Moving and Shipping Glossary
The terms you'll see on quotes, contracts and PCS paperwork.
- Bill of Lading
- The contract and receipt between you and the mover. Read it fully before signing.
- Binding estimate
- A written estimate that fixes the price for the goods and services listed.
- Binding not-to-exceed
- You pay the estimate or the actual cost, whichever is lower.
- Broker
- A company that arranges a move with carriers but doesn't transport goods itself.
- Carrier
- The company that actually transports your goods.
- Cubic feet
- The volume your shipment takes up; a major pricing factor.
- Door-to-door
- Pickup at your home and delivery to your new home, including ocean and trucking legs.
- Port-to-port
- You deliver to and collect from the port terminals yourself.
- Full value protection
- Valuation where the mover repairs, replaces or pays current value for lost or damaged items.
- Released value
- Basic, minimal liability coverage per pound.
- Inter-island barge
- Freight service carrying goods between Hawaii's islands, typically to Honolulu.
- Lienholder letter
- Authorization from your lender to ship a financed vehicle.
- Shuttle service
- Transfer to a smaller truck when the main truck can't reach your home.
- Storage-in-transit (SIT)
- Temporary storage between pickup and delivery.
- USDOT number
- FMCSA's identifier for registered carriers; look it up before hiring.
- MC number
- Operating authority number for interstate for-hire carriers and brokers.
- PPM
- Personally Procured Move — a military move where the service member moves themselves and is reimbursed.
- HHG
- Household goods — the government-arranged shipment for PCS moves.
- GET
- Hawaii's General Excise Tax, charged on business gross receipts and usually passed to customers.
- HARPTA
- Hawaii Real Property Tax Act withholding on sales by nonresidents.