Leaving · F
You are leaving
Consistently a bigger job than the one that brought people here, and almost always underestimated for the same reason: nobody counts what accumulated, and nobody counts what is still being held somewhere else.
Every decision made on arrival now has to be undone, including the ones nobody remembers making.
What a leaving move involves
Why it is bigger than the arrival
Two reasons, and both are arithmetic. Things accumulate — a flat furnished over three years holds considerably more than the shipment that started it. And whatever was left behind at the outset is still somewhere, usually in a unit that has not been opened.
So a leaving move is the arrival shipment, plus everything acquired, plus the half that never came. People plan for the first of those three.
The sort that has to happen now
Whatever is going onward is going to be paid for twice more: once to get out of London and once to get into the next place. That makes this the moment where deciding is genuinely cheaper than shipping.
We will take goods to a buyer, a charity, a family member or the new address as part of the same day. Anything for disposal needs a licensed firm, which we are not.
The unit, which should be part of this job
If something has been held since you arrived, consolidate it into this move rather than leaving it for later. Later is how a hold becomes a decade.
It is also the only moment when the contents can be sorted against a real destination, because for the first time there is somewhere for things to go.
And the date that keeps moving
Leaving dates move — a job start, a completion, a visa, a school term. Ask for a quotation that states plainly what happens when it does, and we will put it in writing.
A firm that has already thought about that is a firm that has done this before.
You are leaving
Questions about you are leaving
- Why is leaving bigger than arriving?
- Because things accumulate, and because whatever was left behind at the outset is still somewhere. A leaving move is the arrival shipment plus everything acquired plus the half that never came.
- Should we sort before or after?
- Before. Anything going onward gets paid for twice more, which makes this the moment where deciding is genuinely cheaper than shipping.
- Can you deal with the storage unit too?
- It should be part of the same job. Leaving it for later is how a hold becomes a decade, and this is the first time there is somewhere for the contents to go.
- Can you deliver to several places?
- Yes — buyer, charity, family, new address — planned as one day rather than as separate jobs.
- What if our leaving date moves?
- It usually does. Ask for a quotation that states what happens when it does, and we will put that in writing rather than leaving it to the day.
- Do you move abroad?
- By road, to four destinations. France, Spain, Italy and Portugal have their own pages, and there is no fifth — we run no sea or air freight.
How long are you staying?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and how long you expect to be here. A rough answer is enough — the boundaries between horizons are soft and the advice barely changes within one.