Hi All,
I am a father of a freshly minted lieutenant, trying to help my son to figure out the best way to get to his first posting. We live in New England, and his first assignment is Vandenberg SFB, so it is almost the longest way across the US possible. We are thinking to do PPM by renting a truck with a car carrier and drive. From what I've read my understanding is that the reimbursement depends on the weight moved. He is single, fresh out of college and does not have much stuff, up to 2000 lbs maybe. Load and unload we can do ourselves easily.
We tried to figure out how much money we would get for this PPM, but it appears to be the most closely guarded military secret. Not trying to make any money, just trying to figure out if we break even at least?
We would really appreciate any insight on this.
Thanks!
Looking for an advise on a first PCS move.
byu/RandomNameWithBacon inMilitaryFinance
Posted by RandomNameWithBacon
2 Comments
Generally speaking, PPMs do make some money for the individual. It’s usually worth it as a young, single person and gets harder once there’s a full house full of stuff and kids. Just make sure you get your weight tickets accurate, both full and empty weights. I just find a truck stop with a CAT scale and it’s easy enough.
Idk how it is for the space force, but army has a calculator somewhere for calculating approximate payment which should be close if not the same as SF.
I’d recommend you take a back seat on this venture though. Your son is an LT and needs to start doing his own a research and planning. Let him make his own determinations and live with them. As soon as he reports to his first unit they’re going to expect him to pull up his big boy pants and not need his hand held.
You sound like a great and involved parent though! Congrats on his graduation and hope his career is everything he hopes for.
It’s very very difficult not to make money on a PPM. I’ve done the U-Haul with a car trailer method three times, and always come out ahead, but it can be a pain in the ass. Driving long distance in a stripped down commercial rental truck isn’t the most pleasant experience. My last PPM I used PODS and it was so much easier. You schedule the drop off and pick up, you load them, lock them with your own locks, they’ll give you weigh tickets, and then you can drive your own POV on that long distance drive in comfort. It might be slightly more expensive than a rental truck, but the convenience is definitely worth it.