Managing Your Moving Days

After weeks or even months of waiting, it’s finally time to pack and move your stuff. But where to start? Military OneSource is committed to making your PCS move as smooth as possible, and below you’ll find an overview of what to expect during the actual moving days for a household goods shipment. The Personal Property Quick Reference Guide is also a great resource to give you a snapshot of the key responsibilities for both you and your transportation service provider, or TSP, during each step of the process.

It’s important to make sure that you and your residence are ready for a flurry of activity. If you haven’t checked out some of these packing tips, now would be a great time. Being proactive about your move is the best way to make it as stress-free as possible.

A representative from the moving company or your TSP will call or come by your residence to complete a Pre-Move Survey. During the survey, they will complete a weight estimation and note any special items that you identified when you arranged your move. If you are within a week of your scheduled move date and a survey has not been completed on your home, it’s highly recommended that you reach out to the TSP or your local transportation office for assistance.

Packing days are different from loading/moving days. During the packing phase, your TSP will send packers to your home to put all your items in boxes. You or your designated agent must be available between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on these days. The loading/moving phase includes the dates that movers put your household goods on the truck, with your final loading date usually being moving day.

The packers will contact you ahead of time to inform you they will be coming on the scheduled pack dates and within a specified time period. It’s critical that you’re available during this time. If for some reason the TSP fails to show, quickly notify your local transportation office and your TSP.

The packers will load just about anything and everything that they can fit into boxes during this portion, which can be a blessing and a challenge. Make sure to sort out what needs to go with you (and not on a moving truck) before pack day, or you run the risk of those things getting lost in the mix of boxes.

The truck has arrived, and it’s time for all of your household goods to be loaded. Remember, you or your designated agent must be available between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. During loading/moving, the driver of the truck is usually in charge of the show and will make sure there is a crew and that everything is properly loaded onto the truck before departing. If you run into any issues during this phase, talk with the driver first, and if the issue can’t be resolved, don’t hesitate to call your local transportation office for help.

Because you are traveling to your next destination, it’s important to keep the lines of communication open and be available for the TSP driver and your moving coordinator. If your driver or your moving coordinator has any updates, they may try to contact you as they make their way to your next destination, so it’s important you be available to answer any questions.

Direct delivery vs. storage

• If you have arranged a direct delivery move, you MUST arrive at the delivery destination before the driver. If the driver arrives at your new residence before you do, they may have to put your items in storage, depending on their schedule.
• If you had planned for your items to go directly into storage, you have more flexibility with your arrival timing.

Notification of delivery

• The TSP must provide 24-hour notice before delivery.
• They will attempt to contact you twice, at least six hours apart.
• If they do not hear back from you within the 24-hour notice timeframe, they may try to call the local transportation office and have your belongings placed in storage.

Once your goods are in storage, it can sometimes take up to a few weeks to get them delivered again.

You or your designated agent must be available between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Before the truck is unloaded, you can expect to do a walk-through with the driver and the delivery crew to identify any pre-existing damage to the residence and to let them see the layout of the home to determine the best way to unload your household goods. As with your loading day, the delivery crew is required to put down some type of material to protect your flooring and any tight corners that may be in the residence as well.

Keep track of your inventory.

Prior to the delivery crew offloading your household goods, they will give you the inventory sheets so you can check off the “numbers” to ensure everything is delivered. The use of bingo cards/check-off sheets is another way the crew can check off the numbers. These are only internal moving company documents.

The movers are responsible for hauling away empty boxes and packing materials after they’ve finished delivering your belongings, but they are not required to come back after that. If you ask them to come back to take your empty boxes and they agree to do it, that’s great. If possible, have everything piled up in one location to get this done quickly.