How to avoid paying more than you have to for your St Kilda Rd commercial relocation?
St Kilda Road is full of office buildings. Commercial and business relocation happens all the time in the area. Unfortunately, it’s also much easier for your business to end up with an inflated moving bill in this part of Melbourne. A part of the reason has to do with the customer’s lack of knowledge of the removalist industry. Other times it has to do with a common business practice of seeking repeat business.
Of course, it makes no sense to spend hours and hours learning every aspect of the removalist industry just to move in and out of the St Kilda Road office buildings. It also seems very logical to go with a removalist that you’ve had previous dealings with in the past. However, you’ll be surprised that what seems so logical is costing your business extra in terms of inflated relocation bill. Through this blog post, you will better understand why your ‘logical decisions’ might be inflating your relocation bill, and learn how you can avoid paying extra and save on your business relocation especially if you’re moving in or out of St Kilda Road.
What’s wrong with choosing repeat business relocation services?
If you’re thinking of repeat business, say in terms of services and products with absolutely no relation to geographical factors – such as accounting services, or legal services – there’s nothing wrong with choosing repeat business. It ensures that you’ll get a similar level of satisfaction and in most cases, you have an idea on what to expect in terms of billing. However, commercial and business relocation services are a tad little bit different from other services. Geographic location plays a significant factor in your commercial/business relocation bill.
Your last removalist did not necessarily have increased their general prices, yet you may end up paying a lot more than what you did the last time you hired the same company move movers. Depending on your location, and your removalist’s depot location, you may be paying more than you have to. This is more so the case if you’re moving a considerable distance. Understandably your past positive experience with your removalist may have you spend less time invested with the relocation services. Through past experience, you know that the removalist business you’re dealing with might be a very honest one, and you may end up asking fewer questions than you would have otherwise.
Honest businesses need to pay for their staff and fuel
An honest removalist will do things by the books. Meaning that they will make sure that no one is left short-changed. Removalist teams need to be paid for the hours they put in, and the trucks do need fuel to move. Many removalists charge what is called a “depot fee,” while other businesses such as Easy Peasy Removals offer zero depot fee in Melbourne Metro. In most cases, depot fees are inevitable. However, they are somewhat of a hidden fee in most cases.
In most cases, the hourly quotes you see on websites do not include depot fees. They are often calculated separately. Some removalists charge you an hourly rate for depot fees. Meaning if it takes them an hour and a half to get to your property, they have already charged you an hour and a half of their hourly rate even before the job has started. I know it sounds ugly…. but this is part of the removalist industry. This sort of thing only happen under these conditions
- Inequality of information between customers and the business.
- Some businesses choose to be opportunistic and will charge as many hidden fees as they can get away with.
- Customers of the commercial relocation in and out of St Kilda Road underestimate the significance of “distance” plays in the final bill.
Fortunately for your business, by the time you’re done with this blog – you will have a sound understanding of how the industry works. You won’t have a perfect understanding but enough for you to avoid being charged extra, avoid inflated relocation bills on St Kilda Road.
Educate yourself – but invest your time wisely
The first condition for your inflated removalist bill was “Inequality of information.” This isn’t true just for the removalist industry, it is the case for most of the industries out there. Getting a loaf of sliced bread for example – in your own town you have a very good idea on where you might get the best deal, based on your past experience. However, if you are on a holiday someplace, let’s say you’re at some popular tourist destination, you won’t have the slightest clue on where to get the most affordable sliced bread.
You can obtain the information in regards to “the cheapest sliced bread.” That is unless you first identify all the shops in a short distance, collect and compare the data on the price of sliced bread from each establishment. This isn’t something that most people are willing to do while on a holiday. Especially when you have very limited time and you’ve already invested your resources, booking hotels and air plane tickets.
Guess what? Your potential providers of your goods and services – in this case, bakeries and supermarkets are aware of this, and knowing that there is an inequality of information, they will charge an arm and a leg for a loaf of sliced bread and still get away with it. Simply put – businesses know that “You don’t have the time to inform yourself to be in a good bargaining spot,” and will end up charging extra for their goods and services.
I’m not asking you to become an expert. Nor is it necessary to become an expert to get yourself in a good bargaining spot. What I’m providing you here is a “crash course.” After all, running a business consumes time and effort already. It comes down to
- Understanding the commercial relocation billing structure.
- Taking the time to ask questions.
- Knowing which questions to ask when planning your commercial moving.
If you have a little bit more time and want to learn more about how to keep the cost of office moving down, you can head to our Office moving checklist.
Understanding the billing structure
As stated earlier, the removalist industry is a little bit more unique in nature as the geography and the distance plays a greater part than other industries. What you need to be aware of is the extra fees, in the form of “hidden” fees. If you’re moving into or moving out of St Kilda Road, the last thing you want is paying a depot fee. There are also other fees that some businesses charge. These include but not limited to:
- Weekends load
- Stair surcharge
- Callout/booking fees
In most likely scenarios, the hourly rate advertised on websites or over the phone does not include the “additional fees.” You think you are paying one rate for your business relocation but then you realise that you’ve ended up paying another amount. Imagine ordering a cup of coffee. $1 for a coffee, seems quite affordable at first, but wait. $1 take away surcharge, $0.50 for soymilk, $1 for sugar. You thought you were paying $1 for a cup of coffee, but you end up paying $3.50.
The only problem is you didn’t know the final price of the coffee until the barista handed you your takeaway cup. How many people can say “wait a minute this isn’t what I asked for.” For more information on how to avoid nightmarish office relocation head to 6 Warning signs of dishonest movers and how to avoid them.
Of course, there are businesses where the hourly rate does not have any other hidden fees. Easy Peasy Removals display hourly rate without any hidden or extra fees. If you are moving into or out of St Kilda Road (Melbourne metro) you won’t be paying any of these fees:
- Depot fees
- Fuel surcharge
- Any hidden charges
As a matter of fact, the hourly rate displayed is the weekend rate, meaning that if you decide to move on a weekday, you get a discount and pay less!
Ask questions when planning your business relocation
You can avoid paying extra – particularly hidden fees if you take the time to ask questions.
Ask these questions prior to making any commitment regarding your business relocation:
- “Do you charge depot fees?”
- “Are there any fuel surcharges?”
- “Do you have any other additional fees to your advertised hourly rate?”
If the answer to any of the questions above was “Yes.” then simply ask for the amount of additional fees and do the maths yourself. This way you get a more realistic size of the bill when moving into St Kilda Roads. Your time is limited so ask these short questions the next time you plan on relocating your office or your commercial business in St Kilda. Alternatively, you can go with a removalist which charges no additional cost to the hourly rate (Melbourne metro).
Easy Peasy Removals charges no additional fees. What you see is what you pay! Easy Peasy Removals is able to do this because they have a depot in St Kilda. In fact, the rate you see is for the weekends, and if you decide to move during weekdays you will pay less than the hourly rate listed. No hidden fees – that’s why it’s great to use our business relocation services.
Conclusion: Be wise with your commercial removals
It’s not always removalists’ intention to charge you extra fees other than hourly rates. Sometimes they have no choice because their depot might be a long way away. But there are times, where some dishonest removalists like to charge a host of additional charges to inflate your commercial relocation bill. As a business owner you can find a fine balance between educating yourself and asking the right questions to maximise your effort to avoid paying inflated relocation bills. Don’t pay more than you have to.
