Like most industries, the moving industry has its own jargon and acronyms. Although not all terms can be listed, the followings are the most likely you will come across.

Access: basically, how accessible is the property? the room to park a vehicle, the distance from vehicle to front door, the availability of lifts, how many floors the building has, and so on, all have an influence on access.

Accessorial: having to do with an additional or lesser thing.

Accessorial Service: any of a variety of services provided in excess of basic moving service. These may be necessary, as in the case of “long carry” and “elevator” or optional, as in “unpacking” or “extra delivery”

Addendum: thing added, as a note, remark, or appendix.

Addendum to Order for Service: (commonly referred to as simply “addendum” or “change order”) a form that records a change in the services to be provided to a customer and the cost of such services. This form “orders service” and is the senior authority pertaining to such services. This means senior to the original order for service, bill of lading, and verbal orders or agreements from any source (such as salespeople or dispatchers).

Additional Transportation Charge: a charge assessed a customer to compensate a driver for the inconvenience of driving through a congested area.

*Appliance de-Service: the reconnecting at destination of a serviced appliance.

*Appliance Service: the preparation of an appliance for shipment. This includes but is not limited to washers, ice makers and gas dryers. Service may include securing loose parts, disconnecting fittings, etc. it does not include simply unplugging an appliance.

ATC: additional transportation charge.

Auxiliary: helping or acting as an extra help.

Auxiliary Service: an extra procedure required to facilitate loading or unloading, such as using a shuttle truck, ferry boat shuttle, helicopter, etc. bedbugs: slang for household goods.

Bill: an account of services rendered or work done with the price or value next to each article bill of lading: a written receipt for goods accepted for transportation, given by a shipping company to the consignor.

Binding quote: a guaranteed price based on the inventory.

Bonded warehouse: a warehouse that meets with local customs specifications, and allows shipments to be stored pending clearance by customs.

Bulky article: an object that by itself occupies more than 100 cubic feet. This usually means a vehicle.

Bill: an account of services rendered or work done with the price or value next to each article

Bill of Lading: a written receipt for goods accepted for transportation, given by a shipping company to the consignor.

Binding Quote: a guaranteed price based on the inventory.

Bonded Warehouse: a warehouse that meets with local Customs specifications, and allows shipments to be stored pending clearance by Customs.

Bulky Article: an object that by itself occupies more than 100 cubic feet. This usually means a vehicle.

Carrier: a corporation, such as Sterling Van Lines, which undertakes, for hire, to transport goods from one place to another. This means the van line, not an agent or driver.

Cash: money in the form of bills or coins. Checks are not.

*Certified Check: a check whose payment is guaranteed by a bank.

Claim: to demand or ask for something one thinks one has a right to, such as compensation for a damaged article.

COD: collect upon delivery.

Consign: to give over; entrust.

Consignee: a person who is designated to receive a shipment.

Consignor: a person who gives over or entrusts a shipment. a consignor and a consignee can be the same person.

*Credit: to add to a person’s account.

Customs Clearance: formal inspection procedures carried out before allowing a shipment into a country.

CWT: per hundred weight; c=roman numeral 100, wt=weight.

Declared Value: value the owner declares its goods to be for the purpose of insurance. This will form the basis of your insurance cover and it is important that it reflects the value of your belongings.

Dispatch: (verb) to send out to a certain place or to do a certain job. (noun) operations department.

Dispatcher: a person who dispatches.

D.O.T.: department of transportation. The government department that administers trucking regulations.

Drayage: to transport a shipment by cart or dollies, as from a dock to a warehouse or from an exhibit booth to a loading area, etc.

Exception: a notation of something left out.

Exception sheet: a document that lists exceptions to an original inventory.

Excessive: beyond what is right and proper.

Excessive distance carry: (also called a long carry) any distance from residence access door (the door you will be using) to truck access door in excess of 75 feet. It is measured and billed in units of 50 foot increments.

Gross: weight of the truck after shipment is loaded.

ICC: Interstate Commerce Commission. That branch of the government that sets rates and regulations for the transport of things or people across state lines.

Inventory: detailed list of articles and their condition.

Lading: load or cargo.

Leaveover: also known as an overflow. Portion of a shipment that is left behind for one reason or another.

Legible: clear enough to be read easily.

LH: linehaul.

Linehaul: also known as basic transportation charge; the amount a customer pays for his move, not including any accessorial charges or insurance.

Packed by Owner (PBO): when you choose to pack your belongings yourself, either into cartons supplied by the mover or into your own boxes. Insurance companies often refuse to insure goods packed by their owners. Reweigh: the action of weighing a shipment a second time. a customer has the right to request and witness a reweigh. There is a charge for this unless the second weight is the lighter of the two weights by 100 pounds or more on shipments weighing less than 5000 pounds, or two percent or more on shipments weighing more than 5000 pounds.

Shipper: the customer. The person ordering the service and responsible for payment.

Reweigh: the action of weighing a shipment a second time. A customer has the right to request and witness a reweigh. There is a charge for this unless the second weight is the lighter of the two weights by 100 pounds or more on shipments weighing less than 5000 pounds, or two percent or more on shipments weighing more than 5000 pounds.

S.I.T. (Storage in Transit): shipments in a warehouse awaiting transport to their final destination.

Surcharge: a charge that is in addition to the basic charge.

Tare: the weight of a truck not including the shipment.

Tariff: list of charges for moving services set by or approved by the interstate commerce commission.

Third Party Services: some movers offer to arrange / coordinate additional professional services e.g. plumbers, house cleaners, waterbed dismantling/assembling, carpenters, maid service.

Waiting Time: time spent waiting for a customer to let a driver load or unload after the agreed time has passed. This is billed by the hour, with the first two hours free.

Weight Additive: an amount of weight that is added to the total weight of a shipment to compensate for the space taken up by a very large but light weight object. The tariff lists specific objects that this applies to and specific weight additives for each object.