Comparing options when moving in the military

Full military move

A full military move is pretty straightforward. The military’s transportation office schedules a company to come and pack your belongings, move them to your next duty station and generally set the house back up.

You will still have some work such as putting pictures on the wall, set up your child’s playroom and organize your office, for example. However, the movers will reassemble the beds, put boxes in the correct rooms and place furniture exactly where you want it. This may be the biggest benefit: They will take all the packing materials away, leaving you with a clean and relatively clutter-free home.

During a full military move, your main responsibility is to ensure each box is labeled with a manifest sticker and the contents of the box is listed accurately on the manifest. Valuable items should get their own manifest sticker. Making sure every item or box that goes into the moving truck is labeled is how you’ll track your items and will make it easier to file a claim if something comes up missing.

Personally procured move

This is the exact opposite of a full military move. You move yourself, which means you are responsible for packing, loading, transportation and unloading.

But you don’t have to do all the heavy lifting yourself, however. You can hire someone to help you, especially when it comes to moving the larger items — though it’s worth noting that the military is full of friends who might be willing to help you move for the cheap price of pizza and their favorite beverage.

During a DITY move, you will probably need to rent a truck, trailer or equipment to help you move your items, like a furniture dolly. Make sure to account for these costs when making your moving budget. You can find discounts on these items at USAA Perks®.

Which option is best for me?

As you decide between a full military move and a personally procured move, there are a few things to consider. Ask yourself these questions to help guide this decision.

What is the cost of my move?

The good news is that the military will cover the cost of your move from one duty station to the next. Each person, based on the size of their family and rank, receives PCS entitlements. You’ll be given a weight limit, and as long as your goods are at or below this weight, the full cost of the move is covered. If your goods weigh more than the limit, you’ll have to pay the overage.

If you choose to do a DITY move, the military will pay you what it would have cost them to move you. If you can move yourself for less, you get to keep the difference. However, if it costs you more, you pay the difference out of your own pocket.

With a DITY move, most branches authorize you to receive advance payment of up to 60% of the cost of the move. If you spend more than this amount, you will need to pay the rests of the costs upfront and get reimbursed at the end of your move.

This is one reason USAA believes in having a PCS fund worth $2,000 plus whatever is required to move items the military won’t move like an RV or a boat.

Keep this PCS fund in a dedicated savings account. If you know your DITY move will cost more, have a plan to save for it before your next PCS comes around. This is a better option than racking up potential interest charges on a credit card.

How much time do I have?

From my experience, having someone come pack up your home is easier than doing it yourself. If you have small children, it can be stressful to find time to pack while taking care of them. It’s often easier to let someone else do the work.

At the other end of the move, the military member often must hit the ground running at the new duty station, leaving the responsibility of setting up the home to the spouse. Having movers unpack things and get you settled can make things easier for your spouse, as well.

How are my belongings insured?

In a full military move, any damage is covered by the military through the moving company’s insurance. It’s their responsibility. If they break your 80-inch flat screen TV, they replace it.

But in a personally procured move, you’re responsible for the safety of your items. Both auto and homeowner’s insurance may cover personal items damaged by covered perils like theft or fire (after deductibles) but they won't cover if you simply drop and break something. If you hire a company to move your stuff, a renter’s policy might provide coverage if you are under a bill of lading. This is where the fine print of your policy comes into play. The best course of action is to ask your insurance provider and know when you are or aren’t covered.

For example: If your 80-inch flat screen is damaged in a wreck, it could be covered under your auto insurance policy. But if you drop your flat screen while loading it on the truck, it probably won’t be covered, even by a renters policy.

So yes, you’re taking on more risk by moving yourself than with a full military move. But then again, the movers always seemed to break more of my stuff than I did, so it could be a toss-up. Just be aware.

Can I have the best of both worlds?

Want help with your move, but also want to manage a few things yourself? Consider a partial personally procured move, or partial DITY. In this case, you let the military move the majority of your household items, but you move a few things that are either irreplaceable or that you’ll need before the movers arrive with everything else.

That’s what we did on every single one of our military moves. The military paid us to move the items we didn’t trust the movers to handle, like our safe, family photo albums, and sensitive electronics. Plus, we also needed to clean our new home before the movers arrived so part of that partial DITY also included our vacuum and our mop.

We let them move the rest. It was a little bit more work, but these items were coming with me anyway, so I might as well get paid to do what I was going to do all along.