Consumers : The Moving Experience : How to Deal With the Headaches That Always Come With Getting From Here to There

When Betsie Egan arrived, on schedule, to move into her new Pasadena home, she found the door locked, the former owners gone and their furniture inside.

After waiting two hours for them to return, a chagrined Egan asked her $100-an-hour movers to take their van to a warehouse; she went to a hotel overnight.

The owners moved the next day but left a dirty house, so Egan unpacked her belongings and cleaned the 1,600-square-foot residence simultaneously.

‘Expected It to Be Simple’

“Having to wait threw everything off,” said Egan, a mother of four who studies commercial design at Pasadena City College. “I had expected to be settled in by Sunday. On Monday, I had school and all my other obligations. It made it complicated when I had expected it to be simple.”

Her story of unexpected, frustrating delay is not unusual, especially during the summer when moves are most common, according to those who have moved recently or have studied the psychology of moving. They say that something unforeseen is almost bound to happen because the complicated process often requires getting boxes, finding a rental truck or a moving van, packing and unpacking, obtaining telephone and utility service and transporting pets and children long distances to unfamiliar surroundings.

“No matter how organized I am and how much I follow all the rules, not everyone else does,” Egan said. “Things could go wrong no matter how well I planned.”

Patricia Cooney Nida agreed. The Atlanta consultant has advised corporations and the military for 11 years on the human effects of relocating personnel.

“People who move frequently decide that next time they are going to get so organized that nothing bad is going to happen,” Nida said. “If you’ve got a cute little apartment, you can bag everything before movers get there. But if you’ve got a big house with a table saw and thousands of cook books, it doesn’t work. Somebody still is going to drop a box of china.”

Still an Enticing Prospect

Despite the hard work, frustration and pain attached to moving, the American Movers Conference in Alexandria, Va., reports that the prospect still entices most Americans. The moving industry trade association says that 17%-20% of the U.S. population relocates each year. More than 43 million Americans changed residences in the 12 months ending March, 1986, the last year for which figures are available.

About 50% of all moves occur between the last week in May and the first week in October, said Gust Nelson, Western area vice president for North American Van Lines.

By far the largest group of movers, 42%, relocates because of a change in jobs, according to Movers Conference figures. The majority of people, 54.8%, move without rented equipment, while 21% rent trucks or other apparatus and another 21% employ moving companies.

Moving companies are licensed by the federal Interstate Commerce Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission, which among other things require carriers to have insurance.

An ICC spokesman said rates vary widely for moves between states.

A Bekins Van Lines spokesman said that a three-bedroom home with goods weighing 10,000 pounds would cost $2,500-$3,000 to move to Denver, $4,200-$4,500 to Chicago and $5,000 to New York. Global Relocation Systems Inc. in Buena Park put the costs at $3,123 to Denver, $5,287 to Chicago and $6,200 to New York. The rates do not include packing, insurance or other services.

PUC official H. K. (Andy) Anderson said his agency allows Los Angeles and Orange County carriers to charge a minimum of $71.50 an hour for two men and a van for moves of 50 miles or less. Longer moves within the state vary with weight and distance, he said.

The Foremost Mistake

Anderson said that “failing to get a written estimate (of moving costs) is one of the foremost mistakes” made by those who move. “The owners should get a written estimate after the mover has come to the residence and seen all the goods and belongings which are going to be moved. We have rules that the mover’s final charges can not exceed the written estimate by more than 10%. An oral estimate doesn’t qualify.

“The other thing is shopping for price rather than quality. Is it more important to save $100 or to have their belongings get there in perfect shape when they are promised to arrive?”

Anderson said that the quality of the move depends largely on the training and skill of the mover; a good mover will work faster, and ultimately, cheaper, than a lower-priced one.

“They know how to do work faster and with greater quality,” he said. “The art of packing, carrying and moving requires skill. . . . The (belongings) have to be fitted into the truck like a jigsaw puzzle with blankets between them to prevent furniture from rubbing. If there is any play, the furniture will shift.”

He cautioned that companies are finding it difficult to get good workers on trucks, particularly at this time of year when movers are busy. “The industry is not in position to pay enough to good men,” he said.

Avoiding Frustration

Several people who have moved recently say that even consumers who use moving companies can take steps to avoid frustration or delay.

Egan hit the ground running in her new home because she packed separately the things she would need immediately.

“I pack the survival things I can exist a fair amount of time on in one box,” she said. “That box says ‘open immediately’ and it has all the basics. It doesn’t have the Cuisinart, but it does have the frying pan, the coffeepot and the cereal dishes.

“Each room has its survival box. I think ahead. I probably own 100 pair of shoes, but I can survive on a few pair. With purses it’s the same thing.”

Jean Strauss Berger also uses survival boxes. They helped when she and her husband, Kenny, moved from Northridge last year and had to store their belongings in a friend’s garage overnight before they could occupy their Chatsworth home.

“You need a complete set of bed linen,” she said. “The first thing you do when you get in the house is make the bed. By the time you are ready for sleep, the last thing you are going to want to do is to start looking for sheets.

‘High-Priority Box’

“There should (also) be a high-priority box,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with taking it in a car. It should have tools. The first thing my son did is put the beds together and it means a lot to children if you can put pictures up right away. Also sometimes drawers and chests get loosened during the move so you need minor repairs.”

Dave Rosenbloom and Linda Chiavaroli, who moved from Van Nuys to a contemporary 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath home in Glassell Park, said drawing a model floor plan also smoothes the move.

“We took careful measurements of the walls and furniture and did a layout of each room,” he said. “We had pretty tight fits but we knew they would work. That way the movers put your furniture where you want it and you don’t have to struggle with it later.”

No matter how prepared the mover is, however, the change to a new residence can be wrenching. Moving can revive old hurts and force personal re-evaluations, said sociologist Catherine Cameron, co-author of a book called “Moving: The Challenge of Change.”

“It taps into other moves and past relationships,” said Cameron, who teaches at the University of LaVerne. “It’s almost like deja vu . You have moved before you may wonder whether those earlier moves were good. You also tap into other losses of rejection, bereavement and divorce and open up lots of pain.”

Panic Sets In

Nida, the Atlanta consultant, said that the mental turmoil is unrelated to the distance of the move. When the move becomes imminent, she said, panic is a likely development.

“They are sure they can’t do it by Thursday when the truck is coming. Everyone has one piece of furniture they panic about. The mother thinks they are going to break the legs on her piano. It hangs over the house like free-floating anxiety.

“Then there is the physical drive or the flight to the destination. That does not seem to be very disruptive.

“The myth is that when you get there things are going to get better. But they don’t because now you are lost. You’re tired. You’re exhausted. You don’t have the support system and don’t know where anything is.

“Eventually you find your way back to normal. You find a doctor, a veterinarian and friends. It tends to take 6 to 18 months. That’s in a good location that works for the family. In a location that is bad for the family, you never settle in.”

Cameron said children often feel as intensely as adults about moving. “Typically, it’s announced to them,” she said. “It’s as if they are picked up along with the furniture. There is seldom any consultation with children as to whether to move and sometimes scanty attention in terms of where the child is in school. Some children withdraw and become depressed. There have even been suicides because of a move.

‘Explore With Children’

“It’s a good idea for parents to explore with children what they think the move is about and where their anxieties are and to avoid being defensive about it. It’s very easy to feel guilty and to shut up children’s concerns or fears.

“The child who handles moving well typically has parents who put the move in terms of an adventure and who can listen to what is going on with the child before, during and after the relocation.”

Egan, who has moved 20 times in 25 years and still has a 12-year-old son at home, tries to put the move in perspective.

“Getting upset doesn’t do any good,” she said. “Things can go wrong and they are out of your control.”

Nida agreed: “You do your best, get it as organized as best you can, but don’t get a migraine.”