U Haul moving or Natural Childbirth? You decide! U Haul
U Haul discrimination U Haul I was very disappointed in this company overall when the clerk behind the desk told me that the only trucks they had available at that time ...
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Over the years my family keeps on going back to U-haul. About as often as some women give birth. That time interval must be what it takes to forget how truly painful the whole messy experience really is.
A Tale of Two Moves
Move Number One
In May of 1999 our daughter (finally) graduated college with a BA degree. It was now time to come back home to the nest to build up her own nest egg -so she could fly the coop again.
Being a self-sufficient woman of the 90’s, Missfitts rents a 14′ truck from the local U-Haul dealership. This dealership is really a local liquor store in Arcata, CA. Missfitts has almost everything packed and ready to go in the truck -so she can spend the maximum amount of time with friends that she won’t be seeing again for a long time. Everything is planned.
Except. The woman behind the counter when we arrive to get the truck has never done this before. She doesn’t know how to process the paperwork. We have had this reservation for months! Missfitts knew that there’d be a rush of college students leaving this tiny coastal redwood town. How could there not be someone who knows how to process the paperwork? For hours we waited for this truck. Finally the clerk’s husband arrives and the truck is checked out to us.
Except it was broken! The truck is broken. Only one brake light left on it and one of the turn signals doesn’t work. Of course, since it’s graduation, there are NO trucks left to rent out in 2 counties! We take the truck, and plan to use hand signals, cell-phones and convoy tactics. With over 300 miles of California highways ahead of us, this isn’t making us filled with warm-fuzzies.
Due to the rest of Missfitt’s planning, everything else went smoothly. Enough time left to gulp down some large pizzas & head to the local hotel (who’s room rates doubled during the one week a year that there are people in that town) and enjoy Missfitts & her friends belt out some Kareoke tunes.
Early the next Morning, MrFitts makes the 300 mile drive. He reported that it was very bouncy and uncomfortable. MrFitts was very sore the next day from all that jarring motion from driving the truck.
Long Distance Moving Cost:
just over $300 and they didn’t charge us extra for the broken (before we got the vehicle) lights.
Move Number Two
Missfitts has finally made enough money to afford the very high cost of tiny little apartments in Silicon Valley (average rents on a 1-bedroom run about $1200 here) It’s time for her to move out on her own. Six months was long enough to live with mom & dad -after being on her own the previous 3 years!
Missfitts rents another U-Haul truck at Another liquor store location. This time 10′ sized.
I drive her to there, to get her truck. The owner of the liquor store is very nice. While Missfitts is filling out the forms, he hands me two screwdrivers to try to fix the truck while she’s busy. WHAT? Well, it seems that the last guy brought it back with the back door stuck open. The bearings were jammed and the door wouldn’t close.
It’s Saturday, and the move has been planned for months. The truck rental was only made a month in advance because there were no big things happening in Silicon Valley that Winter day. As our luck would have it, there are No Other Trucks available in the whole Silicon Valley! (Question: Is there really only one truck in the whole U-Haul Fleet? Is that why we can never get one that’s fixed?)
Despite my skills with tools, I can not get the door back on track to roll down. We are lucky that there is a main U-Haul Center right on Wolfe and El Camino in Sunnyvale. I went on ahead of ‘the kids’ to the storage facility to wait with the other volunteer movers.
To their credit, it only took the mechanics at U-Haul 10 minutes to dislodge the jammed door and get Missfitts on her way. By 7pm we were enjoying hot pizza in her new home.
The only injury was a mover that hit his head on the very low overhang as he got out of the passenger side of the truck. This truck was driven only a short distance, so there were no other physical discomforts from the drive.
Local Moving Costs:
Just under $100. Again, they didn’t charge us for the use of the tools in the failed attempt at fixing the truck ourselves, nor did they charge us for the expired registration, nor the Mechanics fixing the truck.
Overall, I think it was easier, took less time, and was less painful to give birth to Missfitts than it was to rent a truck from the local U-Haul centers.
At least I only gave birth once. I seem to keep renting U-Haul trucks! Do I actually forget how painful the whole U-Haul experience is each time?
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Tags: mover, movers, storage, truck rent
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