limits in the new house because of painting, floor installation, or other renovations. You can keep the container onsite for a few days, or even weeks, to act as storage for these rooms. This means you can still unload and begin unpacking the rest of the house, without having furniture and boxes of items you don't yet need underfoot.

If you opt for the truck option, you will either need to store the items for the off limits rooms elsewhere in the house, or you will need to rent an offsite storage unit.

DIY Movers

There are both truck and container options available for every type of DIY move. Generally, there are three tasks associated with any move: Packing, loading/unloading, and transport. The most common task to hire help for with a local move is the loading and unloading. Fortunately, you can hire local movers for loading and unloading both rented trucks and storage containers.

With transport, truck rental allows you to completely DIY the move, since you can both rent and drive the truck to your destination. With storage containers, you will be on the timetable of the transport company, which will schedule the pickup and the delivery of your belongings. This can be inconvenient if their available transport times don't match your needs. Choose the truck if you are on a tight schedule.

Whichever option you go with, check with local companies (such as SC Moving) to find the best rates and the help you need with your move.

 

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