How to pack a china cabinet

Small World Moving - Dallas movers, is a local Dallas moving company and Fort Worth moving company, we have put together how to videos that will help you to prepare your item for your move, in this video we will show you how to wrap and protect a small china cabinet for your upcoming move, also we will teach you the safe way of moving it, the items you will need to protect a china cabinet will be 2-4 moving pads, depends on the cabinet size, you will also need a flat cardboard and roll of tape, and of course a hand truck, jut follow the instructions, and you should be good, also keep in mind that there are many types and size of china cabinets this technical will work on any size cabinet, hope you enjoy our how to video, you can visit our website at www.smallworldmoving.net  or check our other videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCffbtC7q2QK8gudjZrEMcyw or our blog http://thefinestmovers.blogspot.com/   thank you Small World Moving.

How to wrap a Sofa

Here is the easiest way of wrapping a sofa for your move, the only things you will need are:
Roll of tape
4 moving pads
and a hand truck.

Should I move myself or hire movers?

Moving day is approaching and it's time to make a decision as to what moving company you should choose. You want to find a balance between price and reputation as well as seek out the best value for your money. You may also consider moving yourself - after all who will take better care of your belongings than you regardless of how experienced the Dallas movers are?

On the surface it appears as though moving is a simple process and the only thing you need is stamina and the ability to lift heavy items but as you delve into the details you may find that moving yourself is not as simple as you were hoping it to be. There is a lot of prep work required for a successful do it yourself move. Below is a checklist, not necessarily in the order of importance:

1)  Van/Truck - your mode of transportation

·        Some of us have smaller loads that can be completed with a few trips of a pickup truck. Just be sure to check the weather for rain or if using a rental truck, make sure the truck has a lift gate and/or walk board (ramp).

·        If you need to utilize a rental truck, you should consider whether or not you feel comfortable driving one as it does take some skills to back up a 26 foot truck into a tight apartment complex.

·        Confirm the daily charge per mile rate with the truck rental company as well as insurance. If moving a short distance, U-Haul might be a good option as they offer low daily rates but higher cost per mile. Longer drives will be cheaper using Budget or if you have large, heavy items, Ryder or Penske will be a better option as they offer lift gates on their trucks.

2)  Moving equipment – important for the protection and ease of handling your items. Keep in mind that you will want to prep your furniture with moving pads and wrap mattresses with plastic covers to protect from damages.  Hand trucks and dollies come in handy to move efficiently. Listed below is the basic equipment you will need:

·        Moving pads

·        Tape

·        Hand truck

·        Dolly

·        Straps to secure the load

3)  Help - even if most of your items are lightweight, if it safer to have an extra hand. Moving a bed alone is hard especially if there are stairs involved. If you don't have a friend to assist then you can consider hiring a couple of guys. Moving companies sometimes hire out their helpers or you can check craigslist.

·        Be sure to hire help carefully, you don't want someone without any moving experience dropping your boxes. Be sure to get a written confirmation from the helpers as well as cell phone number.

·        Know your abilities: things might look easier than they actually are; I have moved customers that told me they didn't know how difficult it was going to be and hired me to help complete the move. Can you lift heavy items while walking down or up stairs? Can you stack a truck correctly? Can you drive a truck? Can you dissemble and reassemble? Do you have the time? Does your building require liability insurance?

Asking the right questions will help you determine if you really want to do the move yourself.

Upon reading this article, you should be a little bit clearer as to whether or you not you want to move yourself. Remember if you decide to skip the fun, Small World Moving is here to help! Just give us a call for a free no obligation price quote that will be affordable and sometimes even more cost effective than completing the move yourself.

Or

Moving Leads Providers

So you are looking for a moving company and if you’re not a dinosaur you will most likely turn to the internet for assistance. As most of you are familiar with the layout of search engine pages, you know that you will find the paid advertisers listings on the top and right hand side of the page, followed by the local listings below filtered to your specific area (they will usually include an address and map) and finally at the bottom you will find what’s called the organic listings. 

 

This article focuses on the paid advertisements, the ones that will provide you with free moving quotes from several moving companies. These types of advertisements are called moving leads and they are created by big marketing companies that advertise all over the internet and sell your information to moving companies in your area.  Moving companies will pay anywhere from $5-$20 per lead. You are asked to fill out some information including your name, telephone, email address, city moving from and to and the size of move whether it’s an apartment or house. Your information is then sent to 5-10 different moving companies. At first glance it sounds great because in your mind you may be thinking that someone has done all the guess work for you as far as ensuring you are getting quotes from legitimate companies but that’s often not the case. A lot of these lead providers do not filter who they sell the leads to, after all they just want to make money. So you could essentially receive quotes from companies that have an F rating with the BBB, have a lot of bad reviews online or even worse do not have an up to date moving license. 

 

A few minutes later you get your first call from a moving company, they sound nice and eager to provide you with a quote. You go through the quote process and they tell you the price. They try to put some sales pressure on you to book now but you want to get a few more quotes to compare with. So from there on, your phone is blowing up with calls from all these moving companies. You may take a few of these calls but at some point you will feel as though you are being harassed. I’ve heard of customers getting 40-50 calls a day. Some companies won’t stop until they get you live on the phone. The sales people may start to sound rude and will try to pressure you to book now.

 

So if you’re a busy person (who isn’t?) and don’t want to spend hours on the phone, you may want to reconsider before clicking on these types of ads. It’s better to put yourself in control of the situation and select 3-4 moving companies from the local listing portion of the search results. Good luck and I hope I’ve provided some helpful information!

Hourly Rate vs. Flat Rate

One would assume that flat rates always win because you know exactly how much you will pay, no surprises, etc.  But that’s not the company in moving. You see, moving companies have succeeded in making something so simple to be so complicated. Is a flat rate price bad? No, there are legitimate flat rate companies out there that make the moving process easier, take for example the legendary Flat Rate of NYC – they actually give their customers a real flat rate price and it is the final price, no less no more.  Albeit, it’s a very expensive price but rightly so, it has to be. A flat rate price needs to account for every possible scenario that may affect the time it takes to complete a move. Some customer are willing to pay more so that they don’t have to deal with a hassle, but they need to understand that a real flat rate price will always be more expensive than an hourly rate estimate because it’s just an estimate. As mentioned earlier, moving companies have found a way to make it complicated what with hidden charges and complicated contracts. They have found a way to give a cheap flat rate price and then tack on added fees for all sorts of things. In this case, an hourly rate company would be better to go with. Hourly rate estimates will typically account for things such as number of workers, fuel, materials needed, tolls, etc.  Take for example a short 2-hour move quoted a $225 by an hourly rate company. After paying workers and fuel, the company is left with approximately $120 and after paying taxes, only $85. With a flat rate company, assuming they gave a lower price than the hourly rate company, they will most likely be losing money based on these factors. If for any reason the move takes longer, due to traffic or the elevator not being reserved, the company will not make any profit and will soon be out of business. So how do these flat rate companies do it? The answer is pretty simple but tricky:

1) Hire day laborers and cheap labor

2) Only accept payment in cash, avoid paying taxes

3) Rush through the job without paying attention to details

4) Hidden charges

5) Complicated contract

Regarding #5, the company may offer to move your 1-bedroom apartment for $120, but they will give you a limited list of items that can be moved at that price, no exceptions.  Any additional items will cost you more. Also things like long carry walks, stairs, elevator usage, tolls, etc will cost you extra and in the end you will wind up paying the same if not more than the hourly rate company.  So in conclusion, is a flat rate company better than an hourly rate company? The answer is, do your research. The most important advice is to check out the company’s rating with the Better Business Bureau. There are good and bad companies of both types. For example, if you get a few quotes from both flat rate and hourly rate companies, and you find that the flat rate quotes are cheaper, it’s best to skip it, the price will most likely go up. As a rule of thumb: a flat rate price should be higher than an hourly rate estimate.

 

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Moving broker scam

Watch Out!!!

One of the most common selling tactics in the moving industry has to do withDallas movingcompanies taking advantage of and victimizing customers by putting them under high pressure situations. When you contact companies for a quote, you sometimes don’t know who you are speaking to, it may be a moving company or it could be a broker. In this article, I will focus on brokers.

 Moving brokers are the biggest scam in the moving industry, never book with a broker!  A broker is a company that sells a service (in this case a moving service) to a customer and then turns around and sells that job to a moving company to do. Did you ever wonder why a broker’s estimate is so much cheaper than a moving company’s estimate? How can a broker be cheaper and still make a profit? 

I have been in this industry for 13 years now and have never worked with a broker for one reason - brokers give low ball prices to customers to get the business and the only way for a moving company to make a profit is to raise the price! That’s just not my business practice. Brokers put the customer under high pressure to book now, they make them pay a deposit (usually 50% of the estimate upfront)and then they sell your job to any moving company who’s willing to buy it. The customer is left not knowing who the moving company is that will show up, and the broker doesn’t care if the moving company has a lot of complaints with the BBB or lots of horror stories online - their main goal is to sell! Now since the job was sold at such a low price to the customer, and after the broker takes their share of the money, the moving company that services the move has no other option but to raise the price on you. It’s guaranteed that you will pay more than the estimate quoted. And if you’re lucky, the moving company will even show up! I have heard endless stories from customers who booked with a broker and then the moving company either doesn’t show up or cancels the move completely!

Do yourself a favor – if you somehow figured out that you are dealing with a broker, put your sneakers on and run! Think about this scenario:  you submit your information on a website where you will get quotes from 5-7 moving companies. These companies will contact you and compete for your business. You will most likely be overwhelmed from the volume of phone calls. Oftentimes, customers are just looking based on the cheapest price (which is the worst thing to do when looking for a mover by the way). You speak to a sales person that sounds super nice and helpful but they tell you that you need to book now in order to take advantage of the price. You are happy to book because you think you are getting a good deal and then you give a deposit. On move day, the moving truck appears with a different name from the company you booked with. They have you sign a moving service contract and then something called a “revised written estimate”. Then they tell you ‘Ah excuse me sir/ma’am, you have more items here than what’s on the list so it’s going to be another $1400 to complete this move and for us to get started on this move, we will need you to sign here’. At this point you feel sick to your stomach because you did not budget for double the cost, and in a few hours you have a flight to catch, so what do you do? You pay double the estimate knowing you had no other choice.

Yes, this happens every day to good, hardworking people. People that the only thing they wanted to do was to save some cash. There are some ways to save, just not with a broker. If you want to save, use a true, local moving company. Local moving companies are much cheaper, and if you research right you will find a reputable one to move you for a great price. Compare prices of top rated local moving companies and have them compete with each other!  Now that’s a smart shopper. Don’t fall for low ball estimates!

We have a large list of brokers that identify themselves as movers – feel free to email us the name and we might be able to tell you if they are in fact a moving company or a broker. And of course if you decide to us, you will be contracted with a real moving company!


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List of 9 Do follow blogs - no Comment moderation

I searched all over and couldn't find a list of do follow blogs without moderation so here is the first one.
1)http://soc.sme.sk/show.php?id=27#discuss
2)http://www.kabobfest.com/2011/04/al-jazeera-mum-on-syrian-uprising.html?replytocom=154172
3)http://www.blogtendancemode.com/la-mode-tendances-181-mode-fashion-Maquillage-Lili-Rouge.html#comment36919
4)http://www.brickunderground.com/
5)http://redhookflicks.com/2012/08/28/we-are-a-go-tonight-at-valentino-pier/#comment-2382
6)http://blog.mofuse.com/2013/04/11/mobile-website-search-simple-tip-1/#more-5064
7)http://www.webdesigncrate.com/coding/how-to-set-a-youtube-video-as-your-website-background#comment-1399
8)http://www.prensadefrente.org/pdfb2/index.php/fot/2010/04/25/p5576?blog=17&p=5576&c=1&page=1&more=1&tb=1&pb=1&disp=single

The last one is my blog, all I ask in return is for you to link to my blog-
9)http://thefinestmovers.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-much-should-i-tip-my-movers.html


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