Moving container
Also called: moving pod, PODS container, portable storage container, ReloCube, U-Box, PACK-RAT container
A portable storage unit — 8, 12 or 16 ft long — dropped at your address, loaded by you over days or weeks, then picked up and driven to the new address or held in the company's warehouse. Sold by PODS, 1-800-PACK-RAT, U-Pack and U-Haul U-Box at $600–$1,000 local and $3,000–$9,000 long distance.
The container model splits a move into the part a company is good at — driving — and the part you can do at your own pace — packing and loading. The company delivers an empty unit with a lift truck to a flat spot on your driveway (or a permitted street space), you fill it over the rental month, they collect it, and it either goes straight to the new address, sits in their warehouse for $150–$250 a month, or rides a long-distance truck to a delivery window at the other end.
Sizes are by length: an 8 ft container is about 400 cubic feet (a studio or one room), a 12 ft about 700 (a 1-bedroom apartment), a 16 ft about 850 (three rooms, or a 2-bedroom house). A 3-bedroom house is two 16 ft units. Companies estimate by room count and run optimistic; the cost of underestimating is a second container with its own delivery fee and month.
What’s included in a move quote: delivery, a month of rental, transport, pickup. What isn’t: extra months, contents protection ($10–$300 a month by declared value), a street permit, packing materials, and any labor. Brands differ in details — PODS and PACK-RAT deliver steel or steel-framed units to the driveway; U-Pack sells trailer space by the linear foot or ReloCubes; U-Box is the cheapest locally and slowest across the country — so the same move is worth quoting with all of them.