Movin' right along

Our household goods are being moved to Bucerias by Lake Chapala Moving Company (LCMC). They work with a company in the US called Pack Pro. Leon, at LCMC, makes all the arrangements and he is the one who you send your inventory to, he arranges the border crossing, etc. Pack Pro arranges for a trailer to be dropped at your location and picked up. They also arrange the insurance coverage for the shipment.
We had made all arrangements with LCMC, Pack Pro, the storage company where our things were being stored, and some guys to load our trailer. All was arranged for Tuesday, October 4. The trailer was to come in the morning and be loaded in the afternoon.
The company hired by Pack Pro was Roadway. On Tuesday morning, the Roadway driver called to tell us that he would be there in 30 minutes to pick up our trailer. Only problem – he was supposed to be dropping off a trailer to us. So, a few phone calls were made to Pack Pro and Roadway. The driver made some calls and found an empty trailer and had it delivered. Nervous moment #1 solved. Harold and I had some things at my parents’ house that were going to go in the trailer. We loaded up our car and truck and took them over to the trailer.
At the appointed time, our loading guys showed up. Our friend Deanna, who works for a moving company had strongly suggested hiring loaders and she was right. The two guys went and got all the stuff out of our storage unit, put it in their enclosed trailer, then brought it to where the moving truck was parked. The assembling of the jigsaw puzzle began then. The fee for moving is charged by the linear foot used in the trailer. We had been told the trailer was 8’ x 8’. It really turned out to be about 8 ½ feet by 9 feet. Robby, the main loader, looked at all the boxes, tubs and odd shaped things and then packed the trailer to the top and got all our stuff in about 11 linear feet of space. It took them about 3 hours to load it, if Harold and I had done it, it would have taken at least twice that long, amd we probably wouldn’t have gotten it as compact. It helps that Robby is about 30 years younger and 8 inches taller than Harold, too.
Next nervous moment – Roadway had not dropped off the load lock kit to keep our things in that 11 feet. I made numerous phone calls to Pack Pro and Roadway before finding out that Roadway couldn’t deliver them out that day, they would bring them in the morning when they picked up the truck. So of course all evening and until we met the truck driver for the pickup, I had visions of our nicely stacked trailer shifting and all the boxes and other things scattered everywhere.
No worry, the load looked fine, the driver came and put in the sealed divider. It was mych lower-tech than I was expecting. Basically, there is a track at the bottom made of 2 2x8s that span the width of the trailer. Two pieces of chipboard plywood stand up in that track. So at that point there is a chipboard wall dividing off our stuff. Expandable load bars are put across the trailer in 4 spots to secure the wall. Time will tell if everything gets there without the wall falling down!
We signed the forms with the driver and off our stuff went. To Dallas. The driver told us that Roadway hubs all their trailers through Dallas, so our south-bound trailer headed north to Dallas to begin it’s journey.
Here’s how the whole LCMC / Pack Pro thing works. Instead of a full service move where someone comes and packs your belongings, loads the moving truck, delivers the goods and unloads the truck, this is more self-service. You pack everything or hire someone to pack. You load your household goods into a 28’ trailer, taking as much space as you need. Earlier in the process we had estimated 10’ of space would be needed. LCMC bases their estimate on the aount you tell them it will be. From what I have heard, what Leon tells you it will cost is exactly what it costs. Obviously, he priced ours on 10’ and we have 11’, but he gave us a price per extra foot, so we know what our total cost will be. Once the divider is put in place, other freight is loaded in that trailer to be hauled to the border. In Laredo, the additional freight is removed. Your household goods cross the border in the same trailer you loaded them into, by themselves. LCMC handles the border crossing and customs. You provide ahead of time an inventory of the contents. They have your inventory translated into Spanish and do all the paperwork.
Once the trailer clears customs, freight is loaded on in Nuevo Laredo and hauled to Guadalajara. We will have a slightly longer wait, and our cost was slightly higher because the trailer will be delivered to Bucerias. At that end, the driver will deliver the trailer and wait while we unload it. We plan on hiring unloaders as well. We have been told by LCMC that the delivery time will be 2 or 3 weeks. I’ll let you know.