A studio or a one bedroom
One room of furniture, a bed, a desk, and the cartons that go with them. That is a shared load, not a trailer.
Small loads without the small load penalty
Studios and one bedrooms priced by what you actually ship. No minimum weight, no padded trailer.
Load sizes
What counts as a small load
Roughly under two thousand pounds. A studio, a one bedroom, a dorm, or the half of a house you are not selling.
A dorm, or half of a house
Splitting a household, or leaving the heavy furniture behind. We price what actually goes on the truck.
What moves the price
Four things set the number on a load this size.
Distance
The corridor between your two ZIP codes, and how often we already run it.
Cubic feet
Small loads price on the space they take up, never on a truck minimum.
Access at both ends
Stairs, elevator hold times, and how close a trailer can legally park.
Timing
A flexible window costs less than one fixed date in the summer.
Ranked #5 by 8 Top Movers for studios & small loads.
Quotes coordinated via 8 Top Movers
How the price stays small
No minimum weight
Ship six hundred pounds and pay for six hundred pounds. There is no floor to clear first.
Shared routing
Your load rides with others on the same corridor, which is the whole reason the price stays sane.
A short inventory
For a load this size, a quick list over the phone is enough to lock the price in writing.
How to check a mover, this one included
Four checks, all public, all free. Run them on every company quoting your load. If any of them is awkward to answer, that is the answer.
Registration and operating authority
Any company moving household goods across state lines has to be registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and carry a USDOT number. The registration, the operating authority and the insurance on file are all public, and looking them up costs nothing.
Look up a mover on the FMCSA SAFER company snapshotOur side. You get the carrier name and USDOT number in writing before you are asked to book, so you can run this check on us rather than take our word for it.
The paperwork you are owed up front
Interstate movers are required to give you the booklet "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" and a written estimate before the move. The FMCSA also runs a consumer site covering how interstate moves are supposed to work.
Read the FMCSA Protect Your Move guidance for interstate movesOur side. Both of those reach you with the estimate, not after a deposit and not on move day.
Which liability level your shipment is on
There are two, and the difference is the whole ballgame if something breaks. Full Value is the default unless you waive it in writing.
- Released Value Protection is included at no extra charge and pays 60 cents per pound per article, which is very little for anything valuable.
- Full Value Protection costs extra and covers repair, replacement or a cash settlement.
Our side. We will not ask you to waive Full Value to make a small load quote look smaller. If you choose Released Value anyway, we will say out loud what 60 cents a pound pays on the item you would actually miss.
Which of the three estimates you signed
The word estimate covers three different contracts, and they behave differently once the shipment is weighed.
- A binding estimate fixes the price for the inventory listed.
- A non-binding estimate can change once the shipment is weighed.
- A binding not-to-exceed estimate means you pay the lower of the estimate and the actual cost.
Our side. Your estimate names its own type on the estimate itself. If the inventory changes, the price changes for a stated reason and you see it before anything is loaded.
Three things worth walking away from
- A quote given over the phone with no inventory and no survey behind it.
- A demand for a large cash deposit up front.
- A company that will not put the estimate in writing.
Small load questions, answered plainly
What actually counts as a small load?
Roughly a studio, a one bedroom, a dorm room, or the part of a household you are not taking with you. The useful line is space rather than a label: a small load prices on the cubic feet it occupies inside a shared trailer instead of on a full trailer. If your inventory is closer to a furnished two bedroom, a dedicated truck usually prices better than a shared load, and we will tell you when that is the case.
How does shared routing work, and what is the trade off?
Your shipment travels in a trailer alongside other shipments moving along the same corridor, and you pay for the space yours occupies rather than for the truck. That is the entire reason a small load can be priced sanely. The trade off is the calendar: shared loads move on delivery windows rather than one fixed date, because the trailer has to be loaded and routed around several shipments. If you need a fixed delivery date, ask for a dedicated truck and expect it to cost more.
You take the inventory over the phone. Is that not a warning sign?
The warning sign is a price with no inventory at all. A call that goes item by item and produces a written inventory attached to a written estimate is an inventory. A small load can be handled that way because there is less to miss on one room of furniture. If your list is uncertain, or there is anything oversized, ask for a video survey before anyone commits to a number. Either way the estimate holds for the inventory listed, not for whatever turns up on the day.
Can the price still change on move day?
It depends on which of the three estimates you are holding and on whether the inventory held. On a binding estimate the price is fixed for the inventory listed. On a non-binding estimate it can change once the shipment is weighed. On a binding not-to-exceed estimate you pay the lower of the estimate and the actual cost. What moves the number in practice is items that were never on the list, a long carry, a stair count nobody mentioned, or a shuttle because a full size trailer cannot legally park at one end.
How far ahead should I book a small load?
It depends on the corridor and the season, and we would rather not invent a number for you. A shared load depends on another shipment moving the same way inside the same window, so a flexible window gives routing more room to work and usually prices better than one fixed date in summer. Ask what the current window looks like for your two ZIP codes when you get the quote, and ask again if your dates move.
One bedroom across four states and the quote never moved.
Small move, real quote
Two ZIP codes and a rough inventory is all it takes to get a number back.
Nobody tried to upsell me into a full trailer I did not need.