Northern VA moving company

A lot depends on how much you have. We had our son-in-law drive our stuff to Florida in a panel van. He took it to VI Cargo and they shipped it with no trouble. We didn't have much furniture but probably about 50-60 cubic feet.

We've found both VIC and Tropical easy to work with. But call on the phone. We had less success with e-mail.

Hey Pat,

We just moved down to St. Croix from Arlington. We've used Mayflower Movers to pack up stuff for several moves we made while in NoVA and were very happy with the time they took, the quality of the crew they used, and the way the handled issues that came up. You can find them in the phone book -- give them a call and have them build you a quote.

A word of advice, though, with any company you use: Demand to know how far in advance the packers will be coming, what packing materials you are being charged for/they are bringing with them, and how much time they intend to spend packing up your home.

Even though we gave the shipping company for our VI move (company was not Mayflower) a very honest assessment of our belongings and what needed to be packed (contents of a 3 bdr 2 bath condo with lots of books and art minus most furnture)so they would be gone by our 6pm building curfew on moveins and moveouts, the company sent two guys over at 1pm in the afternoon to pack the entire place. They ended up being there until 10, and would have been there longer had my husband not packed 45% of our stuff in advance and while they worked. We had about $2000 in damaged items, every one was from a "professionally packed" box and not one item we packed ourselves was harmed in even a minor way. Everything from astorage linen closet, like laundry detergent, bleach, shampoo, conditioner, etc. was thrown (and I mean thrown, not placed, and not with ccaps taped on or down) as it was found into a large box and taped up -- you can imagime the mess that results from a bottle of downy being tirned on its head for four weeks. The two packers also tried to charge us additional for the molving materials, and we spent close to an hour on the phone during the time they should havev been working verifying that the cost there were trying to add on had already been inlcuded in the quote.

Summary of a long story: if you're physically able and have the time, pack everything yourself using Uhaul boxes, lots of bubbblewrap, and newspaper (although clothing you want to send down here also makes fine packing materials, too!). If you are lacking time, pack your most treasured goods yourself and let the so called professionals do the rest.

I hope everything works out for you! When are you hoping to arrive on STX?

HC

We used Security Storage of Washington/Northern VA

http://www.sscw.com

one of the oldest moving companies in the US. We shipped a 40 and a 20 ft container to St Croix. Not one thing was damaged or broken. They're not cheap, but they're very good.

Depending on how much you are planning to take with you...there is a company I highly recommend to you that will come pick up your household items right from you front door and get it to STX. The deal is this....you have to pack your items yourself and pack them well. I work for a Air Freight company here at Dulles Airport and they are one of our customers.

The person you will be dealing with is Alison (very pleasant lady)

U Pak We Ship
301-483-8774

upakweship.com (you can submit for a quote online-she responds fast via email!)

We packed everything ourselves and nothing was broken. We used towels and blankets and household stuff to wrap fragile stuff. Also, used heavy duty boxes for dishes and kitchen stuff. Used a bit of bubble wrap. We also loaded the crate ourselves. We stacked boxes like bricks so that the bottom box was not holding the weight solely. Worked out well. We used a 20' crate for a 3 bedroom house, 3 kids, 2 adults. We did not ship any appliances.

Teresa

Just noticed your response to the NOVA move. We are moving to STX and live nearby the NOVA area. We are struggling to find a moving company that will haul our household goods and 1 Jeep Wrangler down there. Everyone has been so wishy washy with us and we just want a straight answer. Do the Mayflower Movers arrange the steamships as well? We have our goods packed ourselves, just need to find someone to take them there (safely) 🙂
Any advice for us???
Island Bound,
Darby Kirby

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I will start making some calls today. I don't have a lot of furniture, but I'm moving alone so I really need a company who will help with the big stuff. At first I was going to sell everything, but I've found that in addition to taking my dear cat, I would like to have my bed and my tv and a few other items. Lee Fleming made it sound pretty easy. Just getting my stuff to Miami seems to be the holdup. I hope to be completely moved by Jan 1, if not sooner.

Look into 3 Movers - they have offices in that area and handle a fair amount of overseas and international moving so I'm sure they'd be a reasonable option. I've only used them within the continental U.S. before but I know they do quite a bit of work outside of that and they were pretty affordable when I last used them. 

This must be a record to resurrect a 19 year thread. 🙂