Hauling yourself in a pickup truck

Not sure if I have ever covered this before, but if you own or borrow a pickup truck and haul furniture in the back of it, you MUST do a full tie and strap-down of the pieces if you drive over 45 mph. Use a full tie and strap-down, I don't mean bungee cords and rope, you need nylon webbing with cam cleats to isolate the furniture entirely in the truck bed. I have hauled hundreds of piece in pickup trucks in the past 25 years, and lost three pieces vs enclosed trucks (which i normally use) so I know of what I speak.

* Back in the early 90's, I was hauling a Bradington Young recliner in a box to my Bethesda MD store (I used to have two stores) and thought the weight of the recliner in the box would keep it in the bed. It didn't. At about 52 mph the wind lifted it up and out and onto the interstate. That one was not damaged and I was able to recover it, but it taught me to always strap in.

* In 2002, I was hauling a beautiful little $ 2,500 custom tea table from the warehouse to my store for a customer. I had it properly padded and strapped in. However, one of my cam cleat straps has a long purchase on it due to the small size of the table and though I had tied the excess in a bow, it worked loose and flapped in the wind. in very short order the excess strap flopped over the bed of the truck and the rear wheel drove over it. That causes it to immediately super-tension and it exploded the tea table into splinters...a total loss. I was shocked at the power of that strap - that it could vaporized that tea table.

* 2010: I had to take a leather chair to a customer over in MD. Since the enclosed truck was full and all strapped in with deliveries for the upcoming weekend I decided to put it in my pickup as it was a nice, sunny day. All the cam cleat tie-downs were in use in the big truck, so I used a pair of heavy duty bungee cords to strap it in. I got out on the Beltway and at about 68 mph the air pressure on the chair was enough to strain and overpower the bungees and it went sailing out the back at speed (thankfully there were no cars behind me). That chair hit the pavement and was destroyed.

As you can see, I prefer hauling in an enclosed truck for those reasons above. If you do lose a load out of your pickup, you will also find your insurance does not cover the loss, you are out of luck. For cargo protection you have to buy a special policy typically called an 'inland marine' policy to cover goods damaged or lost in transit.

Pickup truck hauling is OK, but be sure to really tie it down securely with no slack in the cords and make sure the excess is tied off in knots before you get on the road.