Packing service for your move

Packing service and unpacking service

The packing service takes place before moving day, most often one to two days before. The team brings the equipment, packs it piece by piece, labels the boxes and documents the contents if necessary. On the big day, everything is ready to transport.

The unpacking service takes place upon arrival: the boxes are opened, the contents stored in cupboards and shelves, the dishes placed and the packaging material removed. This last point is underestimated – removing mountains of cardboard and wrapping paper otherwise costs several trips to the collection point.

• Service d’emballage: Material, packaging, labeling per piece, inventory optional.
• Unpacking service: Unpacking, storage according to agreement, removal of boxes and cushioning.
• Combinaison: Often only the packing service is booked and you unpack yourself on arrival.

What packaging material is used

Professional equipment is the reason why a packing service avoids damage more reliably than improvising with newspaper and supermarket boxes.

• Moving boxes: Stable standard cartons for kitchen and household, smaller book cartons due to weight.
• Clothing boxes: Hanging boxes with bar – clothes stay on the hanger and do not crease.
• Dish Barrels and Dividers: For plates, glasses and china with individual boxes rather than a free pile.
• Shimming material: Bubble wrap, wrapping paper and foam corners for sensitive edges and surfaces.
• Special packaging: Boxes for pictures and mirrors, mattress covers as well as boxes for televisions and screens.

Fragile and valuable items

The fragile item is wrapped piece by piece, packed upright and propped up so that nothing moves in the box. Glasses and china go in boxes, not in piles; heavy parts at the bottom, light ones at the top.

For valuable items, documentation is as important as packaging. Photograph art, collectibles, designer items and expensive electronics before packaging and record condition. Cash, jewelry, ID and important documents should normally be transported yourself – a packing service is not made for this.

The electronics benefit from the original packaging, if it still exists. If it is missing, suitable boxes with cushioning are used; the cables are labeled, so that installation on arrival does not become a guessing game.

Choose full or partial packaging

Complete Packing covers the entire household and is useful when time is short, the move is at short notice, there are health limitations, or a household with a lot of inventory is being moved.

During partial packing, the service only takes the demanding areas – typically kitchen, display, pictures and electronics – while clothes, books and toys are packed themselves. This variant is the most common, because it reduces effort where the risk of damage is highest.

• Emballage complet: All cleaning including materials and labeling – maximum time saving.
• Emballage partiel: Only kitchen, glass, tables and electronics – good compromise between effort and safety.
• Hardware only: Boxes and cushioning are delivered, we pack ourselves.

What determines the price of the packaging service

Packing services are calculated according to the effort – either on a fixed price basis depending on the size of the accommodation, or by time and material.

• Volume and number of pieces: The quantity of inventory directly determines the number of boxes and packing time.
• Share of fragile objects: A large kitchen with glass and china requires significantly more time than clothes and books.
• Extent: Complete or partial packaging, with or without unpacking on arrival.
• Material: Cartons, hanging boxes and special packaging – rented or purchased.
• Date: Packing dates just before the end of the month are tight and therefore more expensive.
• Disposal: Removal of boxes and cushioning after unpacking.

Insurance: who is responsible for packed boxes?

This point often decides the choice. If the moving company packs itself, it is responsible for the contents – a breakage in a professionally packed box is a case for transport insurance. For self-packaged boxes, this is often excluded, because the condition of the contents before transport was not verifiable.

So have it documented in writing what amount of cover applies, whether self-packed boxes are included, which items are excluded and within what time frame damage must be reported. For particularly valuable coins, a separate declaration of value is worthwhile.

Request the packing service as part of the moving offer

The packing service is usually offered in Switzerland with the move. Describe in the form the number of rooms, the size of the kitchen, the particular rooms and the desired scope – then companies calculate packing time and materials realistically rather than on a fixed price basis.

You receive up to 5 quotes from partner companies and can compare whether materials are included, whether unpacking is included and how liability for packed boxes is handled.

Services adapted to your move