uShip.com: A cheaper form of self storage transport

Moving stuff around can be expensive so uShip.com have come up with a way of making it much cheaper.  Their model, based around the Internet, allows people with vans to bid for jobs to move loads.  As a middle man they take only a small cut, typically about 6%, which is charged to the van driver/mover who is the person being paid.

As Sandra Patterson, their UK sales manager, explains, “it’s free to register, free to use and makes use of return journeys and allows transport owners who have spare capacity to quote a competitive price.”

Many people using self storage prefer to move the things themselves but sometimes they simply can’t do it or they want some of the heavier stuff moved for them.  This represents an alternative to the conventional route of using a removal company and has every prospect of being cheaper.

Expanding cheap moving services into Europe and for people using self storage

The company is based in the US but it has European operations in Amsterdam and in Scotland.  It is particularly efficient and environmental in that drivers often quote to do moves using their back-loads (ie return journeys which would otherwise mean driving an empty lorry or van).  For awkward items that are going into self storage this method can be particularly helpful – motorcycles, heavy equipment or heavy furniture.

Born in the back of a removal van

Matt Chasen, uShip founder, explains that the idea was born in the back of a moving van. He was doing a move for his mother and needed a small van. However, he was only able to rent a large truck which wasted lots of space because it was only half-full on the way there and empty on the way back. It occurred to him that the space wasted in situations like this could be better used if he took other peoples’ stuff with him as well – including things being moved in and out of self storage units.