Moving in Big Cities: Lugg vs Clutter
i recently had to move (from smolhaus 1.5 to a temporary place) and so had to evaluate some choices in moving options. TLDR: I made a huge mistake not choosing Clutter.
this was an extended research process so just wanted to offer a note for others finding this.
I have 1 studio’s worth of stuff to move - 2 couches, 3 work tables, like 20 boxes of clothes and books and a minifridge and 3 cabinets and a tv. so theres a bunch of stuff to move.
- Lugg: only move from place to place. i ended up picking the XL option here, the guys said that more would have fit in the Box van which is 2ft longer 1 ft higher (7x12ft i/o 6.4x10ft). not sure. ~$120 base, $150 pickup, $80 dropoff (aka $130/hr). they do not help you pack so the more packed you are the less you spend on pickup cost.
- Clutter: both storage and moving. I explored the storage option - 10x15ft is $588/mo (if month to month, no disounts), with $99 +$155/hr pickup. this includes helping you pack boxes which is v cool
clutter moving was out of the question because of their ridiculous 3hr minimum
i didnt strictly need the storage, because i had my temp apartment to put stuff in with me. i balked at the $588/mo number. however this was . I did check around with comparable non startup movers in sf but their labor rates seemed weirdly similar to lugg, therefore i just ended up going with lugg because ofc they have the better software.
however this was a mistake because:
- i ended up not being able to fit everything into my lugg XL, potentially necessitating 2 trips ($344 x 2 = $688)… AND then i might need to do another 2 to move into the next place! (i wont actually do this because i can optimize it further)
- clutter has bigger vans so a single trip is probably enough
- clutter has boxes and packing help which i really needed
- i might have to pay rent on my temp apartment which would be >>> the $588 storage cost.
TLDR clutter was much better for my situation. I’m actually going to just use clutter now for the second half of my move esp since i will now take less space having moved the sofas.
i just searched my own twitter and found out a favorable clutter tweet i completely forgot about: https://x.com/swyx/status/1464691627423776768
if you end up wanting to signing up for clutter, here’s $100 off via my referral code.
addendum
i think i over penalized myself with the month to month option. the fact that you get free pickup and delivery on a 4 month commitment ON TOP of a 25% discount is worth about $500 if you can keep it in the 4 month commit (which can happen) - aka the total spend goes to $292 * 4 = 1168.