Pickup Trucks and hauling furniture

[drcollie]

I love pickups, I've owned at least a dozen, and currently have a Ford Ranger. However, they are not my vehicle of choice when hauling furniture, I always use and enclosed vehicle (or trailer) whenever possible. Since I am seeing an uptick in customers that want to go to the factory and self-haul, and since many have pickups, it's important to know some of the issues you may run into.

1) Air resistance. Any furniture that sits in the bed above the cab has air pressure on it. Even if just a couple inches. That air pressure at over 45mph can tumble the box and out onto the road it goes. When it does, you have no insurance for that (it's a commercial policy called inland marine). You MUST tie it in with nylon cam locks. No bungie straps, no rope, no rubber S-hook straps. Nothing that can flex or expand.

2) Loose straps. If you use nylon straps be sure to tie off the salvage (loose) end. If you leave if flopping, it can fly under the rear tire and get run over, which will tighten the strap to the point either it explodes of the furniture frame will. Most the time the latter. I have seen this happen several times.

3) Heat. Even if in a box, the furniture inside is super-heated to high temps, which is why you want a covered cargo compartment. Imagine if you were driving the truck with the windows up on a 100 degree day and no fan or A/C on inside. How hot would it get in 15 minutes? How hot in two hours? Most new furniture has shrink wrap plastic on it, and the high heat will damage the finish.

4) Water / Humidity. Even a brief rainstorm can wet the box and cause internal condensation, and that can damage the contents. Especially added with high heat of the summer. Here's a Hancock and Moore Author Chair that suffered heat and water (condensation) damage on the ride home in July while in an open pickup that went through a brief rain shower. The seat cover is ruined and will need replacing.



And here's a sofa that was exposed to too much humidity in the box while shipping in the heat of July. This was in a covered trailer, but it was just too much.



My recommendation if you are going to haul in the summer, is to de-ox and bring pads, get the shrink-wrap plastic off the piece. With furniture pads at least there is airflow. Use a covered vehicle (Van, trailer) not an open pickup. If you MUST use a pickup, you have to get off the road and under cover if it rains.

Remember, neither your home or vehicle insurance covers hauling losses, you will just be out the piece. Be careful.