Furniture delivery in Palmerston North, priced by the driver

Furniture jobs around Palmy tend to be single pieces and part loads rather than whole houses. A couch bought off Trade Me in Feilding that needs bringing into a Hokowhitu villa. A bed and a desk going into a student flat off Fitzherbert Avenue in the February rush. A flat-pack wardrobe collected from the big-format stores on Rangitikei Street. A bedroom suite going out to a house at Linton. A Takaro couple downsizing and sending the dining table to a grandchild in Kelvin Grove.

A driver crossing from Milson to Awapuni is not spending the day on the road, so the job is decided by the building at each end. Anything crossing the Fitzherbert Bridge queues at the bridge itself, and the drives up into Aokautere and Summerhill past it can be steep. In the centre, a piece going up to a flat above the Broadway Avenue shops is a hand carry from wherever the van can stop. Older housing in Highbury and Takaro often has a narrow hallway, and plenty of it is a rear unit down a shared drive, so say which yours is.

Two bids on the same Awapuni to Kelvin Grove couch can land a long way apart, because each driver prices it against what their day already holds. One whose van is half full with a building supplies run prices your wardrobe as the second item on that trip rather than a trip of its own. Posting the couch costs nothing, and the bids sit side by side with each driver's vehicle, profile and any ratings from jobs they have finished, though a newer driver may have none. Nothing is locked in until you accept a bid. The payment is charged then, and held until the job's done. SoundMove releases it when you confirm, or automatically 24 hours after the driver marks it done if you haven't raised an issue.