Packing is an important job and quality of packing differs significantly between lowest price movers and premium movers. Packing is both a science and an art that improves with experience. That’s the reason while choosing our partners we place a great deal of importance to “number of years of operation” of partner company.
The household goods volume, packing requirements and transportation distance greatly determine the relocation quote. In India, the volume is measured in cubic feet/ cubic meter. While filling up your request in shifteasy, you might have noticed that we ask you for number of cartons of books and utensils. Mover Company requires these details for computing the volume. Some of our customers have difficulty in calculating the number of boxes and often ask me how many books a 2 cubic feet carton could hold. This post answers some of those questions and gives an idea about different types of carton boxes typically movers use.
2 Cubic feet (2*2*2 feet)’
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These boxes are used for small, heavy items such as books, files, tools, CDs, records, etc. One full 2 cube can hold up to 25 kgs. The rule of thumb is 2 feet size of books/3 feet size of CDs is equivalent to one 2-cube box. |
4 Cu. Ft. Carton
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These are cartons used for kitchenware, toys, shoes or anything lightweight and bulky. The rule of thumb is one single door clothes cupboard/bottom cupboard of kitchen is equivalent to one 4-cube box. |
Mirror Box
Not very common. Mirrors, pictures, and framed artwork are packed in picture cartons. Generally, 2 to 3 items may be packed into each carton.
Crating
Items such as glass shelves in china cabinets, glass and marble table tops, mirrors without frames, marble table bases, grandfather clocks and very rare antique pieces are crated.
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After my first post, I received few enquiries on how to go about comparing moving quotes received from different movers. As a customer it may puzzle you why so much of difference between different quotes. The answer to an extent lies in the kind of movers you are opting for. There are distinct kinds of movers in the market, and each one’s prices are different because of the service levels, and the value adds they offer. Broadly, the movers could be classified into three categories.
- Lowest price Movers (LPM)
- Value Movers
- Premium Movers
| Lowest price Movers | Value Movers | Premium Movers | |
| Price | Low | Medium | High |
| Office presence | Regional | At least 5-6 offices across the metros | Offices across the world |
| Best suited for | Local/small domestic moves | Domestic Move | Large domestic/ International Move |
| Ownership of vehicles, warehouse etc | Mostly operate through partnerships | Own fleet, personnel and warehouses | Own fleet, personnel and warehouses |
| Quality of Service | Varies a lot | Medium to High and Non-Standardized | High and Standardized |
| Personalization | Low | Low | High |
Customer can choose the category of mover based on budgets, amount of goods, distance etc. Comparison of quotes within a category is easy and the mover, who made the best offer, is expected to bag the order.
We encountered some cases where premium mover’s quotes are lesser than value movers and value mover’s quotes are lesser than LPM’s. This is partly because of mover’s inefficiencies. Transportation typically accounts for 50-60% packers & movers costs and the mover, who has most optimized route, would be able to offer best price. No mover wants to run their fleet empty, and customers get best deals if the relocation requirement is in the sweet spot of the mover.
At Shifteasy, we keep collecting information on which movers are most frequently plying on a given route and how optimized are their operations. We combine this information with our deep industry knowledge to shortlist movers who can offer the best service at optimal price for our customer’s requirements.
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Choosing Right Packer and Mover
The Indian packers and movers industry is highly fragmented and choosing a right mover is a herculean task. For example Sulekha has 30,000 + movers listed in its website for 40 cities. This shows the utmost fragmentation in the industry. Finding the right mover that fits your requirement is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Packers and movers come in many shapes and forms. On one hand there are players, who operate only during the peak seasons , pure outsourcers and on the other hand there are reliable, reputable players. Each of them spend lot of marketing money to acquire customers. The mover’s brand you frequently encounter in Internet may not be reliable. One way to check authenticity of the mover is to survey independent reviews. Without a site similar to Tripadvisor for packers & movers industry you are not very sure how many of these reviews are paid /self-reviews. Moreover people shift their houses once in few years there is a very little chance of you getting right current information about a particular mover from your friends/neighbors.
Typically people choose the movers from the ads they see in yellow pages or advertising sites. None of these sources provide any guarantee on mover’s quality of service. Another way is to choose the same mover who had done a good job few years back. Again this not an effective way. Some movers are only good at few locations. For example a packer and mover, who is good at Delhi may not be good at Bangalore and vice versa. It’s important to choose a mover based on your location, your household goods etc.
Recently one of my friends narrated his relocation horror story. He employed a mover based on information from an online advertising portal. He did the preliminary checks on the mover and even visited his office. In the end the mover had done an extremely bad job and broke half the house hold items. When my friend went to confront the mover in his office he was stunned to find that the office belongs to someone else’s. This mover just disappeared.
ShiftEasy.in is here to help you with best relocaters who can save your money, time and offer professional and reliable service at your fingertips. ShiftEasy is a simple and easy to use service and takes less than 5 minutes for you to get best quotation for relocation. We take your request online and locate best suitable relocation service providers that exactly match your requirement.
We at shifteasy has partnerships with most trusted packers & movers all over India. As you submit this basic information, ShiftEasy will shortlist the best suitable relocation service providers based on your requirement. We guarantee excellent service qualities at affordable prices if not the cheapest price. After all this is a service industry and packers and movers, who quote cheapest might not provide best value for your money.
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