Reference

Delivery-day and cost checks

Four checks on your own figures: the most an interstate mover can require at delivery, what each valuation level pays, the full cost of moving yourself, and the cost per pound of a quote.

The first two boxes use the federal rules for an interstate move by a household goods carrier, explained in Hiring a mover. The third adds up a move you do yourself (Moving it yourself). The fourth is optional arithmetic for deciding whether one heavy item is worth moving.

What you pay on delivery day

On an interstate move, the mover must release your goods when you pay the amount below. For a non-binding estimate that is at most 110 percent of the estimate, plus services you asked for after the bill of lading, plus impracticable-operations charges up to 15 percent of the other charges due at delivery. Anything above it is billed after 30 days. For a binding estimate it is the estimate, plus the same two additions. Enter the estimate from your paperwork and, at delivery, the charges on the final bill.

Estimate type Estimate amount ($) Services you asked for after the bill of lading ($) Impracticable-operations charges ($) All other charges on the final bill ($; leave 0 before delivery)

Full value protection or released value

Full value protection makes an interstate mover liable for replacement value up to a declared value with a minimum set by the Surface Transportation Board; released value pays 60 cents a pound per article and must be chosen in writing. Enter the estimated shipment weight, any value you plan to declare, and one article to see what each level would pay for it.

Estimated shipment weight (lb) Value you plan to declare ($; 0 if none) One article's weight (lb) That article's value to you ($)

The full cost of moving yourself

A rental rate is one line of several. Enter the figures from the rental quote, your own car or the company's miles per gallon, and what you are paying helpers.

Rental base ($) Miles Per-mile rate ($) Fuel price per gallon ($) Miles per gallon Equipment: dolly, pads, straps ($) Helpers (people) Helper hours each Helper rate per hour ($) Packing materials ($) Permits ($) Lodging and meals ($)

What one item costs to move Go deeper

For a move priced by weight, a quote divided by the estimated weight gives a rough cost per pound, and one item's share of that weight gives its share of the quote. Whether that is worth paying, against selling the item or buying another at the far end, is your decision; this box does not compare.

The quote's total ($) Estimated shipment weight (lb) One item's weight (lb)

Assumptions behind the numbers

Delivery-day figures: 49 CFR 375.403 (binding estimates), 375.405 and 375.407 (non-binding estimates and the 110 percent rule). They apply to interstate moves by a household goods carrier for an individual shipper.
Valuation figures: 49 CFR 375.201 and 375.203 and the Surface Transportation Board's released-rates decision RR 999 (2012, PDF): $6.00 a pound or $6,000, whichever is higher, as the full value minimum, and 60 cents a pound per article released. The decision says the $6.00 figure may be indexed; your mover's tariff and bill of lading state its own.
Moves within one state follow that state's rules. New York and Washington, among others, set their own; the state examples show five.

Limits

These boxes do arithmetic on your figures and on the percentages in the federal rules. They do not say whether a charge on your bill is owed, whether an operation was impracticable, or what a claim will recover; those turn on your paperwork, the mover's tariff and the facts, and a dispute goes to the mover's arbitration program, the regulator or a lawyer. This manual gives no legal or financial advice.