With the forthcoming move back out East comes a necessity that I’m dealing with for the first time. In the past whenever there was a change of residence, I would madly dump all of my worldly possessions into large, decaying cardboard boxes, cram them all into a friend’s car / truck / moped, and lurch down the street to the new home, hoping for the best. Copious sweating and sounds more suited to a porno were often the result, not to mention some very unsightly underarm stains.
After the nearly disastrous Move Of ‘01, where I suffered nigh-fatal implosions of the trapezius muscles, and sweated mightily in places I didn’t even think I had sweat glands, I decided no more. We had sent our things via Air Canada cargo, which meant packing, transporting, and moving everything ourselves. This time, it’s packing, yes, lifting and displacing of heavy objects, a resounding no.
Thus, we need a moving company.
The big problem here is that there are just so many companies and options to choose from. As excitingly folksy as it sounds to get our underwear and disco pantaloons transported by a company with the words “Amigos”, “Guys”, or, “Buddy” in their name, the pragmatic part of me says, “this, you may regret.”
So, folks: can you recommend a national moving company that can whisk all of our possessions from the smog-free, sleepy canopy of Winnipeg to the olfactorific, bustling skyline of Toronto? We actually don’t have tons of things - there’s a fair number of books, CDs, and the requisite kitchenware, but only a handful of furnishings, so it shouldn’t be too crazy to move.
Here’s what I’m hoping for:
- Reliable: I don’t want to put our things on a truck, only to see half of them again come Thanksgiving Day, and the other half in a Crimestoppers ad.
- Speed: It would be nice to get our things within a week of saying goodbye to them in Winnipeg. I think that’s reasonable.
- Insured: If a fumble-fingered palooka drops my TV, or if the Wawa goose falls on top of our truck as it’s in transit, I want the company to pay for or replace our stuff.
- Reasonably priced: I’m willing to pay a bit more for top-notch service, but I don’t want to break the bank, and I don’t want weird, wonky hidden fees to crop up at the most inopportune times.
Also, if there’s anything I should know about using a moving company (and I’m sure there’s endless things I haven’t even begun to think about), please post in the comments and let me know. My scrawny pectoral muscles and worrywort nature thanks you profusely.
