Moving/Cargo Services: Implicit Time / Explicit Space

Moving services are priced differently in different countries. For instance, moving services in Asia most often are packaged with labor (to help pack and move boxes or furniture).

While in the United States, there are many D-I-Y moving services where the user rents the truck and gets help from family and friends to help move. Moving services in small countries like Singapore usually do not price by distance unlike the countries like the United Kingdom where distances travelled can be long.

The pricing varies by total weight, the number of boxes, the size of the items, the distance travelled, the size of the vehicle, the number of helpers needed, the time taken or the day of the week. These prices are further fenced by restrictions like distance (travel within a certain mileage) or size of the vehicle (discounted prices only for small trucks).

Many moving companies are restricted by the explicit space element of the business whereby their trucks cannot be up-sized to hold more things or down-sized to hold less (and priced less). One caveat is that moving companies usually have a selection of different sized vehicles, but these sizes are limited to the inventory available and cannot be scaled to demand within a short span of time (eg. purchase a new correct size truck within a day).

Since packing and moving takes time and customers prefer the time flexibility to move their things (D-I-Y moving), this industry has an implicit time element to it. Most companies do not charge by the hour and at most charge by the half-day or full-day. However, companies that include helpers as part of the package can manage duration uncertainty better; these companies can better control and manage its resources according to the demand.

Many moving service companies provide value-added services to drive its revenues. These services include:

- specialized transport and equipment to move fragile items (eg. antiques)

- cleaning services after moving out (eg. comply with apartment rental contract) or before moving in (eg. new residence)

- packing and unpacking of items into boxes

- new home/office set up (eg. telephone lines cabling, air-con installation, etc)

- loss/damage claim assistance (eg. taking photos of damaged items, supplying support documents)

- warehouse storage (eg. climate control storage, oversized item storage)

One company that has dominated the moving industry in Asia is K.C. Dat which specializes in expatriate and corporate/office moving (where the $$ is). Besides moving services, it's wide specturm of services include risk management, fine arts logistics, and commercial cargo. The fees are usually charge by the weight and bulk/size of the items as well as the manpower needed since some packing and movement requires more equipment. A lot of its business is based on freight services where items are shipped overseas, so packaging with freight and by distance becomes a revenue driver for the company.

A company that does charge by time is Signature Moving of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Local moves within a 60 mile radius of Atlanta city are charged a flat hourly rate irrespective of day-of-week (the company promotes the lack of variable pricing as an incentive to use them). This system could mean a race against time, both in packing and unpacking as well as traffic concerns in getting to and from your destination.

Long distance (more than 60 miles from Atlanta city center) moves are priced by total weight of items and distance travelled. Residential moving is charged a fixed price up to 2,500 square feet and a written estimate is given for larger residential properties. Again, this moving company differentiates itself from the competition by guaranteeing speed and quality of movement with pictures describing the precautions taken.

Filipino domestic workers in Singapore send home items through companies that charge by the number of crates used, irrespective of the weight or up to a very high weight limit (users are more likely to exceed the space constraints of the crate than the weight limit).

The opposite of time-based moving (eg. Signature Moving above) is Door-to-Door Moving and Storage with offices throughout the United States that sell their moving services through "pods" (fixed amount ofspace) that you pack up and they'll move for you. They use a hub-and-spoke system where trucks deliver the pod to a regional center before another truck continues the journey.

There's only a window of the amount of time it will take to get your pod from one place to the other, but they maximize revenue on their end by filling all their time moving pods, and no time spent packing the pods. Door-to-Door stores your pod in its regional warehouse until you are ready to deliver it to your new residence or office. This implicit time but explicit space pricing method is best for customers who may have uncertain moving schedules.

Perhaps the most famous D-I-Y moving service is U-Haul. This US-based company rents trucks and other types of vehicles to move your items, driver not included. Prices are based on vehicle type, mileage travelled, day-of-week rental, time taken (eg. 3 days) and whether it's a one-way (pick-up and return in different cities) or in-town trip (pick-up and return at the same location). Most one-way packages cost more because high demand for one location leads to more trucks leaving that location; U-Haul wants more inventory available in that high demand area. Duration uncertainty is controlled by having a fixed duration for the use of the truck before it has to be returned to the agreed drop-off point. However, no discount or credit is given for returning a truck or trailer earlier than contracted. Like many moving companies, U-Haul also drives revenues be leasing storage space and selling moving supplies.