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Comment by le-mark | Hacker News Reader

A lot of criticism about movers has to do with how claims are handled. Moving companies require considerable documentation before paying a claim. Do you know why? It’s because so many people file bogus claims.

Many people don't know, but the (US) military pays for professional movers of this caliber. I used to know a guy who would ship 10 busted tv's (cathode ray tube) and put in claims for all of them every time he changed duty stations. It was an easy $2000 check each time. Apparently the movers can't turn on electronics before or after a move due to the potential for condensation to damage the electronics. This was a while ago, so I don't know if this is actually true or not.

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They may now, but they didn't always. I grew up military, moving every 3-4 years, and it was always a fear filled game of anticipation when we finally got our stuff - sometimes weeks later. We had movers completely destroy some of our stuff, "lose" expensive electronics, the exact opposite of what this guy is talking about re: professionalism and claims.

I remember my older brother being moved by professionals when he was in the Navy. They came in and packed everything up including the waste basket by a desk... with all the paper trash in it. There was one thing damaged, which they told him about. His motorcycle fell over during the move and had a slight dent in the fuel tank. He looked at it and told them not to worry about it since he had a larger one on the other side.

He was really impressed with their services and if I ever use professional movers, I'd want folks like that.

My wife's stories about moves as an 80s/90s/early-2000s army brat are mostly ones of everything getting broken and, over the course of 10 or so moves, almost anything resembling a keepsake or memento (or even just a favorite toy) eventually being in one of the several boxes per move that the movers straight-up lost. Sad stuff.

'Course, her dad was enlisted, so that may have made a difference. About as high-ranked as he could be toward the end, though, and AFAIK their moves were still awful.

My dad was in the army back in the 80's and was investing in wine at one point. One case that he had he recalls would be worth $25k-$30k these days. It vanished on a move one time and he assumes it just got drunk.

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