Renting a storage pod during a move

9 years ago

We have put a date on our plans to sell the house and move to a different state. I know we have too much furniture in the house for other people to view the house, so we were thinking of renting one of those storage pods. The ones we have in mind are the ones that are dropped off and you pack yourself, they then retrieve them and store them offsite until you tell them where to truck the pod.

My questions are

1) do they store the pods in big lots in the rain and weather?

2) how safe are the contents? We have one or two pieces I inherited that hold a lot of personal value. I don't want families to abuse them during their house search, but I don't want them in 110 degree heat someplace in the SW either. (When I sold my mom's house, I found the bed in the master bedroom lying in pieces in the floor, totally destroyed by being used as a trampoline by some kids one afternoon. My RE agent just shrugged and said these things happen. So I want to take steps to make sure these things don't happen again. ). Are the contents ever exposed to the elements? What are people's experience with the safety or potential damage to the contents?

3) how are the costs determined? Are they expensive?

4) are there better solutions I don't know about?

Thanks for your input.

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Comments (4)

sushipup1
9 years ago
Call your local POD company, or two or three of them, and ask. Your questions are good ones, but entirely dependent upon your location and the company you choose.
redcurls
9 years ago
Best and easiest move we ever made! In our case, the storage place WAS air conditioned. It was a big concern of ours because our month-long storage was in Florida and in August, so we definitely checked that out beforehand. It was stored at a brand name mover's storage facility. I never had ONE mishap or scratch with this move, unlike a couple others where I hired professional moving companies. The PODS people delivered the thing on time and returned it on time. My husband said since the pod is low, it makes it easy to walk in and out of the thing to load and unload. Good luck in your move.
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pixie_lou
9 years ago
It does vary by company and location. You really need to call around. I'm in New England. One company I talked to had different rates for temp control storage vs non temp control. One company gave you the option of having their men load the storage unit for you. Many of them have a 2 month minimum.

Though I haven't inquired, I've heard they are expensive for long distance moves.

Whatever you do, get the storage unit OFF SITE before your house goes on the market.
Chadoe3
9 years ago
We used in POD for our last move and it worked out great. (We're also in Florida). It was nice being able to take some time packing up, but it was terrific when it came time to unpack. Instead of the usual, everything in boxes in my (new) house and things getting put away willy nilly, NOTHING came out of the POD until it had a designated place in the new house. I've never been so organized during a move before! I definitely plan to go this route again on my next move.

The POD company we used here was great too. Storage was air-conditioned and extremely secure. They keep the POD level during the entire move, so nothing shifted or was damaged. I don't really remember the cost, but my last move was during a financially tight time (for me), so it couldn't have been too bad.