The $100 Cross-country Moving Hack: Too Good to Be True?

According to an article published on Business Insider, a young woman recently moved her stuff from New York to San Francisco for only $100. At first, this claim seems like impossible wizardry, but Melia Robinson–a reporter for BI–insists otherwise.

Of course, one major precondition must exist to make this plausible, so let’s start with that. Robinson says that her new apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area came fully furnished, which significantly reduced the potential cost of moving cross-country. Without having to ship all of her large furniture, she was only responsible for her personal items, clothing, kitchenware and home goods. Melia claims all of these items would equate to about “five medium-sized boxes, each containing about fifty pounds.”

Air and freight

With a rough estimate of how much stuff she had to move, Robinson did a little bit of research. Her first idea was UPS Air, but the cheapest this method would’ve been was still over $900. One alternative was resorting to UPS Ground, meaning that her belongings wouldn’t arrive in San Francisco until nearly a week after shipping out. This method would’ve run Melina more than $400, still outside of her budget.

With her first idea down the drain, Melina found a shipping company called YRC Freight that would pick up her stuff at her NYC apartment and deliver it to her new address in SF. This process, however, could take up to a few weeks. While it would eliminate Robinson from having to pick up her items from a loading dock or storage facility, she wasn’t sure she could go that long without her things. And then there was the price.

Including the cost to insure her items, Melina would’ve had to pay YRC Freight nearly $800 to complete the shipment–and she would’ve had to survive at least two weeks without her clothes and personal items.

Third time’s a charm

After two big swings and misses, Melina needed a solid option to consider. Most airlines have baggage policies that would cost her upwards of $350 to ship everything she had. However, Virgin America’s bag fees and rules policy states: “Main Cabin guests may check up to ten bags, at 50lb/22kg each, for a fee of $25 per bag.” Since Robinson was going to be flying from New York to San Francisco anyway, this could be a viable option. And of course, each passenger is allowed to bring a carry-on luggage, as well as a personal item like a backpack or purse.

The one downside to this option was that, if a bag exceeded fifty pounds, it would have cost $50 instead of $25. Still, as Melina described in her article, “It seemed too good to be true.”

Robinson arrived at JFK International Airport in New York with four large bags, as well as a carry-on backpack and a small purse. She checked in for her flight, confident in her plan and faithful in Virgin America’s baggage fee policy.

Sure enough, it held true. Melina was able to safely transport all of her belongings from New York City to San Francisco for $100, plus the price of her plan ticket, of course. Luckily, none of her bags weighed more than fifty pounds.

So, if you’re ever wondering how you can get your stuff to the other side of the country for a reasonable price, this could be a useful hack. Just don’t forget to purchase your one-way ticket.

from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/movers/zAgm/~3/LpRctDJ0bY8/