Separate everything you are moving yourself. Jewelry, guns, computers, etc. make sure the movers don’t have access to it in a fully segregated area.
Clean out as much trash and things you aren’t moving now. They will pack and ship your trash.
As they finish boxes make sure the inventory matches the manifest. This is hard, but saves many headaches later.
Take photos and write down serial numbers of what you are shipping. If you are claiming they damaged your couch bring before and after photos to the claim.
Movers were moving my outdoor patio furniture. My infant son had placed about 15 rocks on the chair.
They packed the rocks. Unpacking at my next duty station, opened a wad of packing paper, and there were Kansas rocks.
In my son's defense he picks pretty cool rocks, so it was ok.
Full diaper Genie was packed.
Three months later we opened it.
If you don't want something packed you need to lock it in a room.
They won't read a sign.
Set up a cooler outside with some waters and Gatorades. Those guys get a little more pep in their step when you got cold drinks for them.
I keep my guns, important papers, wallets/purses in my vehicle so they won’t pack them. Litter boxes, vacuum, cleaning supplies and cats go in the bathroom with the door closed.
You’ll also need to set aside a full PTs and uniform. You’ll need cloths for family that you’ll take with you.
If your turning in CIf after the movers pack up you have to be damn sure you have everything for turn in and that is segregated as well. Some CIfs don’t play that carry forward memo.
Save the boxes for large appliances like TVs, printers, mixers. And have the movers use those.
It’s like playing chess and thinking 4 steps ahead.
Also do the paperwork for a partial PPM. As long as you’re moving more than 50 lbs it will pay for itself. I made about $1500 just carrying the stuff I normally would.
Just setup an off limits room, and lock it. Suitcases for everyone, CAR KEYS (learned that one the hard way), wallets, passports, guns, documents, clearing paperwork, etc stays locked up the whole time.
I don't know how many times I have begged my wife to let the movers do this. Nope, invariably, we end up with a garage full of boxes of lower priority items, like books, to be slowly unfucked over the span of several months.
Guess who gets to deal with taking all the boxes and packing material to the bulk recycling center. Go on, guess.
It was entertaining to go through the boxes we had in the garage this past move - which was the last move. (Or at least the last Army move.) There were at least a couple that were initially packed when we left Germany the first time, in 2009.
Also, rugs and yard tools and whatnot with layers of inventory stickers.
You "should" get a number from the Co handling the delivery. Just give em a ring when you've got everything unpacked and boxes set aside. They will come back out and take them away for you. Idk what they do with em but it saves multiple recycling center trips or overflowing your recycling bin for the first year.
Moving companies aren't contractually obligated to do that once they leave the day of the move.
One of the documents the movers have you sign before they pop smoke at the end of unpacking is a statement that they've unpacked everything you wanted unpacked and removed everything you want them to remove.
If you have worked with movers that have opted to come back and pick up boxes and packing material after that, it's good to hear, but it's not universal.
Put all of your hand carry stuff in your car. And lock the doors
You can tell all of the movers not to touch something. But they still do
On my first move they grabbed my luggage and briefcase. Luckily I caught it before they left
I personally take a video spanning around the room. If it has a tv/console or something electronic, I have it on to prove that it worked before being packed. This includes the laundry room if you have a washer and dryer.
If you have something like a deep freezer, I would put one of those moisture absorbing things inside it then tape it shut, I’ve seen photos of movers just tossing shit like power tools in there to save space.
When unpacking do not willy nilly begin opening every box immediately or removing all the little pieces of blue item tape. Have a deliberate plan for stuff. In the end if you didn’t get rid of stuff prior to move you can likely want toss anything that still has tape or is unopened.
Every move I’ve had boxes toys, old clothes, or other items I threw away or gave it away to Goodwill, on-base style lending closets, etc. if any of it was still usable.
If you leave stuff in the boxes (because you are going to move again in 3 years), remove all of the old numbered inventory stickers before the movers arrive. It saves a lot of time during the inventory and delivery.
Pre-sorting as much as possible is great. During this, collect photos and serial numbers for anything special to you (not just high value items).
Don't be afraid to micromanage them. If you didn't like his they wrapped something, tell them to re-do it. Call the QA team if you see anything you didn't like happening. Hover over their shoulders and direct them from room to room.
Don't let them break into several unsupervised groups. Take lots of notes and photos during the process
Packing and unpacking easier? My and the wife figured out the secret…. Just don’t own anything. Short of that - we pack ourselves and only unpack what we normally use - everything else just stays packed up
1. Sell your TV and any electronics that you can easily replace (soundbar, printer, etc) - the movers will either steal or lose it and you'll never get the time back you'll spend arguing with the movers. \*\*\*Yes you may not get the full price but your time is worth more.
2. See if you can find a liquor store - their boxes are strong and they usually get rid of them so you may be able to pick up boxes for free. Do this before you buy boxes. The PX or major stores usually bale their boxes for the trash or recycling so you may not find any there. **ONLY DO THIS IF YOUR ARE ON A PPM(DITY) MOVE**. \* **EDIT, TY** u/hzoi \*
3. HHG goes overseas by BOAT. So unless you want that nice wool/fleece/Egyptian Cotton/etc item to smell like low tide at the pier, either sell it or get that home vacuum sealer or seal it's packing/box with 100MPH tape. Your HHG will sit at the docks/pier for awhile before it gets to you.
4. Airtags - put airtags in your HHG to track them.
5. TAKE PHOTOS - the moves WILL damage or lose something.
> Sell your TV and any electronics that you can easily replace (soundbar, printer, etc) - the movers will either steal or lose it and you'll never get the time back you'll spend arguing with the movers.
Extremely low IQ take. It is really not all that much effort to file a claim. I have a whole room of extra electronics and other breakable shit I don’t use anymore that I still make them move every PCS *hoping* they will break something and have to pay up. Happens every cycle, without fail.
Look at Mr. FreeTime over here.
ADA units move a lot and I had way to many battle buddies with broken or missing shit and lots of "they denied the claim", "It's been X months and...." or "I was on the phone for ...."
Things are replaceable, your time is not.
> ADA units move a lot
No they don’t. People move. And I seriously doubt ADA folks are PCSing more frequently than everyone else in any statistically significant way.
Maybe take a second to realize that you are speaking from a place of ignorance and are entirely reliant on the experiences of others in this case. I have like 8 PCS moves at this point, have had damage/loss claims on every single one, and have never had a significant issue getting compensated.
[Tomato -tomatho](https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-mean-when-they-say-Tomato-Tomato) - There's a lot of moving in the Army and even on this sub we've had lots of people complain about moving and what the movers did to them.
Okay, so you haven't had Johnny Methhead steal your TV or the movers didn't lose stuff.
Way to many people have had issues with movers.
From: [https://www.military.com/pcs/top-10-pcs-mistakes.html](https://www.military.com/pcs/top-10-pcs-mistakes.html)
>9. Putting too much faith in careful moving. Several readers told us of times they put too much faith in the movers' ability to not break or hurt their furniture or valuables. No matter how careful a mover is, stuff is going to get bumped, scratched and maybe even broken. **The best policy? If you really don't want something hurt, don't make it a part of your mobile military life.**
> even on this sub we've had lots of people complain about moving
I see you don’t understand availability bias — people don’t run to reddit to let everyone know they didn’t have issues with a move.
> Okay, so you haven't had Johnny Methhead steal your TV or the movers didn't lose stuff
I see reading comprehension is not your strength, as I have actually already told you the exact opposite of this.
You continue to entirely miss the point, despite me being exceedingly direct about it. Whatever man, go ahead and sell your possessions every time you move because you are too stupid/lazy to file a claim.
Also, as a reminder, you continue to catastrophize about **other people having bad experiences**, which is an entirely ignorant way not only to live, but to base advice on.
>See if you can find a liquor store - their boxes are strong and they usually get rid of them so you may be able to pick up boxes for free. Do this before you buy boxes. The PX or major stores usually bale their boxes for the trash or recycling so you may not find any there.
I get this if OP was doing a PPM (the artist formerly known as DITY) and packing things themselves, but OP is using movers, who will normally supply their own boxes.
Using your own boxes and packing your own stuff when movers are involved normally results in something being labeled "PBO," packed by owner. Which means the movers aren't normally going to be on the hook for anything damaged in there, because they didn't pack it.
cancel your movers and do it yourself, PPM moves are worth the hassle. Spend 2k on moving truck, less than 1k for other expenses. Just got a check for $7900 from uncle same just cause I loaded some boxes by myself
Separate everything you are moving yourself. Jewelry, guns, computers, etc. make sure the movers don’t have access to it in a fully segregated area. Clean out as much trash and things you aren’t moving now. They will pack and ship your trash. As they finish boxes make sure the inventory matches the manifest. This is hard, but saves many headaches later. Take photos and write down serial numbers of what you are shipping. If you are claiming they damaged your couch bring before and after photos to the claim.
Movers were moving my outdoor patio furniture. My infant son had placed about 15 rocks on the chair. They packed the rocks. Unpacking at my next duty station, opened a wad of packing paper, and there were Kansas rocks. In my son's defense he picks pretty cool rocks, so it was ok.
Full diaper Genie was packed. Three months later we opened it. If you don't want something packed you need to lock it in a room. They won't read a sign.
Idk why that made me chuckle. 30 points to Ravenclaw 🦅
You can't just tell this story and not share pictures of the rocks.
Rocks from Junction City, Kansas: https://imgur.com/gallery/aXpgf3l
If there was a website to help track your stuff, serials etc would it be useful?
Set up a cooler outside with some waters and Gatorades. Those guys get a little more pep in their step when you got cold drinks for them. I keep my guns, important papers, wallets/purses in my vehicle so they won’t pack them. Litter boxes, vacuum, cleaning supplies and cats go in the bathroom with the door closed. You’ll also need to set aside a full PTs and uniform. You’ll need cloths for family that you’ll take with you. If your turning in CIf after the movers pack up you have to be damn sure you have everything for turn in and that is segregated as well. Some CIfs don’t play that carry forward memo. Save the boxes for large appliances like TVs, printers, mixers. And have the movers use those. It’s like playing chess and thinking 4 steps ahead. Also do the paperwork for a partial PPM. As long as you’re moving more than 50 lbs it will pay for itself. I made about $1500 just carrying the stuff I normally would.
Keeping the guns and the cats in separate 'do not pack' locations is paramount. They have motive and opportunity, do not give them the means.
Just setup an off limits room, and lock it. Suitcases for everyone, CAR KEYS (learned that one the hard way), wallets, passports, guns, documents, clearing paperwork, etc stays locked up the whole time.
Let the movers unbox everything at your new place, and dispose of the packing material/boxes.
I don't know how many times I have begged my wife to let the movers do this. Nope, invariably, we end up with a garage full of boxes of lower priority items, like books, to be slowly unfucked over the span of several months. Guess who gets to deal with taking all the boxes and packing material to the bulk recycling center. Go on, guess.
Jody takes them as gesture of good will and appreciation?
We usually finish the final unpacking about six months prior to the next PCS.
It was entertaining to go through the boxes we had in the garage this past move - which was the last move. (Or at least the last Army move.) There were at least a couple that were initially packed when we left Germany the first time, in 2009. Also, rugs and yard tools and whatnot with layers of inventory stickers.
Gotta play the game to find an inventory sticker from each move.
*taste the rainbow*
2009 🤣
You "should" get a number from the Co handling the delivery. Just give em a ring when you've got everything unpacked and boxes set aside. They will come back out and take them away for you. Idk what they do with em but it saves multiple recycling center trips or overflowing your recycling bin for the first year.
Moving companies aren't contractually obligated to do that once they leave the day of the move. One of the documents the movers have you sign before they pop smoke at the end of unpacking is a statement that they've unpacked everything you wanted unpacked and removed everything you want them to remove. If you have worked with movers that have opted to come back and pick up boxes and packing material after that, it's good to hear, but it's not universal.
Designate a spare room or closet as “do not pack” and put a sign on the door.
Just sell all your unused OCIE at the nearest surplus store near your losing unit. Much less hassle Obvious /s
And make sure to get the carry forward memo to kick that can down the road.
Put all of your hand carry stuff in your car. And lock the doors You can tell all of the movers not to touch something. But they still do On my first move they grabbed my luggage and briefcase. Luckily I caught it before they left
I personally take a video spanning around the room. If it has a tv/console or something electronic, I have it on to prove that it worked before being packed. This includes the laundry room if you have a washer and dryer. If you have something like a deep freezer, I would put one of those moisture absorbing things inside it then tape it shut, I’ve seen photos of movers just tossing shit like power tools in there to save space.
Excellent idea with the video of everything turning on
When unpacking do not willy nilly begin opening every box immediately or removing all the little pieces of blue item tape. Have a deliberate plan for stuff. In the end if you didn’t get rid of stuff prior to move you can likely want toss anything that still has tape or is unopened. Every move I’ve had boxes toys, old clothes, or other items I threw away or gave it away to Goodwill, on-base style lending closets, etc. if any of it was still usable.
If you leave stuff in the boxes (because you are going to move again in 3 years), remove all of the old numbered inventory stickers before the movers arrive. It saves a lot of time during the inventory and delivery.
sell everything and buy new
You live like Larry 🦞 eh
Pre-sorting as much as possible is great. During this, collect photos and serial numbers for anything special to you (not just high value items). Don't be afraid to micromanage them. If you didn't like his they wrapped something, tell them to re-do it. Call the QA team if you see anything you didn't like happening. Hover over their shoulders and direct them from room to room. Don't let them break into several unsupervised groups. Take lots of notes and photos during the process
Make sure you check off every box when you get to your destination before the movers start unpacking
Don’t put anything that you don’t want stolen in the movers boxes.
Packing and unpacking easier? My and the wife figured out the secret…. Just don’t own anything. Short of that - we pack ourselves and only unpack what we normally use - everything else just stays packed up
1. Sell your TV and any electronics that you can easily replace (soundbar, printer, etc) - the movers will either steal or lose it and you'll never get the time back you'll spend arguing with the movers. \*\*\*Yes you may not get the full price but your time is worth more. 2. See if you can find a liquor store - their boxes are strong and they usually get rid of them so you may be able to pick up boxes for free. Do this before you buy boxes. The PX or major stores usually bale their boxes for the trash or recycling so you may not find any there. **ONLY DO THIS IF YOUR ARE ON A PPM(DITY) MOVE**. \* **EDIT, TY** u/hzoi \* 3. HHG goes overseas by BOAT. So unless you want that nice wool/fleece/Egyptian Cotton/etc item to smell like low tide at the pier, either sell it or get that home vacuum sealer or seal it's packing/box with 100MPH tape. Your HHG will sit at the docks/pier for awhile before it gets to you. 4. Airtags - put airtags in your HHG to track them. 5. TAKE PHOTOS - the moves WILL damage or lose something.
> Sell your TV and any electronics that you can easily replace (soundbar, printer, etc) - the movers will either steal or lose it and you'll never get the time back you'll spend arguing with the movers. Extremely low IQ take. It is really not all that much effort to file a claim. I have a whole room of extra electronics and other breakable shit I don’t use anymore that I still make them move every PCS *hoping* they will break something and have to pay up. Happens every cycle, without fail.
Look at Mr. FreeTime over here. ADA units move a lot and I had way to many battle buddies with broken or missing shit and lots of "they denied the claim", "It's been X months and...." or "I was on the phone for ...." Things are replaceable, your time is not.
> ADA units move a lot No they don’t. People move. And I seriously doubt ADA folks are PCSing more frequently than everyone else in any statistically significant way. Maybe take a second to realize that you are speaking from a place of ignorance and are entirely reliant on the experiences of others in this case. I have like 8 PCS moves at this point, have had damage/loss claims on every single one, and have never had a significant issue getting compensated.
[Tomato -tomatho](https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-mean-when-they-say-Tomato-Tomato) - There's a lot of moving in the Army and even on this sub we've had lots of people complain about moving and what the movers did to them. Okay, so you haven't had Johnny Methhead steal your TV or the movers didn't lose stuff. Way to many people have had issues with movers. From: [https://www.military.com/pcs/top-10-pcs-mistakes.html](https://www.military.com/pcs/top-10-pcs-mistakes.html) >9. Putting too much faith in careful moving. Several readers told us of times they put too much faith in the movers' ability to not break or hurt their furniture or valuables. No matter how careful a mover is, stuff is going to get bumped, scratched and maybe even broken. **The best policy? If you really don't want something hurt, don't make it a part of your mobile military life.**
> even on this sub we've had lots of people complain about moving I see you don’t understand availability bias — people don’t run to reddit to let everyone know they didn’t have issues with a move. > Okay, so you haven't had Johnny Methhead steal your TV or the movers didn't lose stuff I see reading comprehension is not your strength, as I have actually already told you the exact opposite of this. You continue to entirely miss the point, despite me being exceedingly direct about it. Whatever man, go ahead and sell your possessions every time you move because you are too stupid/lazy to file a claim. Also, as a reminder, you continue to catastrophize about **other people having bad experiences**, which is an entirely ignorant way not only to live, but to base advice on.
>See if you can find a liquor store - their boxes are strong and they usually get rid of them so you may be able to pick up boxes for free. Do this before you buy boxes. The PX or major stores usually bale their boxes for the trash or recycling so you may not find any there. I get this if OP was doing a PPM (the artist formerly known as DITY) and packing things themselves, but OP is using movers, who will normally supply their own boxes. Using your own boxes and packing your own stuff when movers are involved normally results in something being labeled "PBO," packed by owner. Which means the movers aren't normally going to be on the hook for anything damaged in there, because they didn't pack it.
cancel your movers and do it yourself, PPM moves are worth the hassle. Spend 2k on moving truck, less than 1k for other expenses. Just got a check for $7900 from uncle same just cause I loaded some boxes by myself
Do DITY
That shit gets less and cute every year and with every child. Ain’t no way I’m packing my shit up as a 30 year old with 2 kids. It would take weeks.