Handled four times · 4
Four handlings, a cheaper vehicle
Loaded at your house, unloaded at a depot, reloaded with other consignments, unloaded at the far end. It costs less because you are buying part of a vehicle rather than all of it. Here is exactly what you are trading for that.
This is a good option, honestly described. What it is not is the same thing as a dedicated load at a lower price.
What a part-load involves
What you save, and what you give up
You save the cost of the empty space. On a small household moving a long way that can be the difference between a sensible figure and an absurd one, and it is why part-loads exist.
You give up two things. The first is the handling count, which doubles. The second is the departure date, which becomes when the vehicle fills rather than when you ask. If your dates are firm, this is the wrong service and we will say so rather than take the booking.
The handling you never see
The transfer at the depot. Your goods come off one vehicle and go onto another, among other people's belongings, handled by people who did not wrap them and have never seen your house.
Which is precisely why the inventory is written and the labelling applied at your door rather than at a counter. Every item carries your consignment reference before it leaves, and the list is checked against the goods at each transfer.
Pack for four, not for two
Cartons on a part-load are stacked against other people's, bear weight they would not bear on a dedicated van, and are lifted by hands that do not know what is in them.
So the packing specification rises: heavier board, cartons filled to the lid, no voids, and labelling that survives a warehouse. We would rather do this packing ourselves on a shared consignment, and we will explain why rather than simply quoting for it.
When we will tell you not to
When your dates are fixed. When the consignment is mostly fragile or mostly antique. When it is small enough that a dedicated van on a short run costs little more. And when you are moving a full household, at which point you are buying most of a vehicle anyway and the saving disappears.
Four handlings, and a cheaper vehicle
Questions about four handlings, and a cheaper vehicle
- 01
Is a part-load safe?
It carries more handlings, which is a real difference rather than a marketing one. It is not unsafe — it is two more opportunities for something to go wrong, and it should be packed and priced with that in mind.
- 02
When will our things arrive?
Once the vehicle fills and the route runs. That is the genuine trade on this service and it is why fixed dates and part-loads do not mix.
- 03
How do you keep our goods separate?
Listed and labelled to your consignment at your house before it leaves, with the list travelling with the goods and checked at each transfer.
- 04
Will the same crew deliver?
No. A local crew delivers at the far end, which is one of the things you trade for the lower cost and the reason the labelling and the inventory matter so much.
- 05
Should we pack it ourselves?
We would rather you did not. On a shared consignment the packing is doing much more work than it does on a dedicated van, and that is worth having done properly.
- 06
Can we switch to a dedicated load later?
Before collection, yes, and we will requote it. After the goods are in the system it becomes considerably harder, so decide before the vehicle arrives.
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.