6 Ways to Feel Prepared and Succeed During the Busiest Moving Season of the Year

Summer is a notoriously busy time for moving companies, with the last weekend of June accounting for a large portion of moving jobs. Last year, on this weekend alone, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK crews completed 4,701 jobs across the U.S. and Canada, using a total of 5,054 trucks and traveling over 600,000 miles. Out of about 50,000 completed moves that month, nearly 10% took place in a single weekend.

“The reason that summer becomes so busy is that people don’t like to move their kids in the middle of the school year — that’s a big contributing factor,” explained Tim Lightner, a multi-unit TWO MEN AND A TRUCK owner in Wisconsin. “Other factors include apartment leases; most apartment leases end between May and September, and they typically end at the end of the month. The third is the weather. In a lot of places, no one wants to move in the dead of winter.”

Moving during the summer is not impossible, but it does take some planning. Here are six moving tips from the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK team to guide you through peak moving season.

Start Planning as Early as Possible

As soon as you know you’ll be moving, start the planning process. This can include sorting out belongings, researching moving companies and understanding what other services you may need. Especially during the peak moving season, getting on the calendar as early as possible is an important step.

“We get those calls where a customer is trying to find help at the last-minute. We do everything we can, but it’s not always possible,” explained Justin Clarey, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK Columbus franchisee and Vice President. “Planning ahead does help. Do your homework and research, and find a reputable option. That will make life less stressful.”

In addition to research and planning for the actual moving day, taking small steps leading up to the day can lighten the load when the time comes.

“Try to clear out anything that you’re not planning to keep. Clear those things out ahead of time,” Lightner added. “Then, you won’t be paying the movers an hourly rate to move things that you aren’t keeping anyways.”

Choose Your Moving Company Carefully

As you research companies, understanding more than just the availability of movers is important. Ask about the other “What ifs?” during the research process to ensure you feel comfortable with the company you’re going to work with.

“Generally speaking, most reputable moving companies are doing drug and background tests and are licensed, bonded and insured,” Clarey said. “You should also understand the employee experience. We pride ourselves on being selective — making sure that our employees are going to live out our core values rather than hiring someone just to say, ‘There will be some guys there.’”

Clarey suggested customers should also ask about availability and reliability. In the moving world, there are some variables that are completely out of control. Knowing more about standards and procedures can help make the moving and relocation process easier.

“Ask about the scheduling process and ‘If I book a job, am I definitely going to get a truck?’” he added. “Make sure that nothing will change that booking unless the customer (you) needs to.”

Finally, one of the key aspects of the selection process is the quote. When looking for estimates, the customer should come prepared with where they are moving to and from, if there are any stops along the way and provide as much information as possible about what belongings are being moved.

“Moving companies will take the information you give them and figure out how long, how many trucks and how many people will be needed,” Clarey explained. “As you’re comparing, each company will have a different answer because they do it differently. Understand what the differences are so you can really compare apples to apples. If budget is a factor, make sure you’re looking in an accurate way. As things change with your moving needs, see how that’ll affect the estimate.”

Avoid Prime Moving Days

“Start looking for moving companies as soon as you know you’ll need to move. The longer you wait, especially during the summer, the less likely you are to get the dates that you want,” explained Ashley Skaggs, director of sales at TWO MEN AND A TRUCK. “During our busiest seasons, the weekends are prime time — Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday.”

Because weekends are typically the most convenient time to move, reducing the amount of time families spend out of work or school, they often fill up very quickly. If you absolutely must move on a weekend, plan far enough in advance that you can secure a booking. If not, consider moving on a different day of the week.

Embrace Flexibility

“If the person moving is more flexible, going for the middle of the week is probably the best bet. Sometimes, you can even find discounted rates for moves during the middle of the week,” Skaggs added. “Outside of that, any flexibility is helpful.”

While choosing a less popular day, weekend, or month to move is the most obvious solution, this often requires flexibility in some other areas. If possible, you may consider moving out a few days before your lease is technically over or negotiating a different move-in day to work around the availability of the movers.

“Aside from dates, times and days of the week, think about what kind of flexibility you have with closing dates or move-out dates,” Lightner explained. “There are factors on our end in terms of how many trucks we have on a given day. It’s pretty rare that people can’t get movers on the day they need, but if you absolutely, positively have to be out, the sooner you can get on the calendar, the better.”

Let Your Moving Company Guide You

Once you’ve chosen a moving company you trust, be sure to work with the movers throughout the experience. In addition to making sure your booking stays accurate and in line with what you’ll ultimately need on moving day, keeping this line of communication open provides access to professional voices that can help with any decision-making.

“We work with all of our customers to share advice about things they can do to make the process easier,” Lightner explained. “Moving companies have professionalism and expertise — lean on them. They will help you make decisions; they’re there to make everything go as smoothly as possible.”

Ask for Help

Remember that it’s okay to ask for help. While moving is something that many people do, often multiple times over the course of their lives, it isn’t necessarily easy. 

“Moving is just another kind of work. I remind myself that when people are packing things for a move, they’re making a decision on every single thing they own,” Lightner added. “They’re making thousands of decisions about what to keep, why they have it and whether to toss it, and that takes a lot of brain power.”

In addition to the brain power it requires, moving is just time-consuming. Packing up an entire life is a big feat, and it’s easy to set ambitious goals that don’t align with the realistic circumstances of everyday life.

“You think you have a lot less stuff until you get into it,” Skaggs said. “It’s not uncommon that customers get packing and then request junk removal help at the last minute.”

Lightner echoed this sentiment and encouraged people to seek support when they need it; moving does not have to be excessively stressful, and help is available for a reason.

“We all seem to overestimate the number of things we can get accomplished in a given period of time,” he said. “Next thing you know, it’s two nights before the move, and you have way less packed than you need. It’s okay to ask and pay for help during this process like you would during any other stressful situation.”

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