Moving company for cross country move

I will be moving from VA to CA in the fall and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a moving company? I searched previous threads and saw JK Movers was one people used. The thread was from 2003 and for local moves. Also, any companies that move cars too. Thanks.

 

J&K have a great reputation, and we're talking to them about our move to Pittsburgh, but I'm not sure if they do such long distance moves. Our last two moves used companies affiliated with United Van Lines, and we had great success with them.

 

I used to work for JK moving and storage when I was younger. They are a good company. They do tend to train more than other companies I've worked for. They do both national and international moves.

For nation moves this is not as big a deal cause it's usually fixed price but for local moves always try to get them into a fixed price if you can. Don't let them charge you the pickup and delivery fee on an hourly basis. If they manage to get you into an hourly situation things tend to not move as fast as if it was fixed price and you will pay more. That goes for any moving company not just JK.

Coming from an ex-mover, for out of state moves always tip your workers at both the origin and the destination. The driver will be the same for a cross country move but the workers will be different. For a full day of work $10 per worker and $15 for the driver is a good tip. For a local move only tip at the end of the job. The tip at the origin helps to make sure your stuff gets to the destination in one peice If the crew does an exceptional job I'd recommend tipping more.

JK will also move your car for you but you will pay quite a bit extra from any company for that service. JK won't be the cheapest mover you will find but they do tend to be cheaper than some of the other national chains. Be very leery of some of the smaller companies.

Good luck with your move.

 

We used JK movers for our Local Move. I thought they did a great job and I did not tip!:doh: I did not know we were suppose to!

 

I've also never heard of tipping movers.

 

http://www.tipping.org/tips/TipsPageTipsUS.html

 

Here is a good site that can help those who might not be sure how much to tip people in the service industry: http://www.tipping.org

For movers they have a link at:
http://www.tipping.org/tips/TipsPageMovers.html

 

A friend of mine is using JK movers for a local move next week. She interviewd 4 companies - Able, JK and two others (I forget). Anyway, JK was the most expensive BUT she showed them the cheapest quote (Able) and JK matched the lower price....saved her about $1k. Worth a try cause I also hear great things about JK.

 

Coming from an ex-mover things tend to go smoother, faster, and more carefully if the workers are not hungry and know they can get some beer on the way home

The best jobs were the ones that food was offered to us, generally in the form of pizza or subs, and we walked out with $10-$20 each. Most of these guys are not making much money at all for the hourly wage and many of them are supporting families. A lot of the money we made was on tips. Giving a lump sum to the driver is fine as well. Just make sure at least one of the workers is there when the lump sum is given to the driver

One thing I can tell you for certain. One job we had the people were incredibly nice (job really sucked) and they got us pizza and beer for lunch. That was not a good idea lol.

Oh the moving stories I have lol.

 

Being in the military for as long as I was with a few moves under my belt, you definitely tipped the guys loading and unloading. They really work their tails off, and for little wages. I always offered soda, and cool bottled water.

 

Also always offered Soda/Water, but never dawned on me to tip. Next time I'll know.

 

As a Military Brat myself, I've experienced countless moves. I remember we always put out a cooler of gatorade/soda/water for the movers and always provided them lunch. They were always tipped well and I'm pretty sure handed some beer for a job well done.

Good luck with your cross-country move!

 

[Rant on]

I'm also prior military (6 military moves) and I have moved three other times since I got out of the service.

We have always tipped ($20 each minimum), bought lunch for our movers, and offerred unlimited acces to our refrigerator for soda/water.

For our last move (from Ashburn to Atlanta) last June, we even let the crew shower in our house on their second day in town--the crew was from out of town and they were going to be at our house for at least 3-4 days for packing/loading.

On the second day, the driver had to leave to get his rig weighed and he left his two crew members (guys he met in his home town and brought with him) to pack. My wife and I each had to leave for an hour or so to run some errands, and we left the crew to their own devices. Big mistake...

While we were gone, the packers stole a PS2 console that I had set aside in my garage next to a whole bunch of other stuff that we were not going to be loading on the truck--it was clearly separated from the rest of the stuff in the garage with big "DO NOT PACK" signs. These guys weren't too bright.

Well, I started loading the "DO NOT PACK" stuff in a U-Haul later that day and noticed the PS2 was missing. I asked the guys if they accidentally packed it and they got defensive. So then we told the driver he needed to find it. The driver and the guys (who must have been crappin' themselves) tore apart every box in the garage and basement and (surprise!) didn't find it.

Our driver (a stand-up guy) proceeded to search one of the guys' bags and found our PS2 in it. He brought us the PS2, fired his crew on the spot and told us he would support whatever we decided to do (i.e., call police, etc.). After my wife kicked them all out of the house (I was out picking up the kids at child care), she called the transportation company and we moved on from there.

There is a lot more to the story (the entire move was a debacle), but I think it is a good lesson that no matter how generous you are to them or how nice the movers seem (the two crooks were actually very polite), you still have to keep an eye on them.

Oh, and the moving company was Lawrence Transportation (United Van Lines). I don't really hold it against the moving company, because the driver was so up front with us and Lawrence was understandably mortified when we called them and worked with us to make it right.

It was a miserable experience, but I consider this one of those "win one for the little guy" moments. You always hear stories about powerless homeowners getting ripped off by movers (I especially heard lots of stories from my military days), but this is the first time I have ever heard of movers actually getting caught.

Thanks for letting me share my story

[Rant off]

 

First I want to say that this following information is not about J/K Moving and storage. In my time working for them I found them very professional and never told me as a driver to do anything I would consider questionable or illegal. That is why I still to this day would recommend them.

Just remember that every crew is different and some are more honest than others even in the larger companies. While the larger companies do a much better job at screening people this is not a high wage job. It is never a good idea to leave these guys to their own devices. Always keep an account of what is in which box and also number each box so you can verify they are all there. More reputable companies will do this for you. When I worked for JK if we packed we always gave the homeowner a rundown of what is in each box and on unload had the homeowner check off each box from a checklist as it came off the truck.

One of the really large problems with using a smaller company are the scams these guys can pull. They can range from being very subtle to so infurating to the customer. There are many little things that movers do to get you. Here a few examples that a boss I had at a small community moving company actually coached me on... I spent more time learning how get more money out of customers than I did ever properly being taught how to load a truck. I finally learned that when I worked for JK.

On of the less horrendous things a moving crew will do is push certain types of cartons on you. Specifically wardrobes when I was the driver for this community moving company. I was told to offer the customer wardrobes no matter if they needed them or not but to not inform them of any costs. I was to carry fewer of my other boxes so that when push came to shove if we needed to box something up we had to use a wardrobe. Well when it came to settlement time the homeowner was supposed to be greeted with a $40 charge per wardrobe for the rental. I never could do that and had money removed from my paychecks for not doing what I was told.

Another thing to watch out for is if the job is not fixed price you may find the workers not moving very fast. When I went out on flexible price jobs in the morning this guy would tell me to extend the job out in any way that I can to make sure we went at least 2 hours over the quoted time. I was told to make it look as though the job was much larger than it really was.

I eventually quit that job and ended up in quite the legal battle with this guy that lasted well over a year. I was only 18 at the time but boy did this teach me tons. Thankfully he is no longer running that business.

Be careful. There are so many ways these moving companies can scam people. Stick to the larger companies and you'll be better off. The things I have seen done and the amount of money people ended up spending that they should not have is staggering.