The Ultimate Moving Non-allowable Checklist

Reliable moving companies constantly work on improving their services, getting better ratings, and keeping their customers happy. They’ll work together with a client to tailor a specific moving plan, they’ll have the best equipment, trained crew, and affordable moving rates. While you’re looking for the best local movers, you should know beforehand that even the top-rated moving companies in Brooklyn have a moving non-allowable checklist, and will not move some items due to safety, ethical, or legal reasons.

Even though you will get the best customer services and lower rates, you won’t be able to get assistance with certain items. The only way to be absolutely sure that your items are not on the non-allowable list is to get in touch with a moving company and ask them to provide you with one. For now, our ultimate moving non-allowable checklist will help you get an idea about what not to pack and which items professional movers will refuse to pack or transport.

Why movers have a non-allowable list?

As with any other services you’re getting, safety is always a top priority. When items are being transported, it’s often to another state and those items need to be stored in a moving truck or a storage unit for quite a while. The reason why movers refuse to move specific items is that handling them may cause risk to your property their property, their crew, it may pose a risk to the environment, and it may even be illegal and forbidden by federal law. For instance, flammable, corrosive, or explosive items are forbidden to be transported by federal law.

So, even though your movers strive to provide the best service possible, they won’t break the law while doing so. Besides illegal items, different movers will have other forbidden items, and that depends on a specific company. Some moving companies will have a more extensive list than others because they’ll take more precautions and avoid some items even if they’re not forbidden by law. If you’re not sure what not to pack, contact movers you’re eyeing to hire and ask them to give you their own non-allowable list.

Moving Non-allowable Checklist

Hazardous materials

Moving companies are not allowed to transport any flammable, corrosive, or explosive items because federal laws forbid them to do so. Also, highly dangerous goods that can burn, corrode or explode present major risks to the people involved in the move, to your own property, to the mover’s property, or the environment as well. Transporting flammable, corrosive, or explosive items is prohibited by federal law, so understanding that this is for safety is important. These are some of those forbidden items:

• Firearms
• Ammunition
• Black powder, smokeless powder
• Signal Flares
• Fireworks
• Igniters or primers
• Lighter fluid
• Motor Oil
• Lamp Oil
• Candles
• Propellers
• Acids/Ammonia
• Petroleum products
• Yard equipment containing fuel
• Propane tanks
• Fire extinguishers
• Paint
• Nail polish remover/nail polish
• Dyes
• Aerosol cans
• Charcoal
• Pool chemicals
• Scuba diving tanks
• Fluid cleaners
• Disinfectants
• Pesticides/Fertilizer/Weed killers/Poisons
• Car batteries
• Cleaning supplies/bleach

Moving Liquor

Moving liquor is different from state to state, so it’s not easy to answer whether movers will accept to move it. Contacting your movers is the only way to know for sure whether they’ll do it or not. If you have a wine collection or another liquor collection, your best bet will be a specialty moving company. If you’re not moving far away, you can always transport these things yourself, just make sure to pack them properly and handle the transport with the utmost care.

Moving Cleaning Supplies

Most movers won’t move cleaning supplies because they can easily spill and cause damage to your other items or someone else’s items if you’re sharing space in a moving truck. Instead of throwing them away, you can always give them to your friend or a neighbor before you leave. If you’re moving locally, you can also move these items alone without movers.

Moving perishables and non-perishables

Here comes the part where items are not dangerous or explosive, but they’re still on the non-allowable list. Most movers won’t move food whether it’s perishable or non-perishable, simply because it can get spoiled quickly and cause different troubles, including bad odor, growing mold, attracting rodents, etc. here are some of the prohibited items:

• Frozen foods
• Refrigerated foods
• Fresh foods

Moving Plants

Another non-allowable item is any type of plant – moving companies will not accept moving your plants. The best option is to pack and move the plants alone or ask a friend to help you out if a plant is too big.

Moving Pets

Every trustworthy moving company will refuse to transport your pets, simply because no pet should be closed inside the moving truck with household items – it may get too cold, too hot, too bumpy, and you certainly don’t want to put your pet to risk.

Moving personal and extremely valuable items

Moving companies will refuse to move irreplaceable items, including:

• Personal documents
• Passports
• IDs
• Insurance papers
• Birth Certificates
• Financial Statements
• Medical records
• Tax records
• Cash
• Credit/debit cards
• Certain artwork (if it’s one-of-a-kind)
• Travel tickets
• Stocks and bonds
• Keys
• Collections (stamps, coins, baseball cards, etc.)
• Medicine
• Photos, photo albums
• Extremely valuable pieces of jewelry
• Expensive electronic devices

Hopefully, our ultimate moving non-allowable checklist will help you learn why movers refuse to move some items. By knowing what not to pack, you can make a plan and put those forbidden items to good use or dispose of them on time. Don’t forget to be proactive and ask your moving company to provide you with their list of non-allowable items. That’s the only way to be completely sure that you’re compliant and avoid packing items that can’t be moved. Each moving company has its own prohibited list, so getting the list directly from your movers is necessary. If you’re still not sure whether your items are allowed or not, Dorothy and Martha Moving is here for you. Contact us anytime and we’ll be more than happy to answer any questions.