There
are several ways of loading your goods for shipment. The shipping
service company is flexible and tries to help you save money. A live
load means the shipper will bring the container to your door and will
give you a prescribed amount of time to load the container. If you
cannot complete it within the allotted time, you will be charged
additional fees on a per hour basis. Once you have completed loading
the goods, the trucker will bring the container to the shipping
terminal. A drop off is similar to live load, except that you are
allowed more days to load and secure the goods. Once completed, you
contact the trucker to come and bring your load to the shipping
terminal. Another method is for you to bring your goods or vehicle to a
receiving warehouse or terminal nearest to you. Once the goods are
received, the dock hands will load and secure the goods in a container
and deliver the container to the shipping terminal. The options will
depend on several factors, such as the number of friends and neighbors
that can help you load and secure the goods. Doing the loading and
securing yourself at the shortest possible time may be the cheapest
method. You may have to treat everybody that helped to free meals and
drinks. Be aware of the safety considerations. In your rush to load and
secure everything in the shortest time, accidents could happen and
people could get hurt. You should ensure that everyone is covered with
some form of insurance.
When
packing your household and personal items, use clean sturdy boxes for
the small items. Have the large items and furniture wrapped in moving
blankets or plastic. All these preparations should be done before the
delivery van goes to your place with the container. Studies show that
with sufficient strong friends to help you, the actual loading and
securing in the container should take 2 to 4 hours. Be sure to have
sufficient rope to tie down all the items. A shipper normally provides
hooks that you can use to tie the items down. Ropes and similar packing
items are not provided since they may be held liable if the items break
loose and get damaged. You can hire local movers to load and secure the
goods but this may be expensive since they will include insurance
coverage on the items. However, it may be equivalent to what you would
pay if you opted to get insurance coverage on your own.
Containers
are available at different sizes. The cost depends on the size of the
container, and not on the weight. Anything you can fit into the
container is acceptable to the shipper. Get advice from professionals
on the container size you should be using for your goods. A standard
size vehicle could fit into a 20-foot container with space left for
some household goods. You can probably fit some personal goods inside
the vehicle and in the trunk. There are certain safety precautions when
loading a vehicle, such as ensuring the car does not roll in the
container, the gas tank should be empty and wires disconnected from the
battery terminals. When the car is off-loaded at the destination, you
can put gas and reconnect the wires to bring it to running condition.
Inexperienced people waste a lot of space when packing and do not
secure the items tight enough to avoid damage in transit. In their
desire to save money, they may end up paying more. Try contacting a
reliable shipper for advice. They may even offer a reasonable price to
do the job themselves.
