Tips For a Stress Free Moving Day

Your Moving Day Check List

Moving day can be a stressful time.  Follow this check list to help make moving day as smooth and stress free as possible.

✔ Sort your home.  Start early.  Don't pack things you don't want just because it's easier.  Go through each room individually throwing away the trash and filtering things that may be good for a charity like the Salvation Army or Goodwill.  You can even have a garage sale to try and make some extra cash for the  moving process.

✔ Create a moving folder or list.  Use this folder to keep track of all your paperwork with the moving company and the list of things that you'll be packing and labeling.


✔ Choose your trucking facility, movers or packaging company.  There are several different options when moving your home.  Aside from the traditional moving companies large items can be moved via freight.  You can receive quotes for this at www.FreightCenter.com.  Additionally, FreigthCenter get you grate rates with companies like YouCrate.  They drop off crates, you fill and they pick up.  This can be an easy alternative to moving the items yourself or paying for expensive movers.

✔ Schedule a service transfer.  Schedule the transfer of your cable, internet, home phone, lawn or pool service or any other services you may have attached to your home.  Also make sure to contact your children's school and fill out the necessary transfer paperwork.  And of course don't forget to transfer your mail.  This can be done online in a few easy steps on the USPS Website.

✔ Take measurements.  Nothing is worse than trying to fit a king sized bed up a narrow staircase or dragging a refrigerator around back just to get it through the door.  Measure the doorways of your new home and be prepared for the large items in your home.

✔ Purchase moving supplies.  Purchase boxes, tape, bubble wrap, moving straps, permanent markets, foam padding and of course a dolly!

✔ Separate valuable items.  Seperate personal items such as pass ports, birth certificiates, deeds, jewlrey and paperwork.  Put these items in a special box and transport them in your personal vehicle.

✔ Start packing! Be specific with your labeling and label everything that is fragile.  Also make sure you separate a few  boxes that will have the necessities the day you move.  Children's items, toiletries, clothes and  a few kitchen items for a start. Click here to view great tips on moving heavy furniture safely.

✔Clear a path.  Make it safe and easy for you or your movers to walk in and out of your home.  Remove rugs or items near the doorways.

✔ Double check every room.  Make a clean sweep of the house make sure to double check your yard, the attic, underneath the stairs, or any other crevice that may be hiding things after years of living.

Happy Moving!

How To Ship Heavy Furniture Safely

The Dos and Don'ts of Shipping Heavy Furniture

Shipping furniture can be done the easy way or the hard way.  Doing your homework prior to shipping your furniture or heavy  household items can help stop problems before they happen.  Your first question, much like buying a car, is often where do I start?  Start by making sure that freight is the best option for your heavy furniture.  Read up on tips for first-time freight shippers to make sure that you understand the logistics of freight shipping.  Furniture should weigh over 100lbs and should be durable enough to be moved.  Your great grandfather’s antique hutch would probably do better with a white glove mover than with freight.  Freight is a curb to curb shipment, meaning heavy furniture needs to be packaged and ready to be shipped by you, the customer.

The number one reason for freight damage is due to improper packaging.  Furniture that is shipped by standard freight will be loaded and unloaded several times before reaching its final destination.  Learning how to package and transport heavy furniture correctly will serve as the most important factor in ensuring your furniture arrives on time and unharmed. 

Tips For Packaging Heavy Household Items and Furniture

1. Packaging Tables: Disassemble your table.  Put hardware in a labeled plastic bag and secure underneath the table.  Wrap the furniture pieces in bubble wrap or furniture pads.

2.  Packaging Couches: Remove legs if necessary.  Remove cushions, throw pillows, and slip covers, and label/package in a separate bag or box.

3. Packaging dressers and armoires: Remove drawers, shelves, and feet.  Anything that could fall out, might. Cover the corners of your heavy furniture with cardboard, or bubble wrap.

4. CRATE, CRATE, CRATE!  Crating should be performed by someone with experience or by a professional.  More information on packaging correctly and securing your heavy furniture on a palate can be found here.

Tips For Lifting Heavy Household Items and Furniture

1. Use moving straps:  Moving straps can be used to slide heavy furniture or appliances.  By using leverage instead of raw strength, moving straps can make moving heavy furniture safe and easy.  You can purchase these at your local hardware store or a moving supply store. 

2. Use a dolly: Rent or buy one locally, trust us it’s worth the eight bucks.

3. Use moving gloves: Not just any cotton gloves. Moving gloves are specially made to help you grip heavy and large furniture.

4. Grab a buddy: Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Ask friends well in advance to help you move your heavy furniture and appliances.  Better safe than sorry!

View more FAQ's for furniture shipping or visit FreightCenter.com to talk to an agent about the best way to package your furniture and household items. 

How to package to prevent damage to freight during shipping

Here are some basic packaging guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of any shipment.  

1. Improper packaged shipments may be refused by carriers. Items should be placed within a box, carton, crate, etc. Heavy shipments (over 200 lb) should be properly positioned on a pallet or crate, in good condition. Make sure there is no overhang when boxes are stacked, they have to be distributed squarely. Remember that a pallet jack is most likely going to pic it up. 


2. Here are some example of types of items/products:
Non Fragile Items: Paper items, plastic items, machinery parts, canned products, granular products, carpeting, tools and hardware, etc.  Fragile Items: Artwork, household/personal effects, small furniture, electronics, glass, etc.


3. Shipments may be exposed to temperature changes, so prepare for it. (depending on the weather) Place sensitive items in plastic bags.

4. There’s going to be natural movement in transit. Use plenty of cushioning, wrapping and bracing. We recommend using the best protective containers at your disposal.  Do not over pack boxes. Foam pillows, bubble wrap, rolled foam, or any other interior padding is greatly encouraged. Distributing the weight evenly minimizes chances of damage.

5. Clear label (affix your FreightCenter BOL for extra protection), accurate item counts and descriptions should be included. (just in case your boxes get separated) The seams of boxes should be covered with professional boxing tape. Boxes on pallets should be tightly wrapped with shrink-wrap. Multiple layers of wrapping material should strap all boxes like a solid unit, without any space for wobbling.

6. If it’s valuable, insure your shipment. (the carrier's liability is only .10 per pound)

7. Crating should be done by a professional crating company,  or some one with experience, at least if a specialized crate is needed.

For more in depth information about freight shipping, go to our help center.

Packaging A Shipment For Shipping Standard Freight

Have you ever called up a shipping company an asked for a freight shipping quote? Were you excited to get your shipment going until you were asked how the freight is packaged?  Alll freight on an LTL truck needs to be packaged in one of three ways.

When getting ready to make a puchase of something that needs to be shipped on a standard freight truck, make sure you have a packaging plan.  This guide will explain how items need to be prepared for shipping, along with the pros and cons of each method of packaging.

One of the most common forms of packaging is palletizing. A pallet is a platform that something can be strapped to and moved with a fork-lift or pallet jack. The most common size pallet is 48(L) x 40(W), but there are plenty of different size pallets to use. The idea is to make sure the item is not hanging over the sides of the pallet, and not higher than 8 feet. Also, the freight needs to be fastened to the pallet without blocking the area where the forklift enters the pallet. With more delicate items, it is a good idea to wrap the pallet with cardboard for added protection.

Another  method of preparing a freight shipment would be crating. A crate could be made of wood, metal, or plastic, and has sides and a top. Many crates are built by using a pallet as the base for the crate. This is probably the easiest way to make a crate. The most important thing to remember when making your own crate is to make sure the crate can be moved by fork-lift or pallet jack. Crates can also be purchased or made by a crating service. Shipping a crated item is the safest method by far.

The least protective method for shipping would be putting something in a cardboard box. Although this way of packaging is acceptable for shipping, it is not very safe. This would be considered the minimal amount of protection given. The entire item needs to be enclosed in heavy duty cardboard or the freight carriers will not even pick it up.

Remember, the purpose of packaging freight correctly is to help eliminate damage, not to make it harder for you to ship. Shipping freight on an LTL (less than a load) truck is not like putting something on a moving truck, it does not remain on one truck the whole way. From the time your freight is picked up it will be moved onto a minimum of two trailers, with a potential of being on as many as six or seven throughout transit. With all this loading and unloading, there are many opportunities for incurring damage. Good luck and happy shipping!