Would like to know your experiences and cost.

I’m moving about 1,700 miles and I’m wondering about the cost of using the PODS service versus renting a Penske and driving it myself. Time isn’t a factor as I will have plenty.

I know renting a 26’ Penske with moving trailer and insurance for a one way trip will be just shy of $2,200 plus gas and DEF. But that price can change daily.

Wondering if a couple of PODS would save myself some decent money and the misery of the drive.

When I was moving last year (Bay Area to Southern Utah) PODS didn't service my area.

I looked into trucking companies, where you get a whole 40 foot or whatever trailer or part of it, price was OK, but their schedule for times was too flexible, I only had a week of vacation and needed to know when things were going to happen.

In the Bay Area Penske was about twice the price of a Budget truck, at least where I was going.

Used 2 pods to go from MO to WA somewhere around 2010ish. Seems like it cost around $2K. They weren't terribly weather resistant so there was some water intrusion. At that time you picked up from U-Haul on final destination rather than them bringing to you. As I looked at the construction of the POD, it seemed like little more than a heavy duty pallet with double thick political sign type material walls and a semitransparent plexi roof. Better than nothing by a slim margin. There was also some time li it on length of use which was close to exhausted during transit.

It worked.

I never used them again and moved similarly several times. I figured the savings wasn't worth it.

Not knocking the service, simply sharing my limited experience.

My buddy used one of their largest to move from San Diego to Colorado Springs in conjunction with a large Penske truck. His experience with PODS was doe good, my wife and I used one to store when we did our floors.

Will use them again when we move.

Two caveats, you're packing the pods and responsible for damage incurred during the move (short of an accident I think) and, you want a really good lock for just in case.

Son moved family from Florida to West Coast a few years back. 1 large pod for house, shipped a vehicle, and saved enough to rent SUV for transcontinental tourista role. He had no issues and was quite pleased.

U Haul has over 17,000 locations. Easy on fuel, gas, lower deck height for easy loading, integral loading ramps, hitched for car trailers, which are one of the best built car trailers anywhere. Brand new 26' trucks. Rides like a van, hauls like a truck. They also write my weekend job pay checks for running the ticket booth...

I used them last year to move from NW Atlanta to the Sarasota FL area. It was around 550 miles.

For me it was perfect. I have to start by saying the customer service was absolutely fantastic. They did exactly what they said they would and did not require much lead time to move to the next step. They had no issue dropping off at a storage locker facility either.

It was perfect for me because I had to leave my house mid April, because it sold, and wasn’t getting my apartment in FL until June so not only did I need someone to move my stuff, I needed it stored.

The steps, as I remember them, are drop off of the POD, pickup of the POD and storing locally, moving the POD to your final destination and storing locally, drop off of your POD, then the final pickup. I was charged incrementally as certain steps hit. I think the bulk of the charge was when they moved it from ATL to FL. They charge a monthly storage fee but it wasn’t too much. I think that in total I paid around $2500 and they had my POD for two full months.

The downside is that the PODs just are not that big and getting a second POD doesn’t save much from the first. I figured they were driving the truck down anyway and two PODs fit on a truck so maybe I’d get a good discount but I didn’t. It might have been exactly double. If I was moving from one location to another and didn’t need to store my stuff in between I would rent a truck and move it instead. FWIW I was able to hire four guys with a moving truck for four hours locally. So I had the POD delivered to my storage locker, had the guys unload it, some into their truck and some into the locker, drive over to my apartment and carry all my shit up the stairs for me. All in all it was by far the most civilized move I’ve ever had.

ETA: I know a lot of moving companies will store your stuff. But a few years ago my company was doing a big job in Dallas and we rented some warehouse space to stage our equipment. That warehouse was also used by a major moving company to store people’s stuff. We were supposed to be locked out of that area but the bathroom was there so the staff in the warehouse just left the gate unlocked for us. We were allowed to roam the place totally unsupervised. Personally I’m not going to trust a moving company to store my stuff.

When we were putting our house on the market we used a POD to store things that we would not need and in order to declutter. That POD was packed by my wife and I how and when we wanted. Once ready we called for a pickup and offvto their secure indoor storage warehouse. House was on the market for 6 months. Once sold called PODs for a second one, delivered, packed by my wife and I, then off to storage. Once my wife and I closed on our next house, about 6 months after ours sold, callec PODs and both units were delivered without issue. Customer service was great. Would use them again.

I used them from NH to AZ - the POD was in storage for 6 months and was delivered to my door. Not a single item broken.

I forget the cost but it was worth every penny - drop off, storage and delivery.

I also need to add that the quote above was as of last night in the Penske. Having checked prices Pre-panic, it was significantly less, probably around 50% of that. I won’t need it until July but I don’t think the price will drop that much since that will probably be moving season. Reason why I couldn’t book in advance was because it’s a military move and panic has put many timelines on hold.

I won't comment as to price since my experience with PODS was 7 years ago but I have to say it was a pleasure. I used the POD to store the contents of my house after selling and rather than an immediate move, I had them just hold it for me like a mobile storage unit of sorts. Customer service was great, you can go to the local storage facility and have full access to your pod if you need to get something (just give them a call in advance and they make it ready for you) and I had zero issues with weather or water intrusion. When I was finally ready to unload the contents of the pod, I had it delivered to my new house. Every interaction I had with them was perfect.

We used them as a component of two moves and couldn’t have been happier.

For us, the advantage was being able to pack up a metric crapton of stuff prior to listing our home and store it for later retrieval at our new address. Mostly non-seasonal clothes, everything from the attic, basement, some extra furniture etc. Helped with the showing of the house as well as ease moving into new places without having to sort all that out at the same time we were initially getting settled. We had the pods delivered a month or so after we moved in both times.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I also need to add that the quote above was as of last night in the Penske. Having checked prices Pre-panic, it was significantly less, probably around 50% of that. I won’t need it until July but I don’t think the price will drop that much since that will probably be moving season. Reason why I couldn’t book in advance was because it’s a military move and panic has put many timelines on hold.

In the summer I worked for a moving company, I probably moved 30-40 military homes (and the rural area I'm in is not that close to a base). If Uncle Sam isn't paying for it directly, I'd assume all the major carriers have a decent discount for .mil.
I'd check around before I spent $2k to load, drive & unload myself.

We used them in December 2018 and it went seamlessly. We had three pods, and all were in storage for at least a few days. Total cost was just shy of $700, and the distance was just across town. It really helped us get stuff to get stuff out the house in waves, and allowed the first pic in to be the beds and essentials.

We had a team unpacking us and moving items upstairs at the new place, but had we hired one crew to pack up, store our goods for 8 days and unpack us it would have cost $11,000. The way we did it, it cost us about $3,000.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
U Haul has over 17,000 locations. Easy on fuel, gas, lower deck height for easy loading, integral loading ramps, hitched for car trailers, which are one of the best built car trailers anywhere. Brand new 26' trucks. Rides like a van, hauls like a truck. They also write my weekend job pay checks for running the ticket booth...

Thanks for the plug David Lee.

U-Haul has ubox.com.

Many more delivery & storage options than PODS.

Used PODS to move from TX to NC a little over a year ago. Rented 2 of the 16' PODS and paid local companies to do the packing and delivery.

We stored our belongings for about two months due to timing of house sale in TX and closing in NC and it went very well. It was about $5,000 for the PODS total.

Broken down, transport from TX to NC was $3,200 total. Delivery fee (from local storage yard) was $130 per unit. That likely will get waived if you go point to point in a single trip. Storage was about $250 per month per unit.

PODS did try to charge us for an entire month's storage fee even though we only had it for a week...had to involve the credit card company to get them to pro-rate it.

If you only have 1 16' unit it will be about the same as DIY. If you need 2, DIY Penske will be cheaper.

I used it for a PCS cross country like 13-14 years ago. It was nice to not do the work of driving as we dollied our truck behind a uhaul on the way out. I knew how to drive a trailer and love driving but it SUCKED! If I had to cross the country moving again I would do PODS. I remember the Uhaul being cheaper but I wouldnt do it again based on the quality of the drive back across the country. We had more speed, comfort and could stop and see things vs the PITA of the Uhaul. I uhaul for the local stuff but I'd do PODS on the large moves that are more than a days drive.

PODS themselves were trouble free and all our stuff was intact on arrival.

I moved a pod from MA to FL.

We put in one driveway in MA, filled it and it arrived in FL in less than a week, it was in the FL driveway being unpacked.

No problems at all. no damage.

Used one when my daughters house sold in advance of getting a deal on a new home, it was delivered to her house, we filled it up with as much as possible. Theres no rush to load it and move to a storage bin or your new location as with a rental truck.

The rate was comparable to a storage unit, however the POD eliminated 50 some odd trips that would have to be made moving her things from one side of the city to the other. So gas, wear and tear, stress levels from driving cross city were gone. Load it up, call them and watch it leave.

Unit is stored in a climate controlled warehouse, and about 4 months later when they had the new home it was delivered to the drive, empty it as you like, time isn't of consequence as you pay for monthly storage like in the storage unit.

JMO its a shit-ton better than going to a unit, major shit-ton better. Nothing was broken, missing, lost, since you load it, and you lock it with your lock.

In a way it's better than traditional movers since you load and lock your stuff.

Currently using U-Box from U-Haul. One unit already loaded and has been in storage for over a year, second unit loaded and waiting in the driveway to be picked up. Both will be shipped to Alaska once I normalize my living arrangements there. Pods was not an option for me since they would not ship to Alaska.

The U-Box unit is smaller and you may need multiple. Picking up and delivering yourself is free. Downside is the unit is on a small trailer and elevated with a ramp to access it. Kind of a PITA, I dumped my tool chest trying to push it up the ramp. If delivered by U-Haul they sit flat with only a small step to the floor of the unit. Storage for the unit is much cheaper than a regular walk up storage unit.