Stuff-it Moving & Storage

I give Stuff-​It a solid «A-​OK.» Here is my experience with the service.
As others have reviewed, the containers were delivered on time and cheerfully. The deliveryman had some difficulty getting his lifting device out of our rather narrow urban St. Paul driveway, but with some help we did it. Everything was smooth, courteous, and went well.
The sign on the door of the container stated, «Always load the heavier, bulky items on the floor such as desks, chests of drawers, appliances, etc. You may stack other items on the top.
Balance your load. It is very important to balanace your load from side to side as well as front to back to keep load balanced within the container.
In order for your belongings to ride smoothly during transportation, please pack your belongings as tight as possible. Taller items may need to be strapped. This container is equipped with D rings for strapping purposes. …
Load Limit: 6,000 lbs.
Your average household furniture and goods will not exceed the 6,000 pound weight limit.
Any questions in regards to loading this container, please contact your Stuff-​It Moving and Storage Representative»
So I began loading furniture, kitchen items, toys, books, stuff from the garage, stuff from my basement workbench – everything a typical family might have. According to the instructions, I stacked items on top, balanced my load – and packed our belongings as tight as possible, strapping taller items using the D-​rings and rope/​ratchet straps. When the container was fully loaded, I noticed the bottom of the container was binding on the rear cargo doors of the container, which made me think, «Have I exceeded the 6,000lb load limit?» There is really no way to know, and no guidelines indicated. I called Stuff-​it, and they assured me that I was probably just fine. So we ordered another container for the remainder of our household items and I loaded it similarly.
I found out that I had exceeded the load limit by several times. The Stuff-​it representative had no way of knowing the actual weight, but said that his equipment was at risk of being ruined by the weight of our overloaded container. He said he’d do his best, but it might damage his truck.
In the end we resolved the situation by ordering a THIRD container and calling a couple friends to come over and unload-​reload our household items. Here is what I have concluded:
DO NOT stack items on top of each other. You will exceed the weight limits of the container.
Only load the container to ONE-​THIRD, meaning nothing should be deeper than chest-​high. If you do, you will exceed the weight limits of the container.
A fully loaded container will look less than half-​full. You should still be able to walk into the container between the items when it is considered «fully loaded» to capacity.
The stated guidelines for loading the Stuff-​It container led me to believe I was loading it correctly. In fact, I was severely overloading the container. The representative was very gracious and communicative during the process, but we ended up spending quite a bit of additional time reloading (and likely adding wear-​and-​tear to) our household goods and possessions.
As I said above, Stuff-​It gets a solid «A-​OK» rating from us, but would get a better rating if we had been better informed how to use their service. Additional time, money, and stress was the result.