Handled twice · 2
Two handlings, a night between
Cornwall to Caithness is the same two handlings as a move across a town. The distance changes the planning, the driving hours and the cost. It does not have to change the count, and on a dedicated load it does not.
Where a firm empties the vehicle into a depot overnight, your count has quietly become four.
What a long run involves
The question to ask any long-distance firm
Where does the vehicle spend the night, and is it emptied. It is a completely ordinary question and the answer tells you more about a quotation than any amount of copy about care and attention.
Emptying a vehicle into a depot overnight is efficient for the operator — the vehicle can be used for something else — and it is two extra handlings for you. It is not dishonest. It is simply rarely mentioned, and it should be.
Loads are built for the distance
A load that will be driven four hundred miles is stacked differently from one going across a town. Nothing bears weight it was not stacked to bear, soft items do not sit under hard ones, and everything is strapped in tiers rather than as one mass.
It takes longer at your house and it is the reason very little moves inside a well-built load, however long the journey.
Where the water starts
Mainland Scotland and all of Wales stay at two handlings on a dedicated load. An island destination adds a ferry, and the count then depends on whether the vehicle travels with the goods.
Where it does, you are still at two. Where it does not, the goods are transferred and the count rises — which is the single thing worth establishing before you book anything for an island move.
Both ends, in advance
The access at the far end is surveyed before departure, by photographs where a visit is not practical. A crew that has driven the length of the country and then finds a lane it cannot enter is a bad afternoon that a five-minute question would have prevented.
Two handlings with a night between
Questions about two handlings with a night between
- 01
Does distance add handlings?
On a dedicated load, no. The vehicle stays loaded overnight rather than being emptied, so a run the length of the country is the same two handlings as a local move.
- 02
Where does the vehicle stay overnight?
Loaded and secured with the driver. Not emptied into a depot, and not left unattended. Where a particular route makes that impossible we will say so before you book.
- 03
Do we get the same crew at the far end?
Wherever the route and the driving hours allow it. Where they do not, the quotation says so rather than leaving you to discover it on the doorstep.
- 04
How do you handle an island delivery?
The ferry leg is planned as part of the run. If the vehicle travels with the goods you are still at two handlings; if it cannot, the count rises and we tell you before you book.
- 05
Can you survey the far end?
Yes, remotely by photographs and measurements where a visit is not practical. Access at the destination is established before departure rather than discovered on arrival.
- 06
Is a part-load cheaper on a long run?
Frequently, and we will quote both. The trade is two extra handlings and departure when the vehicle fills rather than when you ask.
How many handlings should your move have?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and how much the dates can move. Where there is more than one sensible option we will quote both, with the count written on each.