Three routes, and only one of them handles the goods twice
A gap between the day you have to be out and the day you can be in has three ordinary answers. Put everything in a self storage unit and move it again later. Keep it loaded on the truck or trailer and pay for the days. Or hand it to the mover and let it sit in their warehouse until they redeliver it. The rate cards for those three are in different units, which is what makes them hard to compare, and one of them carries a cost that is not on the card at all.
The second handling is the whole argument
| Route | Over 21 days | Per day | Times the goods are handled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage unit | $1,493.60 | $71.12 | Four |
| Loaded truck held | $1,869.00 | $89.00 | Two |
| Storage in transit | $770.00 | $36.67 | Two |
On the default rates the storage unit costs $210.00 in rent and fees, and $1,283.60 in everything that follows from having to move it a second time — seven crew hours, an extra rental day and forty miles. That is 86 percent of the route sitting in lines that have nothing to do with storage. Somebody comparing a $165 unit against an $89 daily truck rental sees a unit that is cheaper from day two, which is the mistake this page exists to correct.
Work out when the unit actually overtakes the truck and it is day 17 on these numbers: $1,328.60 of fixed cost has to be earned back at $89 a day. Under 17 days, holding the loaded truck wins outright. Above it, the unit pulls ahead and keeps pulling.
Part months and minimums
Storage is not billed by the day unless the contract says it is. A facility that bills part months whole turns a 31 day gap into two months, and a gap of 29 days into one — a difference that can be larger than everything else on this page put together. The same effect appears on storage in transit as a minimum number of months. Both are worth checking before dates get agreed, because moving a closing by two days is sometimes free and sometimes worth several hundred dollars.
What the calculator will not tell you
Whether you may leave a loaded truck where you plan to leave it, what any of these contracts cover while the goods are out of your hands, and what happens if something is missing at the far end. Those are contract questions and property questions, not arithmetic. The company that wrote the agreement answers the first sort, the state agency that regulates household goods carriers where you live handles the second, and anything that becomes a dispute over money or damage is a lawyer question. This page adds up rates you supplied and nothing more.
Questions people ask
Is it cheaper to keep a moving truck loaded or use a storage unit?
For short gaps, holding the loaded truck usually wins, because the storage unit route carries a large fixed cost that has nothing to do with storage: unloading into it and loading out of it again. On the default figures here the crossover is 17 days. Below that, holding is cheaper; above it, the unit pulls ahead. Your own crossover depends almost entirely on what the second load and unload costs you, so that is the field worth getting right.
What is storage in transit?
It is the mover holding your goods in their own warehouse between collection and delivery, usually billed by the month with a separate redelivery charge for the second delivery out. What it covers, how long it can run and what happens to the goods while they are there is set by the contract you signed, not by a calculator, and the redelivery line is the one people miss when comparing it against a self storage rate.
Why does the calculator charge crew hours to the storage route only?
Because the other two routes do not have a second handling. Whichever way you go, the goods get loaded once at the old address and unloaded once at the new one, and that work cancels out of the comparison. The storage unit adds a full unload into the unit and a full load out of it, and that is real money and real hours whether you pay a crew or spend a Saturday doing it yourself.
Does a shorter gap always cost less?
Not when storage is billed in whole months. A 29 day gap and a 31 day gap can be one month and two months of rent respectively, which is a jump that no amount of daily arithmetic explains. If your dates are near a month boundary, the single most valuable question is whether either date can move by a few days, and the answer is more often yes than people assume.
Should I put everything in storage or only some of it?
Splitting the load is a fourth route this page does not price, and it can be the right one: the things you will need in the gap travel with you and the rest goes into a smaller unit. The catch is that separating a load costs sorting time on a day when nobody has any, and a unit only one size smaller often saves less than the sorting cost. Size both options with the storage unit size calculator before deciding.