Moving furniture can be a challenging task.
You first need to disassemble the furniture at home and then re-assemble it when it gets to your desired destination. And it doesn’t end there! It can be very heavy, and you might have to navigate tight spaces just to get out of your house…
In our experience, the easier way to ship furniture is to hire a professional furniture shipping company.
But you might be wondering how you can do so…so, in this blog, we’ll guide you through the entire process of furniture shipping.
From what services you should hire to how to choose the right furniture shipping company, we’ll cover the A-Z of shipping furniture!
What Is the Best Way to Ship Furniture?
When it comes to furniture shipping, there are three main ways you can do so:
1. Less-than-truckload (LTL) Shipping
With this method, you share container space with other shippers. This helps you get a better deal while it ensures that container space isn’t wasted.
If you only need to ship limited furniture, we recommend this method.
2. Full-truckload (FTL) Shipping
Under this method, you get an entire container to yourself. FTL shipping is ideal if you need to ship a lot of furniture, or are moving all your belongings to a new city.
3. Expedited Shipping
Sometimes urgency is the need of the hour: you’ve got a new job and it starts in a week. Or, you need to return a piece of furniture as soon as possible.
Well, in such cases, expedited shipping will come to your rescue. Under this method, the shipping company will pick up and drop off your furniture on a priority basis.
What is the Cost of Shipping Furniture?
In our experience, the cost of shipping furniture depends on several factors, such as:
1. Weight and Volume
The weight and volume of your furniture have a directly proportional relationship with the cost of shipping. So, the more the weight and the volume, the higher the cost of shipping!
2. Distance
Similarly, distance also has a direct relationship with the cost of furniture shipping. The farther away your destination, the higher the cost of shipping it…
3. Shipping Method
Of the three shipping methods we’ve discussed, LTL is the cheapest option because while you share container space, you also split shipping costs with other shippers. Expedited shipping, on the other hand, is the most expensive as the carrier might have to move around its schedule to accommodate your shipment!
4. Seasonal Demand
In our experience, summer and the Holidays are peak moving seasons. This means everyone will be on the lookout for containers and shipping trucks. The high demand usually drives up prices due to a lack of adequate supply.
On the other hand, Autumn and Spring are off-seasons for furniture shipping. So, you might get a better deal during these months!
5. Accessory Services
Accessory services include things like insurance coverage, residential pick-up and delivery, and white-glove handling.
While these services are easily available and recommended for fragile or valuable furniture, they’ll also drive up the cost!
How to Choose the Best Furniture Shipping Service?
From what we’ve seen, not all shipping companies provide furniture shipping services.
This is due to a lot of reasons. For instance, a shipping company will typically need to hire movers who are trained in disassembling, loading and unloading, and re-assembling the furniture.
Here’s how we recommend you choose the best shipping company:
- Look for companies that offer specialized furniture shipping services.
- Compare quotes from multiple carriers to get an idea of the average cost.
- Verify the carrier’s credentials, such as its US DOT number.
- Go through the carrier’s customer reviews.
How to Ship Your Furniture Affordably: Best Practices
While getting a trusted carrier is critical for safe furniture shipping, we know that you want to keep a lid on the costs, too! Here’s what we recommend for an affordable shipping experience:
- Book your shipment as far in advance as possible (we recommend at least 15 days).
- Always ensure that your shipment is covered by insurance services.
- Don’t ship any piece of furniture whose value is less than the shipping price. We suggest you buy such furniture anew.
- Avoid peak moving seasons, such as summer and the Holidays.
- Use LTL shipping when possible; it’ll help you minimize the cost of shipping.
Happy Shipping!
This article was written in cooperation with Tom White
