The Best Packing Service Companies for 2024

Between the fear of incorrectly packing your valuables and the pain of going room by room and drawer by drawer, there’s plenty of incentive to hire professionals to pack for you. Plus, if you’re on a time crunch and need to get out of your house by the end of the month, if you have items that are too large to pack yourself, or if you have children or pets to supervise, pro packers can be especially worth the added cost.

We found the best by-the-hour packers in the biz for your DIY move. And if you’re doing a full-service move, you can pay for packing through the mover you’re working with or book any of the companies below.

College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving offers stand-alone packing and unpacking, meaning you don’t need to hire the company to move you or get rid of your junk to qualify for its hourly packing services.

Hiring professional packers through College Hunks will cost more than Venmo-ing an independent contractor or buying your friends a round of “thank you” drinks, but the company’s pay-by-the-hour rates are both transparent and affordable.

College Hunks offers no-fuss, no-obligation online quotes, so you can get a ballpark idea of how much packing help will cost you.

College Hunks does require an on-site estimate to give you a quote specific to your packing job, so you’ll need to call College Hunks and schedule an appointment before you book your service. But we like that the company also offers quick quotes that show how much packing services cost per hour.

Standard hourly rates mean that there’s no difference between hiring packers for a one-bedroom apartment vs. a five-bedroom home. Packing the apartment will cost less simply because it’ll take less time.

College Hunks’ helpful reps will walk you through every pricing option, so you can see how much it costs to hire an additional mover or book services on different days of the week. Plus, there’s no pushiness and no sales pitch.

We like that our quote broke down the cost of hiring packers over a weekend vs. on a weekday. We also appreciate that the company was willing to provide ballpark estimates before we committed to an in-home estimate. It made comparison shopping 10 times easier (and faster) and erased the pressure to commit to College Hunks.

Ready to learn what moving with College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving is like?

Read Our Review

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is a full-service moving company that also offers labor services (like packing) at an hourly rate. Plus, you can hire packers even if you’re simply putting boxes in storage.

So whether you’re moving across state lines or need to clear out the second bedroom before baby arrives, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has you covered.

If you want to pack certain items yourself, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK sells packing supplies—everything from packing tape to specialty boxes and bubble wrap—so you don’t need to make that Home Depot run.

A good packing company is of no use to you if you live outside its service area. It can boast all day about its killer swing set–breakdown or fragile-item packing capabilities, but if it can’t get a packer out to your house, you can’t benefit from those cool services.

Luckily, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK’s nationwide availability means it can help the majority of people who need its packing expertise.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has franchises in 46 states—including many rural areas. We love that TWO MEN AND A TRUCK covers places like Nebraska and Kansas, which tend to fall outside of other companies’ service boundaries.

Our only gripe about TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is that, compared to College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving, it doesn’t have transparent pricing (because each location sets its own rates).

Want to see what TWO MEN AND A TRUCK can do for you?

Read Our Review

TaskRabbit isn’t technically a moving company—it’s a marketplace where you choose from dozens of background-checked, thoroughly vetted independent contractors (called taskers) who offer hourly labor services in your area.

What we like about TaskRabbit is that it shows you all your options in one place—rates, reviews, services, you name it. It makes comparison shopping easy because you’ll be able to see that Ben charges $40 per hour, while Sydney charges $28 per hour.

Plus, you can schedule a tasker to unpack all of your boxes for you as soon as the next day.

With TaskRabbit, you don’t have to gamble on who shows up at your doorstep. Unlike large moving companies that assign packers to jobs through local franchises, you get free rein to choose who touches your stuff.

Here’s how: Each of TaskRabbit’s contractors is background-checked and vetted by the company, which rules out any sketchiness. Plus, users can upvote or downvote contractors they’ve worked with before.

Essentially, customers run the show on TaskRabbit. If there’s a packer who’s underperforming or who consistently shows up late, they’ll get pushed down the list by customers’ downvotes and negative reviews.

On the other hand, if there’s a packer who’s extra careful with antiques or who knows how to handle porcelain like a pro, they’ll rise to the top.

Having the option to choose who handles your personal belongings during a move is rare, and one worth taking advantage of.

Want to see all the services TaskRabbit has to offer?

Read Our Review

They can—but it’ll cost more. When you opt for a full-service move, all the loading, unloading, and driving is included in your bill. Moving companies offer packing as an extra, add-on service. Packing typically is not included in the basic cost of a full-service move.

Short answer? It depends on how much stuff you have to pack—and whether anything requires custom crating (your harp) or specialized packing (your antique dishes). The cost of basic packing services varies by company, but on average, it’ll raise your final bill by at least $100–$200.

Custom crating and special-item packing costs extra, though the exact amount varies by object. For example, packing a piano can cost upward of $250 (on top of any other packing services) if packers decide to take out and wrap every single key by hand.

To recap, here are our top picks for pro packing help:

• TWO MEN AND A TRUCK—Best for nationwide availability
• College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving—Most up-front rates
• TaskRabbit—Best for choosing your packer

If you book professional packing through TWO MEN AND A TRUCK or College Hunks, you get the perks that come with top-tier moving companies: experience, wide availability, and exceptional customer service.

If you go with an independent contractor through a site like TaskRabbit, you get to hand-select your packers. This will generally cost less than going through a full-service moving company, but you run the risk of going without insurance.

All of our recommended companies use background-checked packers, so it’s really a matter of budget and whether you want to get picky about who shows up on your doorstep.

Have you worked with professional packers? We want to hear all about it! Drop us a comment below!

Move.org evaluates and identifies the moving industry’s best movers using a fivefold research approach:

• Compare pricing transparency. We gather quotes, check for binding estimates, and read customer reviews about pricing to ensure each moving company’s prices are trustworthy. 

• Review accreditation. We check every company’s records in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s database to confirm companies are properly authorized to transport household goods.

• Mystery shopping. We review every company’s website, pose as customers in calls to companies, and read customer reviews to analyze every company’s moving services, transit protection, and customer service. We also interview actual customers to learn how their moves went from start to finish.

• Site visits.  We invite moving companies to our headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT, to share data and expertise. We verify the information they provide by comparing it to data gathered through independent research and interviews with other movers.
• Regular review. We routinely repeat this process to update our recommendations to reflect current data and trends. We also revise each review annually and make updates throughout the year.