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August Movers is categorized as Pack and loaders, as explained on the Oregon Department of Transportation site.
"Pack and loaders provide a specialized labor service for those who want to rent a truck and move themselves but not do all the packing and heavy lifting. Oregon HB 2817 specifies that pack and loaders are exempt from motor carrier regulations if:
Note: Watch out for businesses that publicly advertise a service to pack and load household goods, then offer to provide a truck when you call. Oregon law allows a person to offer pack and load services, but it doesn´t allow that person to provide the vehicle used in the move."
Oregon defines "household goods" as: the personal effects or other property used or to be used in a dwelling but does not include property transported from a store or factory or property exclusively for office use. This suggests that August Movers could use their van to move a piece of furniture purchased from a store to a residence. This needs to be explored. If you have this need feel free to ask about it. However, I am not sure what to charge nor can guarantee we could help you.
Insurance
This is a very brief entry relating to hiring August Movers and insurance
As mentioned above, being considered a "Pack and load service," August Movers is not required by the State of Oregon to carry liability insurance. However, we have chosen to carry it. So far in our 20 years, or so, of being in business it has never been an issue.) Also, on occasion there is an office building or condo complex that requires proof of liability insurance for movers to operate on their property.
To me this insurance is odd. Essentially this covers damage to your dwelling's property. For example, if we are carrying an item and drop it our Commercial Liability insurance does NOT cover damage to the item we dropped but will for any damage to your home, office building, apartment building, or condo complex as a result of the item being dropped.
That covers what August Movers carries as insurance. What about other options?
Hire-A-Helper.com: most of our customers contact us directly. However, there are two third-party sites where customers can read reviews of, and book our, services. They are MovingHelp.com and HireAHelper.com. HAH, the latter, definitely costs more than the MH option but it does offer minimal cargo insurance at no extra charge. There are also options to purchase additional coverage.
If you choose the "Full-Value Coverage" through HAH the insurance is actually provided by www.movinginsurance.com You can also purchase insurance directly from the Moving Insurance web site. However, in the case of using a Pack and Load Service such as ours I believe the only option they offer is their Total Loss policy.
We hope this information is helpful. If you find the information lacking and would like more information please let us know. Also, if anyone knows of other insurance options for people while moving their households please let us know so we can include that here.
Thank you,
Randall
HELPFUL CONTACTS
Moving Boxes and More:
Kaylinn sells used moving boxes. She will pick up your used moving boxes for free. She will pay for used moving boxes you bring to her. She is also a professional packer.
Redi-Box:
"Our plastic moving boxes are delivered to your door in Chicago or Portland. After your move, we pick the boxes up at your new location. There is no assembly or breakdown."
FAQs
We tend to be pretty easy going so we won't walk away if you are completely unprepared. Nonetheless, the more prepared you are the less time it will take us and the less it will cost you. The biggest time killer are loose un-boxed items. Also, boxes are preferred over bags. (We have had moves where customer packed everything in grocery bags instead of boxes. That job took hours longer than it should have.) Have everything ready and waiting to be moved. Remove all loose items from furniture surfaces. Unplug your electronics.
Can you leave drawers in dressers? Generally speaking yes. If we feel the dresser is too heavy to carry with the drawers in we will remove the drawers, carry the dresser, then follow with the drawers putting them back into the dresser. If it is necessary while moving to put the dresser on end, we will for sure remove the drawers while moving it. We have found that IKEA-type furniture does not always travel that well with weight inside of them. So, we recommend removing items from IKEA drawers.
We can move these. We will not move these unless the bed part is tied down to the sofa to prevent it from opening while we carry it. Believe me having the sleeper sofa open while be carried is not fun. If you are able to do this great. We should have rope or a strap with us if needed. In the past we have also used one of our belts.
We always place blankets on the floor of the truck to help keep your bed clean. However, it is never a bad idea to buy plastic mattress covers for your move.
Quite often it will be necessary to remove refrigerator handles or doors, or even the front door of the house to move a refrigerator. We are happy to do whatever is necessary to move it. However, often this is usually more time consuming than people realize. We are told by our liability insurance agent we can not connect or hookup any appliances.
These tend to be the household-goods item that people care about the most. We are generally able to load and unload any television safely. I am not always confident that a moving blanket (or any blanket for that matter) will not scratch your television screen. Ideally you have saved the box it came in and we can use that for moving. If not, wrapping the screen in stretch film or bubble wrap before placing a blanket over it is a fine idea. In the end if any customer asks if they should move their television themselves in their car, we tend to say yes.
We really are not piano movers. However, we can move certain upright pianos as long as there are no more than two or three steps involved. We do have a piano dolly we use on flat surfaces and on the ramp into/out of the truck.
Having learned the hard way we try to remember to empty the grease trap before moving. It never hurts to suggest you remind us to do so. Grease running down your leg and into your socks does not make for a comfortable move!
It is relatively easy to lay hanging clothes on top of everything else. However, there is no guarantee they will stay completely clean or unwrinkled. Many of our customers use garbage bags to move their hanging clothes.
Again, garbage bags are very useful here.
We can wrap these in blankets and place safely into your moving truck. However, if they are valuable to you it can not hurt to pad them and place them into a picture box that you can buy from U-Haul.
Clearly marking on all boxes what room to place them in will keep us from repeatedly asking where we should take them.
For some reason there are at least three different options for clothes dryer outlets. It is very common that your new home will have a different outlet than your old place. You do not want to change the outlet or buy and adapter. You will want to replace the electrical cord itself. These can be found at any "home center" type store. Product manual should give simple instruction on how to replace the cord.
When moving into a place with new hardwood floors it is a great idea to buy a collection of felt foot pads. If you so do we are happy to take the time to place these on the feet of any furniture before setting them on the hardwood floor.
If we are helping you with a local move we will bring some moving pads with us. If we are loading a truck for you for your long distance move we recommend renting moving pads.
How many? It sounds painfully obvious but start out with at least one blanket for each item or piece of furniture you want protected. If you have a dining table and six chairs, that is at least seven blankets. Then add some more just in case. We find that people often get too few blankets for their move and we have to ask them to pick and choose which items they would like protected. Basically, you can not rent too many blankets for us. We will make use of all that you get.
Also, Budget and Penske blankets tend to be smaller than the U-Haul blankets. If using those options double the number you counted above.
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