Movers - The Process

So I know my parents (especially my Dad) finds the entire process of this move fascinating. I thought I'd take a second to explain the process I call: Getting the Movers Into Your House.

Keep in mind, we box nothing up. At all. A professional moving company comes in here and does it all in one day. They custom build boxes around your large appliances (like TVs). Wrap up your shot glass collection (whilst judging you, I assume) and pack everything into the truck and take it to....well, I'm getting ahead of myself...let's start with step one:

#1 - The military operates two official household move websites. With two seperate sets of rules. You can use either website to initate your household goods move request. Why two websites? I have no idea. I think someone got fired in the middle of the consolodation.

#2 - You log onto your website of choice (really they provide no guidance on which one, you just pick one) and spend 2 hours or more typing the details of your household goods. They want to know EVERYTHING. Will you be bringing a stove? A washer and dryer? A plasma TV? A large TV? Professional items? After you finish this lengthy survey, they want to know...how much do you think all the items in your house weigh? So, you enter all of your weight guesses into a spreadsheet they provide (weight of computer desk, weight of kitchen table, etc) and it spits out an esitmate of how much your household good items weigh. You're only allowed to bring a certain amount of pounds with you. I believe for us it's around 5,000 pounds and we have about 3,500 pounds according to the estimator. You also select your top three dates you would like the movers to come.

#3 - After completing the form, they ask you to submit a copy of your orders and any other forms. In our case. we had to submit the form saying I was allowed to enter Japan. When they have all of the forms they submit all of your information to a network of contractors. The contractors submit bids and the military choses your moving company.

#4 - The moving company then contacts you with their rules and when they will be coming to get your items. Usually the rules are simple - take everything off the walls - no food or drink will be packed - no medicines will be packed - etc. The day before the move, the movers arrive to build the custom boxes for the big items. Early the next day, the movers show up and box up all of your goods (usually takes about an hour, they're fast). Later in the day the actual movers show up and take your goods to a truck. Inside the truck there are several crates (it's a HUGE truck). Your goods are assigned to one large crate.

#5 - The crate is then shipped to Japan. If you're not ready to receive your goods, your crate will go to a military storage facility for 30 days (free of charge) and you call them with your address when you have one.

So there it is....the most simple version of how a military move works. There are other aspects (such as the option to insure your goods or store goods stateside during the duration of your stay in Japan)....

Whew! Now time for ONE relaxing day since the yard sale was very tiring. May go see a movie today! :)