Move-in and move-out weeks
Moving help for college students
A student move is small and awkward rather than big and slow: a fourth-floor walk-up with no elevator, a loading zone you can hold for twenty minutes, a mattress and a desk and eleven boxes, and a parent who rented the truck from three states away. Packed sends two movers who do that job every August, and you keep the rental in your own name.
Student moving help around Chicago's campuses
The academic calendar runs this part of our year. Move-in for DePaul in Lincoln Park, Loyola in Rogers Park, the University of Chicago in Hyde Park, Northwestern in Evanston and UIC on the Near West Side lands in the same few days of late August and early September, and the leases around those campuses turn over on the same weekend. Move-out in May and June is the same crush in reverse. Packed is a labor-only crew, so you rent the truck or the container and we bring the two or three movers who load it.
Student loads are small, but the access is the hard part. A fourth-floor walk-up with a turn in the stairwell, a service elevator you have to reserve a week ahead, a loading zone that holds one vehicle for twenty minutes, a dorm with a check-in desk and a cart shortage. Tell us the floor, the stairs and where a truck can actually stop, and the quote reflects the real carry instead of a guess. Furniture that has to come apart to make the turn comes apart, and goes back together at the other end.
Summer is the other half of this. A U-Box or a PODS container in front of the building lets you store a room's worth of things over the break without driving it home and back, and it costs a lot less than a second lease. We load it at the curb, the container company stores it, and we meet it again in August. If you are coming back to a different neighbourhood, that is the same booking.
Read us your room list and the building details over the phone and you get a crew size and an hourly quote back. Call (773) 837-6739 or send the form for a free quote.
What makes this move different
The parts of the job that are specific to you, and what the crew does about them.
We already know the buildings
Lincoln Park three-flats with a narrow back stair, Rogers Park courtyard buildings with one small elevator, Hyde Park greystones with a half-flight to the front door. The crew has carried a futon up all of them.
Booked around the crunch
Late August and the first week of September are the busiest days of our year, and so is the end of the spring term. Call as soon as your lease date is set and we can hold a window rather than squeezing you in.
Parents can book it from anywhere
Plenty of these jobs are arranged by a parent in another state who rents the truck or the container online. The quote, the confirmation and the crew all go to whoever is paying, and the student just has to be there with the key.
How the booking runs
Four steps, so you know what happens between the phone call and the door.
- 1Step 1
Tell us the building, the floor, the elevator and where a truck can legally sit
- 2Step 2
We size it, usually two movers and a two or three hour window
- 3Step 3
Crew meets you at the curb with dollies, blankets and straps
- 4Step 4
Everything loaded into your truck, U-Box or container, or carried up to the room
What gets booked most
The services that show up on this kind of job, usually one or two of them on the same visit.
Loading & Unloading Labor
Moving labor to load or unload the truck, trailer or container you rented, across Chicago and the suburbs around it.
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U-Box Delivery, Loading & Unloading
U-Box container delivery to your door plus the crew that loads or unloads it, across Chicago and the suburbs around it.
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PODS, PackRat and U-Pack Container Loading
Movers to load or unload a PODS, PackRat, Zippy Shell, U-Pack ReloCube, U-Pack trailer or a rented trailer, across Chicago and the suburbs around it.
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Packing & Unpacking
Full packs, partial packs and unpacking across Chicago and the suburbs around it, with whatever we took apart rebuilt at the other end.
Learn more →College Students: frequently asked questions
Do you move students in and out of dorms?⌄
Yes, dorm move-in and move-out is one of the things we do most in late August and in May. Tell us the residence hall, the floor, whether there is an elevator and where a vehicle can legally park, and we will tell you how long it should take.
My parents are renting the truck. Does that work?⌄
That is the usual arrangement. Packed is labor only, so the truck, the U-Box or the container stays in whoever's name rented it. Whoever is paying can book us wherever they are, and does not have to be in Chicago on the day.
Can you store my things over the summer?⌄
Not ourselves, because we own no storage. What we do is load a U-Box or a PODS container at your building, which the container company stores for you over the break, and then unload it wherever you are living in the fall. You book the container and we handle the lifting at both ends.
How far ahead should I book a move-out weekend?⌄
As soon as your lease end or your residence hall checkout date is fixed. The last weekend of the spring term and the first weekend of September are the two busiest dates on our calendar, and they fill weeks out.
My building has no elevator. Is that a problem?⌄
No, but it changes the crew size and the time, so say it when you book. A fourth-floor walk-up in Rogers Park or Lincoln Park is a normal job for us as long as we know about the stairs before the truck is on the clock.
Can you help if I am only moving a few blocks?⌄
Yes. A short hop between apartments in the same neighbourhood is often a two-hour job. You can rent a small truck or even a trailer for it, and we load, carry and unload at both ends.
Booked from Elmwood Park
Packed Moving Solutions works out of Elmwood Park and covers Chicago and the suburbs around it from there. Call for a free quote, or send the form and we will come back to you.
College Students: where we work
Packed Moving Solutions Elmwood Park
Elmwood Park, IL · Serving Chicago and the suburbs around it
Monday to Saturday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM · Sunday 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Packed Moving Solutions works out of Elmwood Park and covers Chicago and the suburbs around it from there. That takes in the city neighbourhoods, Logan Square and Wicker Park through Hyde Park and Rogers Park; the near west around Oak Park and Franklin Park; Evanston and Skokie to the north; Berwyn and Cicero to the south; the northwest suburbs out to Schaumburg; and Naperville and Elgin past the DuPage edge. We are a service-area business, so there is no showroom to visit: our crews come to you for loading and unloading, U-Box, PODS, PackRat and U-Pack container and trailer work, and full or partial packing.
What we do
Talk to us about your move
Move-in and move-out for students at DePaul, Loyola, UChicago, Northwestern and UIC, plus summer storage, on the weekends when every dorm and lease turns over at once.