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Those looking to relocate their home have a lot of options: they can use the yellow pages or Internet to find a local mover, or they can choose a larger company with a local franchise or office. As with many other industries, in the moving business, small local shops vie for customers with larger moving truck companies. Here are some of the top benefits of going local and retaining the services of a smaller, home-based company for your residential moving.
Low Overhead
Local movers tend to have really efficient operations. They may have one or two trucks, five to ten employees, and a marketing strategy that includes more print than television or radio. Skipping the cost of the big companies, including headquarters, expensive advertising, and lots of office space for communications, can add up to a lot of cost savings that generally gets passed onto the customer.
Less Travel
Local moving trucks do not have to come to you from a faraway destination, which makes selecting local movers a better choice for short distance moves. It makes sense to hire a home-based company if you’re going to move across town, or only a few miles out into the country. This can give your move a smaller “carbon footprint” and possibly shave dollars off of the cost.
More Knowledge of the Local Area
Local movers also know the roads around your home. They know about what conditions might be challenging for getting your possessions where they need to be, and they know about which routes are best to use. This may make your move even more efficient, and less expensive, especially if larger shops build in charges based on their time and effort.
Direct Negotiation
Another big benefit of using local movers over big companies is that you will often be able to negotiate a price directly with the business owner. This is a very different paradigm than calling a corporate office and getting a direct price quote. A small local mover may actually be someone who started with the company, bought a truck and hired a few people. This kind of setup makes it easy to give customers really cheap deals for moving, and in a conversation about the baseline costs for the mover, you may be able to reach agreement that will save you a lot of money.
Supporting Local Business
In times when all of America is feeling the economic crunch, it’s a good idea to keep money in your community, rather than flowing to a corporate office in another part of the country. Hiring local movers is one way to do your part in that mutual support that makes community businesses thrive.
All of the above are good reasons to go with a local shop. The challenge is to find the balance between a cheap, efficient mover and a possibly disorganized business with a crew that may not have their act together. Doing some basic research and asking questions up front will help you find reliable local movers will get you where you want to be cheaply and efficiently.
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