I’ve Moved Nine Times, and This Decision Made My Latest One by Far the Easiest

Moving is never fun — no matter how many times you’ve done it. Between packing, hauling, and unpacking, it always ends up feeling like a marathon you didn’t train for. So when I recently made the move from Boston to Brooklyn (over a holiday weekend no less!) I decided to finally take my own advice and call in the professionals at Piece of Cake Moving & Storage. It was going to be my ninth move and second in less than a year, and I couldn’t even entertain the idea of buying dozens of cardboard boxes, packing up my entire life, and figuring out how to move it all our of a second-floor brownstone in Boston. 

I reached out to the wonderful team at Piece of Cake, who graciously offered to give me an editorial discount — although I had already decided I would splurge on the full price no matter what. And let’s just say, it lived up to the name. From start to finish, the process was smoother (and faster) than I ever imagined possible. Here’s my honest review of Piece of Cake Moving & Storage.

What sets Piece of Cake apart is how organized and thoughtful their process is. When I first spoke to a rep at the company, I was nervous that it was too last-minute to book for the weekend, which inconveniently also happened to be Labor Day weekend. I was immediately reassured that the team only needed a few days and that everything would be taken care of. Next, I had a phone call with another member of their team, who walked me through the entire process and did an inventory check with me. We confirmed my addresses, that the team was going to pack for me (a literal dream come true), and that I wanted to use the Piece of Cake reusable packing boxes. 

This was a particularly exciting amenity to me because I’ve always had a hard time with both the monetary and material waste that moving usually racks up. You spend so much money and time buying and assembling cardboard boxes, only to then have to break everything back down and dispose of it when you move in. (Although pro tip from an experienced mover: Use your local Facebook marketplace and buy-nothing groups to both acquire moving boxes and donate yours when you’re all done. It saves you both money and time and helps out the next poor soul dealing with a move.) 

A big part of that phone call is to literally walk through each room and lay out the inventory of what you’ll be packing and moving. The purpose of this call is to establish your price quote, as each item type and box is priced separately, so you need to make sure you’re adding in everything. After reading through some reviews, I learned that this is where it can get a little more expensive — if you forget to include items, they will add that to the bill later, which can feel like an unexpected cost. The rep on the phone was so helpful and patient with me though and asked great questions to make sure I was including everything.

Finally, we confirmed that the team would arrive at my apartment in Boston between 7-9 a.m. on Saturday, and we’d be full into my apartment in Brooklyn by the end of the day. Note: The brand doesn’t unpack for you, which is fine by me because selecting where items go in a new place is too personal for that anyway. But they do set up a date to come back and pick up the reusable boxes, which I’ll get more into later.

• Seamless start-to-finish coordination
• Friendly, communicative movers
• Reusable boxes = zero cardboard chaos
• Same-day completion from Boston to Brooklyn

• They don’t unpack for you — unloading only
• Limited locations of service
• Reusable box pickup is typically scheduled within a week
• Tipping is customary for great service

Before I knew it, it was the big day. The team of three movers arrived at 8 a.m., as promised, ready to pack up my entire apartment with an efficiency that was honestly mesmerizing to watch. I had packed up some clothes and valuables, which the company recommends doing, and loaded them into my car before they arrived so I could be out of their way as much as possible. (I also got a case of water for them, which they seemed to appreciate since it was a hot summer day.) Once they got to work, I found myself comically useless. I ended up leaving to go get my car washed because there was nowhere for me to sit without feeling like I was in their way, and they repeatedly told me there was nothing I could do to help.

It took a while to pack everything up — I have a lot of stuff, I’ll admit it — but by 1 p.m. we were all on the road to New York. The team broke one thing (a small glass lid to a coffee cup that I honestly never even used), but called me in right away to flag it to me and I felt so much better about their transparency. Once we got to New York, the team got right to work unloading all of my stuff into my new place, helping to assemble big furniture items like my bed frame and sofa, and helping to place things in the right spots. Since I live alone, having the three guys help me place my area rugs, move around my dresser, and decide where to put my bed frame was so immensely helpful. The unloading took much less time than the packing, for obvious reasons, and after just two hours, we were all set up and ready to say goodbye. I tipped each guy separately, which I recommend since they were all so individually helpful, and that was it.

One of my favorite touches was the reusable boxes. They’re not only sturdy, uniform, and much more eco-friendly than cardboard, but the company comes back seven days after your move to pick them up, which means no pile of flattened boxes taking over your living room. I actually unpacked all of mine in only a few days and emailed the team just to see if they happened to be nearby sooner than seven days later, and they happily accommodated me. It felt so nice to have those out of my space and even better to not have to deal with disposing of a ton of waste.

If you’re staring down an upcoming move with a sense of dread (been there), Piece of Cake Movers is absolutely worth it. They take care of everything you don’t want to deal with — from packing to driving to unloading — and their reusable box system makes cleanup practically nonexistent. 

They are based in New York City, and only offer moving in a few other cities, so you’ll have to confirm they work in your area, but whether you’re moving across the city or across state lines, this service takes the chaos out of the process. I wouldn’t hesitate to book them again — and for someone who’s lived in nine apartments, that’s saying a lot.

Book now.