RISMEDIA, May 26, 2010—Find a PODS user and you’ll usually find a satisfied customer. From home staging and typical moving needs to assistance with moving and storage following floods and fires, PODS has helped make the move for countless men, women and families a little bit easier.
But with PODS, there’s more to it than meets the eye. The company and its product offer much more than just your average moving and storage needs.
Here, we take a look at two different cases in which PODS clients took the company’s services a bit further.
A DIY Workstation
Jim Young, a real estate pro and owner of RE/MAX Central North in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, has recommended PODS to his clients and is, himself, a PODS user.
But Young’s use for PODS didn’t end with his family’s move. He took it one step further and made his PODS container into an impromptu workspace after intense weather became an obstacle for the team he hired to do renovations on his home.
Seeing the empty PODS container butting up against his garage, Young suggested that the workmen doing the woodwork installation do all their storage and cutting inside the POD itself.
“The empty PODS container came in very handy for our ongoing renovations once I moved in,” recalls Young. “Our inclement weather was delaying the workmen who needed to keep and cut the wood trim outside. The PODS container minimized the sawdust and such inside my house and garage. It was the first time I had ever heard of it being used as a mobile workspace, but it really helped solve this move-related problem.”
For Young, the decision to keep the container and use it, albeit unconventionally, was a no-brainer. According to Young, there was never a worry about keeping it in plain sight.
“It’s a clean product, and it’s something a real estate agent would not be embarrassed to recommend to their client,” Young says. “PODS are not offensive to the general surroundings—it’s a nicely designed container, so having it outside my house was never a concern.” From the move to his renovation work, Young was satisfied with PODS and the service he received.
“I wouldn’t use another company for this; I’ve had such good service,” Young says. “Nothing beats it.
“They’re timely—same day, next day. The time you want it is the time you get it,” adds Young. “Since our job is so time sensitive, the client—whether it is me or not—needs to get it when they want it, and I’ve never been disappointed by PODS.”
A Military Move
Besides its successful work with typical moving situations, PODS is also a huge supporter of the thousands of military families in both the U.S. and Canada. PODS representatives, both local and national, are trained to work with the delicate—and sometimes quick—relocations a military move might involve.
Chris Skrip, with RE/MAX Sea Island Realty in Beaufort, South Carolina, works in an area that comprises a substantial military population and its related service industries. So he is no stranger to PODS. In fact, similar to Young, his first experience working with PODS came during his own family’s move.
“I used to live in Atlanta, but in 2002, we decided to make the move to Beaufort, and my family used the PODS service for the first time,” recalls Skrip. “We planned the move in advance, loaded the PODS container in Atlanta, and everything was dropped off at the correct times on both ends.”
In Skrip’s market, utilizing PODS for the many military families his office serves makes sense from a tactical and financial standpoint.
According to PODS, every military-related do it yourself (DITY) or personally procured move (PPM) requires a service member to visit their Traffic Management Office (TMO) or Personal Property Office (PPO) to estimate the weight of their household goods and receive a Personal Property Entitlement, which is like a moving budget.
Then, one call to PODS—and the mention of a military affiliation—will send a moving container to their door, with a military discount. Once the container is loaded, the PODS representative obtains the DITY weight tickets when the moving or storage container is picked up, and all the transportation management and accounting is handled by PODS.
PODS containers come in three sizes: 8x7x7, 8x8x12, and 8x8x16, and if needed, multiple large containers can be moved simultaneously long distances. The secure, portable, ground-level container eliminates the hassles of truck rentals, late fees, and the energy wasted making multiple trips up and down truck ramps.
If necessary, PODS can store the container in a clean and secure PODS storage center for as long as necessary, or immediately transport the securely sealed unit locally or around the U.S. or Canada.
Once the unit is delivered to its destination, the client can take all the time they need to unload their belongings. Having the entire contents of a moving van parked in one’s driveway also provides the flexibility to clean the new home or office prior to unloading the container, without the meter running on a van and crew.
“PODS is great,” says Skrip. “I use it as a unique application where situations—such as a military move—call for it. It’s a huge relief in any move to know that you can trust who you are working with.”
For more information, visit www.pods.com.
