Moving Day Tips: What Professional Movers Wish Customers Knew
TL;DR
Finish packing completely before the crew arrives. Label boxes with the destination room and the top three contents. Photograph anything valuable before it is wrapped. Keep documents, medications, keys, and valuables out of the truck in a clearly marked "do not load" pile. Empty drawers, take down wall art, and decide who disassembles what before the morning of the move. Clear a path and reserve parking. Walk the house with the foreman at both ends. Read the bill of lading before signing it. Tipping is optional; communication is not.
Most of the friction on moving day is caused by the same small number of decisions — decisions customers could have made days earlier, and didn't. The result is a slower move, a higher bill, and occasionally a damage claim that does not get paid.
The advice below is drawn from a widely-read post from a working mover on r/moving, FMCSA's Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move booklet, and the regulatory requirements around the bill of lading and inventory sheet that every household-goods carrier must follow. All of it applies whether you are moving across town or across the country, and whether you are hiring a national van line or a local crew like one you might find on Mover Scorecard.
Quick Preparation Checklist
- Every box closed, taped, and labeled by the night before
- Do-not-load pile isolated in a marked room
- All drawers empty, wall art off the walls
- Path clear from front door to truck; parking reserved
- Phone fully charged; moving company's foreman number saved
- Cash on hand if you plan to tip; water and coffee ready
1. Finish Packing Before the Crew Arrives
"Mostly packed" is not packed. A box left open and half-full becomes the crew's problem at your hourly rate. On a local move charged by the hour, every fifteen minutes the crew spends packing what you didn't is money off your deposit and onto the final bill.
If you are genuinely behind — and it happens to almost everyone at least once — call the mover before their ETA. Ask what the per-box or per-hour surcharge will look like. Knowing the number in advance is what separates a stressful morning from a billing dispute after the truck leaves.
A local move booked at a 3-hour minimum with a 2-person crew at $180/hour turns into a 7-hour day when the kitchen is not yet packed. The original $540 estimate becomes a $1,260 bill. The carrier did nothing wrong; the customer's prep did not match the booking.
2. Label Every Box With the Destination Room and Three Contents
Movers read labels once. "Kitchen" on the side of a box is the minimum; "Kitchen — coffee maker, mugs, spice rack" is the version that gets the box to the right room on the first trip and means you don't unpack eleven boxes searching for the thing you need at 10pm on move day.
Use the destination room, not the origin room. If the box came from your current kitchen but is heading to the office at the new place, label it Office. The crew is staging boxes by label at drop-off. You want them putting boxes where they end, not where they started.
3. Photograph High-Value Items Before They Are Wrapped
Furniture, electronics, musical instruments, art, anything with a screen. Take a photo before it goes under pads or into a box. If a damage claim becomes necessary, a dated photo taken that morning is the strongest piece of evidence you can have. No photo and the claim often reduces to "was it already damaged?" with no way to answer.
Include a photo of the serial numbers on anything expensive — TVs, computers, exercise equipment. For loss claims, that is what an insurance adjuster will want to see.
4. Build a Do-Not-Load Pile
Documents, medications, spare keys, jewelry, wallets, passports, external hard drives, anything irreplaceable. These do not go on the truck. They ride with you.
Practical trick: put the do-not-load pile in the bathtub, or in a closet with the door shut and a piece of painter's tape across the frame labeled "DO NOT LOAD." Crews respect tape. An unmarked pile in the corner of a bedroom does not survive contact with a four-person crew clearing a house.
5. Empty Every Drawer and Take Down Everything on the Walls
Dresser drawers full of clothes are heavier than the dresser is rated for when tilted. Some crews will refuse to move a full dresser outright; others will move it but disclaim any damage to the piece. Empty it. Clothes fold into garment boxes or soft totes quickly.
Walls first: take down framed art, mirrors, wall-mounted TVs, and shelves. These are separate conversations about packing and mounting that you want to have before the truck pulls up, not while the crew is standing there holding a dolly.
6. Decide Disassembly Scope in Advance
Bed frames, cribs, wall-mounted TVs, pool tables, exercise equipment. Some crews disassemble everything included in the estimate. Some charge per item. Some won't touch anything with a motor or a refrigerant line.
Ask during the in-home or video survey. Get the answer in writing, on the estimate. If you plan to do the disassembly yourself, have the right tools and do it the night before. Half-disassembled furniture at 9am with the crew waiting is a predictable source of surcharges.
7. Clear a Path and Reserve Parking
The path from your front door to where the truck will park should be unobstructed. Move cars out of the driveway, clear the entryway, sweep the porch, prop open doors. The crew will do all of this if you don't, and that also becomes billable time on an hourly move.
Reserve parking if street parking is tight. In dense neighborhoods, call your city's parking authority about a temporary reservation or no-parking permit — most cities allow it with 48–72 hours notice. If the truck has to park a block away and carry everything the extra distance, you will be charged a long-carry fee that is almost always avoidable.
8. Walk the House With the Foreman — At Both Ends
When the crew arrives, walk through every room with the foreman before anyone picks anything up. Point out fragile items, staircase quirks, squeaky floors, pets that need to stay contained, and anything that is not going on the truck. The crew needs to know where the do-not-load pile is, and they need to know it out loud, not on a sticky note.
Repeat the walk-through at delivery. As the crew unloads, they should be calling out inventory numbers and you should be checking them off on the sheet. It is the only chance you have to catch a missing item before the truck leaves. If something is missing, it goes on the inventory as "missing" before you sign.
9. Read the Bill of Lading Before You Sign It
The bill of lading is the legal contract for your move. It is also the document many customers sign without reading, at the exact moment they are most tired and most ready for the whole thing to be over. That is how people sign away their leverage.
Before signing, confirm:
- Carrier legal name — matches the company you actually booked. If the name is different, ask why.
- Pickup and delivery addresses — exact, including unit numbers.
- Dates and delivery window — matches the contract. For long-distance moves, know exactly when the window starts and ends.
- Estimate type — binding, non-binding, or not-to-exceed. Make sure this matches what you agreed to at booking.
- Valuation coverage — released value (about 60 cents per pound) or full-value protection. This is the coverage level in case something is damaged or lost.
- No blank sections — anything empty at signing can be filled in later.
If anything is wrong or blank, do not sign. Ask the foreman to correct it and re-print. This is your right, and a legitimate carrier will not push back on it. If you want a fuller framework for vetting the mover in the first place, see how to evaluate a moving company.
10. Tip and Feed the Crew Like a Professional
Tipping is optional and varies by region. The working standard in most of the US is $20–$50 per crew member for a local half-day move, $50–$100 for a long day. On a long-distance move, tip at pickup and at delivery — it is a different crew at each end.
Water and coffee are standard. Lunch for a long day is a kind gesture and commonly appreciated, but it is not expected. What matters more than food and money is how you communicate. Treat the crew as the skilled labor they are. Do not micromanage the packing. Do not helicopter over individual items. Do answer questions quickly and be present when the foreman needs you.
Common Moving-Day Mistakes
- Packing "mostly" instead of fully the night before
- Using the origin room as the box label instead of the destination
- No photos of furniture or electronics before they are wrapped
- Do-not-load pile mixed in with boxes that are being loaded
- Leaving a dresser full of clothes expecting it to move intact
- Discovering a pool table needs disassembly after the crew arrives
- No parking reserved — truck ends up a block away at long-carry rates
- Disappearing during the load to run an errand
- Signing the bill of lading without reading it
- Treating the crew like friends the first hour and like staff the rest of the day
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pack my own boxes and still have movers load them?
Yes. Customer-packed boxes (marked PBO — "packed by owner" — on the inventory sheet) are standard. Know the trade-off: the mover is not liable for damage to items inside a box they did not pack. If a plate breaks inside a PBO box, the claim almost never gets paid. For fragile or high-value items, paying the crew to pack it costs more but gives you claim protection.
Am I legally required to be present during the move?
You, or an authorized representative 18 or older, must be present at both pickup and delivery. This is an FMCSA requirement for household-goods moves — the crew needs a signature on the bill of lading and on the inventory, and someone who can answer questions about what goes where. Disappearing during the load is how items go missing without anyone noticing.
What happens if I am not finished packing when the movers arrive?
The crew will usually pack what is left, but at an hourly or per-box rate that was not in your original estimate. Last-minute packing by the crew is the single biggest cause of moving-day bill shock. If you are behind, call the mover before their ETA and ask what the surcharge will look like so there are no surprises.
Do I need to empty dresser drawers or can movers wrap them sealed?
Empty the drawers. Clothing inside is heavy, shifts, and can damage the dresser when tilted; some crews will refuse to move full drawers at all because of liability. Soft items can usually stay in the drawer if the piece is light, but liquids, valuables, breakables, and documents must come out. If you are unsure, ask the crew at the walk-through — they will tell you.
How do I read the bill of lading before signing it?
The bill of lading is the legal contract for your move. Before signing, confirm: the carrier legal name matches what you booked, the pickup and delivery addresses are right, the dates and delivery window are accurate, the estimate type (binding, non-binding, not-to-exceed) is what you agreed to, and the valuation coverage (released or full value) matches your selection. If anything is wrong or blank, do not sign. Ask the foreman to correct it and re-print.
A Practical Takeaway
Moving day is mostly about preparation, paperwork, and presence. The crew's job is to move your stuff. Your job is to make that job possible — a packed house, a clear path, a reserved parking spot, a do-not-load pile that is unmistakable, and a willingness to read the bill of lading before it becomes a contract.
If you want to know what separates a good mover from one who will be the reason you file a complaint later, the checks start before the truck ever shows up. We cover those in how to evaluate a moving company and in the transparency signals discussed in what a trustworthy mover's website actually looks like.