Moving it yourself: trucks, containers, helpers and loading

Size a truck or container by volume and by payload, read the weight label, give helpers their jobs, check permits and load so the weight sits low and forward.

Sizing: cubic feet and payload Understand

A truck or container has two limits, and a load has to fit both. One is space, in cubic feet. The other is weight. Space is what a truck's name and the company's room counts suggest; the weight limit is the one that is easier to miss.

Space: your cubic feet

Start from your own total. Your inventory puts a cubic-foot figure beside each piece of furniture from California's table of measurements, the one regulator-published table we found (a 3-cushion sofa 50 cubic feet, a double bed 60), and the box register counts your boxes by size (California Maximum Rate Tariff 4, 2026 (PDF), Item 410). The volume calculator adds them. The table is an estimating minimum for movers in one state, not a measurement of your sofa, so treat the total as a planning figure. Convention

Compare your total with each unit's listed cubic feet, and leave room. A load seldom packs into every cubic foot: a table with legs, a bicycle and a lamp leave gaps that boxes cannot fill. We plan with space to spare rather than to the last cubic foot; that margin is our practice, not a company's figure. Preference

Weight: payload and the 7-pound convention

Payload is the weight of cargo a truck or container is rated to carry, as the rental company publishes it. To compare your load with it you need a weight, and few households weigh their goods. The convention is 7 pounds per cubic foot: California's tariff tells in-state movers to multiply cubic feet by seven for weight-based charges, and Washington's tariff defines its constructive weight the same way (Washington UTC, Tariff 15-C (PDF), Item 10). Convention

Seven pounds is an estimating figure, not a measurement. A 1998 federal board decision recorded carrier figures for real household loads of 3.06 to 5.71 pounds per cubic foot and said this "may suggest" the 7-pound rule is "overly generous" (GSBCA 14709-RELO, 1998). Boxes of books run heavier than the average; a sofa runs lighter. The calculator lets you change the figure if you have a better one. So the estimate can err high, which is the safe direction for a payload check, but it cannot tell you what your truck weighs.

Here is why both checks matter. U-Haul lists its 20-foot truck at 1,016 cubic feet and a 5,700-pound maximum load (U-Haul, 20' Moving Truck). Filled to its listed space at 7 pounds a cubic foot, the load is estimated at about 7,100 pounds, more than the published payload. That is our arithmetic on the company's figures, not a company statement, and the 7-pound figure may overstate a typical load. It shows that a truck with space left can be past its weight rating, and that the label and a scale, not the space, settle it. Test it

The fit box does this check for one unit at a time: it shows the share of the listed volume and the share of the published payload your estimate uses, and flags an estimate over the payload. Choose a unit where both shares are under 100 percent with room to spare.

The weight label on the door post

The published payload is the company's figure for the model. The truck you are handed carries its own label, usually on the driver's door post, with two ratings: Product-specific

• GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating): the most the loaded truck may weigh, counting the truck itself, the fuel, the people in the cab and the cargo.
• GAWR (gross axle weight rating): the most each axle may carry. A load heaped at the back can overload the rear axle while the total is under the GVWR.

U-Haul's truck instructions tell renters not to exceed the GVWR or the GAWRs on that label, and, if in doubt, to weigh the truck on a commercial or state scale with a full fuel tank, all occupants and all cargo (U-Haul, Truck User Instructions). Budget's rental terms make overloading past the maker's gross weight a breach and put damage from it on the renter (Budget, 26-Foot Moving Truck, with its rental terms). Read the label at pickup and write the GVWR on the run sheet. Penske's table notes that specifications vary by make, model and year, so the unit you get can differ from the one listed (Penske, Trucks and Vans). Product-specific

Containers: a weight limit per unit

Containers publish a weight limit instead of a payload, and the same two checks apply. PODS lists 5,200 pounds for its 8-foot container, 4,700 for the 12-foot and 4,200 for the 16-foot, so the larger containers carry less. PODS calls these limits guidelines and says the total weight of your heaviest items should not exceed 75 percent of the container's limit (PODS, Portable Container Sizes). U-Haul lists its U-Box at 257 cubic feet and up to 2,000 pounds (U-Haul, U-Box Container Dimensions); U-Pack lists its ReloCube at 308 cubic feet and a maximum of 2,500 pounds (U-Pack, ReloCube Size). For a container, the company's stated limit for the unit you are given settles it; ask for it in writing with the booking. Product-specific

Room and bedroom counts on these pages are each company's claim, and they disagree with each other for the same size class. Size by cubic feet and weight, and read room counts as marketing.

Driving a rental truck

This manual teaches driving a rental truck only as far as the rental companies' own instructions go. Three things differ from driving a car: the height, the weight, and the view behind you.

The license question

The federal commercial driver's license (CDL) classes start at a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 pounds for a single truck (49 CFR 383.5; FMCSA, Commercial Driver's License). The largest household rentals are rated just under that line: U-Haul lists its 26-foot truck at 25,999 pounds, and Budget lists its 26-foot truck as "Up to 26,000 lbs." That is a fact about the rating, not a ruling on your license; the federal CDL rules are written for vehicles used in commerce, and your state's DMV states what a non-commercial license allows. Read the GVWR on the label of the truck you are given. Ask the authority

Overhead clearance

Overhead clearance is the height a truck needs to pass under something. It differs by company for similar trucks: U-Haul lists 12 feet for its 26-foot truck and 11 feet for its 15- and 20-foot trucks (U-Haul truck rentals); Budget lists 13 feet for its 26-foot, 11 feet for its 16-foot and 9 feet 6 inches for its 12-foot (Budget, Moving Guide). U-Haul says the figure is marked on the corner of the cargo box, where you can see it in the side mirror, and on decals in the cab (U-Haul, 11 Tips for Driving a Moving Truck). Product-specific

The danger is the low thing nobody labelled. U-Haul's instructions list drive-throughs, motel overhangs, service-station canopies, bridges, balconies, roof eaves, porch awnings, wires and tree limbs, and say that many overhead obstructions are not posted; if you do not know a clearance, get out and look, and do not guess. Budget names gas stations, drive-thrus and covered parking garages. Plan fuel stops and food stops at places with open sky, and check the entrance to any garage at either home before moving day.

Backing, following distance and towing

Both companies treat backing up as a two-person job. U-Haul says not to rely on mirrors alone: use a helper behind the truck, or walk around the back first, and stow and latch the ramp before the truck moves. Budget calls backing "a two-person event" and says to remove a tow dolly or car carrier before reversing. For following distance, U-Haul gives at least 4 seconds, and at least 5 in rain, snow or fog; Budget gives about 4 to 5 sedan lengths. When towing a rental trailer, U-Haul says not to exceed 55 miles per hour and notes that a trailer adds 8 to 20 feet to your length. Product-specific

Fuel and riders

Ask which fuel the truck takes at pickup, and write it on the run sheet. Companies differ for the same size: U-Haul lists its 26-foot truck as unleaded, while Budget's 26-foot and Penske's 22- and 26-foot trucks run on diesel. Budget's terms make damage from the wrong fuel the renter's cost. Product-specific

Nobody rides in the cargo area. U-Haul's instructions forbid passengers there, and Budget's terms forbid any person or animal in the cargo section. A loaded box has no seats, belts or way out if the load shifts. Riders go in the cab's seats, or in their own car.

Helpers, permits and the building

Give each helper a job

A move with helpers goes wrong in the same few ways: everyone carries, nobody loads the truck with a plan, and nobody knows which boxes are on board. Give each person one job before the day. The roles below are our method, and the moving-day sheet has a run sheet to write them on. This manual's convention

For a one-bedroom move with two helpers, the roles collapse: the helpers carry and one of them loads, and you keep the register and the door. Anyone in the household who should not lift gets a role that is not lifting.

Hired labor-only help: what to ask

A labor-only crew loads and unloads; you rent and drive the truck (Moving services compared). Before you book, ask: Ask the authority

• The hourly rate per person, any minimum hours, and whether travel time counts.
• Whether the service carries liability insurance and workers' compensation, and whether it can provide a certificate if a building asks for one. NASMM asks move managers the same insurance question (NASMM, Guide to Rightsizing and Relocation (PDF)).
• What the crew will not carry: a piano, a safe, appliances that need disconnecting, anything over a weight they name.
• What the crew brings: dollies, straps, pads, tools to take a bed frame apart.
• What happens if the crew damages something, and how you report it.

Write the answers on the quotes sheet. The questions are ours, built from what a self-move leaves you responsible for; no regulator sets them.

Permits and parking

A truck or a container on the street can need a city permit, and the rules differ from city to city. Two cities show how far apart they are; they are examples, not your city's rules. Ask the authority

Sources: City of Boston, Reserve a parking spot for your moving truck and its permit FAQs; SFMTA, Temporary Signage. San Francisco's page adds that its signs do not override street cleaning or No Stopping signs.

For your own city, search its name with "moving truck permit," or call its parking or transportation office, and ask four things: is a permit needed or only useful, how far ahead does it take applications, how long before the day must signs go up, and does a container need its own permit. Ask at both ends. Write the answers and the permit number on the run sheet, and book on the day you learn the lead time; The move calendar has a row for it.

Building rules

Apartment buildings, condominiums and senior communities often set their own move rules: moving days and hours, an elevator reservation with padding, floor and door protection, a deposit, and sometimes a certificate of insurance from whoever carries. Articles reprinted in NASMM's guide describe move managers handling co-op and condo move rules as part of the job. Ask the building manager at each end for the rules in writing, book the elevator, and ask what the building accepts from helpers who carry no insurance. The rules are the building's; the manager settles them.

Loading the truck or container

The order you load in decides how the truck handles and what arrives broken. U-Haul's instructions give the core rule: load heavy items first, in front and on the floor, and the lightest items last, on top and to the rear (U-Haul, Truck User Instructions). Product-specific The rest of this order is our practice, built on that rule. This manual's convention

1. Appliances and the heaviest furniture against the front wall, the one behind the cab, on the floor. Keep a refrigerator or freezer upright where its maker says to (Fragile, heavy and awkward things).
2. Square, heavy pieces next: dressers, bookcases, cabinets, with their drawers taped or emptied, standing against the front load.
3. Build in tiers across the width. Fill one band of the truck from floor to ceiling and wall to wall before starting the next, heavy boxes low and light boxes high, so the weight sits even from side to side.
4. Use soft goods as padding. Mattresses, cushions and bagged bedding go between hard pieces and along the walls; a sofa stands on end only if its frame allows.
5. Long and awkward items along the side walls: a bed frame, a rug, a mirror in its box on edge, not flat under other things.
6. Open-first boxes and the tools last, at the back, so they come off first (The packing system, Unpacking in order).

We strap each tier to the truck's tie rails where it has them, so a hard stop does not slide the load toward the door. As each box goes on, the register keeper checks off its number. In a container, the same order applies, and PODS's guidance keeps the heaviest items to 75 percent of the container's weight limit. We fill a container tightly to the doors, because the company lifts and moves it with your goods inside.

Using the ramp

U-Haul's ramp article says to hook the ramp securely into its slots, to walk backwards up the ramp when moving a dolly so you can see, and to keep children off it (U-Haul, How To Use a Moving Truck Ramp, 2013). Budget and Penske each list a 1,000-pound loading ramp on their larger trucks; that is the ramp's rating, and a person and a loaded dolly together count against it. U-Haul's instructions add: do not hold the ramp or leave it out while the truck is backing up, and wear closed shoes with slip-resistant soles. Product-specific

What the contract keeps off the truck

Federal hazardous materials rules treat a private person moving their own things differently from a moving company. A 2011 interpretation from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) says that when a private individual transports a cylinder for personal use, that transport is not subject to the federal hazardous materials regulations (PHMSA Interpretation 11-0203). That does not make a propane cylinder welcome in a rental truck: the rental contract still binds you. Ask the authority

Lifting and carrying

Carrying is most of the physical work in a self-move. Two workplace sources are the best guidance we found, and neither was written for households, so we label them as workplace guidance and use them for what they say. Convention

When to get help

OSHA's materials-handling booklet tells workers to get help when a load is so bulky they cannot properly grasp or lift it, when they cannot see around or over it, or when they cannot safely handle it (OSHA 2236, Materials Handling and Storage (PDF), 2002). It names bending, followed by twisting and turning, as the movements most often cited in back injuries. A move is full of loads that meet those tests: a mattress you cannot see past, a dresser with no grip, a sofa on a stair turn. The default here: two people on anything that meets one of OSHA's three tests, a dolly for anything heavy that can roll, and a specialist for what two people cannot carry safely on stairs. Convention

What the 51-pound figure means

A figure of 51 pounds circulates as a safe lifting limit. It comes from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and it is not a limit. In NIOSH's lifting equation, 51 pounds (23 kilograms) is the load constant: the starting weight for an ideal two-handed lift, which the equation then reduces by six multipliers for how far the load is from your body, how high or low it starts, how far it travels, how much you twist, how often you lift and how good your grip is (NIOSH, Applications Manual for the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation). The result, the recommended weight limit, is a workplace job-design figure for healthy workers. Physical principle

NIOSH's manual also says when its equation does not apply: carrying beyond one or two steps, one-handed lifting, lifting while seated or kneeling, lifting in a constrained space, and unstable loads such as part-filled containers. A household move is mostly carrying, on stairs and through doorways, so the equation does not fit it. Use the OSHA tests above to decide when to get help, and treat 51 pounds as what it is: the top of a workplace formula's scale, not a carrying limit for anyone.

Equipment

A utility dolly (a hand truck for boxes) and an appliance dolly (a taller hand truck with a strap, for a refrigerator, a washer or a safe) move weight on wheels instead of in your arms. Furniture pads protect the pieces and the walls, and straps hold a load to a dolly or to the truck. Rental companies rent all of these; ask for them when you book. A dolly on stairs needs two people, one above and one below. Convention

See it: Noor's truck, helpers and elevator See it

• U-Haul, Truck User Instructions: one rental company's rules on the weight label, loading order, clearance, the ramp and hazardous materials.
• OSHA, Materials Handling and Storage (PDF): the workplace booklet with the three tests for getting help with a load.
• NIOSH, Revised Lifting Equation Applications Manual: the source of the 51-pound load constant and the limits on where the equation applies.
• City of Boston, Moving Truck Permit FAQs: one city's permit rules as questions and answers, a model for what to ask your own.

Practice: size it, book it, staff it Practice

Minimum: your total in the volume calculator, one unit chosen with its volume and payload shares under 100 percent, the permit and building questions answered, and each helper's job on the run sheet. Time: about 90 minutes, plus calls to the rental company, the city and the building. Materials: your inventory's cubic-foot total and box counts, the volume calculator, the moving-day sheet, the quotes sheet, and a phone.

1. Enter your totals. Put the furniture cubic feet and the box counts in the calculator's first box and read the total and the estimated weight.
2. Check two units. In the fit box, try the unit you are considering and the next size down. Keep the smallest one whose volume and payload shares both sit under 100 percent with room to spare.
3. Ask the rental or container company. The unit's cubic feet, its payload or weight limit, the fuel it takes, its clearance, whether it has a ramp and tie rails, and its banned-items list. Write the answers on the quotes sheet.
4. Check permits and buildings. Ask your city at both ends, and each building manager, the questions in permits and parking and building rules. Book what needs booking.
5. Write the roles. On the run sheet, give each helper one job from the roles table, with two people on anything heavy and a non-lifting job for anyone who should not carry.

Your move Your move

Check your work Check your work

Criteria

• Does your chosen unit hold your cubic feet with room to spare?
• Is your estimated weight under its published payload or weight limit, and do you know the estimate's assumption?
• Will you read the GVWR on the door-post label at pickup, and do you know the fuel type and the clearance?
• Have you read the contract's banned-items list, and routed what it bans?
• Do you know whether your street and buildings need a permit or a reservation, and is it booked?
• Does every helper have one job on the run sheet, with two people on anything heavy and no carrying for anyone who should not lift?
• Is every item over your household's lifting limit assigned to a specialist?

Worked example

Noor's plan passes. Her 392 cubic feet use about 52 percent of the listed space and her estimate about 46 percent of the listed payload, with the 7-pound assumption written beside it and the door-post label named as the check at pickup. The elevator is reserved for 9 a.m. to noon, the building's waiver is signed, and her run sheet gives the helpers the carrying and loading and gives Noor the register and the doors. Two items stay open and are written that way: how the helpers' service counts travel time against the 9-to-noon window, and whether her city wants a permit, each with who settles it. The plan does not say her truck is within its limits; it says what she checked and what the label will show.

Common mistakes

• Sizing by bedrooms. Room counts are each company's claim and disagree. Size by cubic feet and weight.
• Checking space and forgetting weight. A truck can have room left and be over its payload. Run both checks.
• Trusting the listing over the label. Specifications vary by make, model and year. Read the label on the truck you get.
• Loading boxes first and furniture last. Heavy pieces go in first, at the front, on the floor.
• Driving under a canopy or into a garage. Know your clearance, and look before you go under anything unmarked.
• A rider in the back. Both rental companies forbid it. Riders go in the cab or their own car.
• A gas can or propane cylinder in the load. The rental contracts ban them; route them through the cannot-go list.
• One person and a sofa on the stairs. Two people, a dolly where it rolls, a specialist where two cannot carry it.

What is still unresolved

What your loaded truck weighs is settled by a scale, and what it may weigh by its door-post label. What your license allows is your state DMV's to say. What your insurance covers in a rented truck is your insurer's answer, and the rental contract says what its damage waivers cover; Moving services compared lists the questions. What the helpers' service pays for damage is in its own terms. Pianos, safes and other specialist items are in Fragile, heavy and awkward things, what to carry yourself in Your inventory, and the day's timing in Moving day.

Knowledge check and scenario

Checklist

• The truck or container is booked, with volume and payload checked against my estimate.
• I know the fuel type and the clearance, and I will read the door-post label at pickup.
• I read the contract's banned-items list and routed what it bans.
• Any street permit, elevator reservation or building approval is in hand, or I confirmed none is needed.
• The run sheet names each helper's job, with two people on anything heavy.
• Anything over our lifting limit is assigned to a specialist.
• I entered the full do-it-yourself cost in the cost box. (Go deeper; optional)
• I planned the load order on paper and found a scale on the route. (Go deeper; optional)