A van and a driver across Palmerston North

A man with a van job in Palmerston North is one load rather than a household move. A three seater bought off Trade Me in Awapuni going to a flat off College Street. A flat-pack wardrobe and a mattress collected from a trade counter on Tremaine Avenue. A fridge out of a unit in Milson heading to a first home in Kelvin Grove. A student clearing a room at Turitea at the end of semester. A dining table taken out Napier Road to someone in Ashhurst who has no way of carrying it themselves.

Palmy is flat and gridded, so the driving is short and the job sits at the two ends. Inner city flats around Ferguson Street and Fitzherbert Avenue have cars down both sides, so a van parks where it can and the couch comes the rest of the way by hand. Runs to Turitea, Summerhill or Aokautere cross the Manawatū River on Fitzherbert Avenue and climb on the far side, so allow for the bridge and the grade. And the northwesterly that comes across the Manawatū plains will take a cover off an open deck, so say if the load needs wrapping.

Bids come in at different numbers because each driver prices your load against the rest of their day. A van and one person cost less to run than a truck and a crew, and each driver decides how that feeds into the number they bid. Palmy sits where the roads from Levin, Feilding, Whanganui and Woodville meet, and a driver already coming back through town with an empty van is working out a different sum from one setting off for you alone. Give the sizes, the stairs and the timing, and the bids land closer to the real work.