PODS vs 1-800-PACK-RAT: what the federal records show

What is the difference between PODS and 1-800-PACK-RAT?

Operationally, very little: container sizes, market coverage, and how long the container may sit are the real variables. On the federal file they differ. One holds contract carrier and broker authority with no household goods flag set. The other holds a single docket carrying common, contract and broker authority with the household goods flag set. That difference decides what each may lawfully do with your belongings.

What does each one actually do, under federal registration?

A household goods flag on a docket is permission, not a service promise. Neither company packs or loads your home as part of the container product, and holding the flag does not mean the container move is sold to you as a regulated household goods move. Ask which product you are buying, in writing, before the container arrives.

Who does the loading, the driving and the carrying?

You load and unload on both. The company delivers the empty container, collects it when you say it is full, and drives it to the destination or to its own storage yard. Labour is a separate purchase from a separate company on both, and the crew you hire to load a container is not covered by the container company's paperwork.

What is each one liable for if something breaks?

Where a container company moves your goods under household goods carrier authority, carrier liability applies. A household goods carrier owes the shipper 60 cents per pound per article under 49 CFR 375.701, which is the no extra charge level of liability, and it must offer full value protection as the alternative. Where the product is sold as container delivery and storage rather than a household goods move, the contents protection offered is an insurance purchase and not carrier liability, so read which of the two you are being sold. The practical consequence is that damage on a rental move sits with the customer and whatever cover they bought, while damage on a carrier move is a claim against the carrier. See the federal moving rules page for the rule text and the claim window.

Which suits which move?

Containers suit a move with a gap in it: a house sale that closes before the new place is ready, a renovation, a staged move between cities. They suit a household that can load carefully, because a container that shifts in transit damages its own contents. They do not suit a fifth floor walk up with no kerb space, which is where the container cannot legally sit.

What does each cost?

We do not publish prices for rental trucks, portable containers, or freight trailers. Those are vendor quotes that change by lane, date, and equipment availability, and we hold no stored dataset for them — a number here would be a guess with a dollar sign on it. Price the option you are considering directly, on your own dates, and compare it against the full-service figures above.

For the comparison people usually want alongside it, a full service interstate move of a two bedroom home is modelled at $3,000–$7,000, and a three bedroom at $4,350–$10,850.

Full service figures on this page are produced by our pricing model. Editorial estimate, not a measured transaction price. Reviewed May 2026.