STRICTLY BUSINESS; FOR THOSE LONG MOVES: YOU PACK IT, WE DRIVE IT

Moves start small. Home to a furnished dorm room. Dorm room to a small, furnished apartment. Small, furnished apartment to larger, unfurnished apartment.

As parents, we dutifully helped son Stephen stuff first a car, later a van and finally a U-Haul trailer. But when it came time to make a 600-plus mile move from St. Louis to Virginia, where Stephen will spend the year teaching criminal justice classes at Radford University, our backs told us to look for other options.

We did. Quotes from cross-country, full-service movers were over $2,500.

Truck rental was cheaper, but it called for navigating an unfamiliar, 17-foot truck across the hills of the Blue Ridge Parkway. And then we happened onto a new program offered through ABF Freight System. ABF is one of the nation's largest motor carriers, offering direct service to all 50 states, nine Canadian provinces, Guam and Puerto Rico. ABF is a subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation, headquartered in Fort Smith, Ark. The company also has a terminal in Cape Girardeau.

ABF's U-Pack moving service was implemented about three years ago, said company spokesman Jim Ingram. "It's another option for the moving public," he said.

The plan is simple. A 28-foot ABF trailer is parked at your door -- or close to it -- and a couple days of packing time are allowed. Once the truck is loaded, an ABF driver from a nearby terminal is dispatched to pick up the trailer. Soon, the trailer is on its way. The transport takes several days -- in our case, four working days. During transport, the trailer can be tracked via a personalized number given each customer.

Once the trailer arrives at its destination, another couple days are allotted for unloading. Customers are charged only for the space used in the trailer, with the average space being about 10 linear feet (the trailer is 8 feet wide by 9 feet tall). Shipment charges, $79.80 a linear foot, are based on the requested trailer footage. A bulkhead, or plywood wall, acts as a separator between a customer's goods and other cargo.

Average haul for the program is about 2,000 miles, Ingram said. "We start being an alternative in the 400- to 600-mile range. We can't really be competitive under that."

In addition to driving a load to its destination, the company offers packing and loading tips.

"Loading a semi-trailer is an art, and pre-planning goes a long way in reducing loading time, space used and fatigue." Ingram said.

A simple formula is to load heavy appliances and other heavy items toward the front of the trailer on the floor. Sofas can be stood on end and anchored by other large items. Lighter items can be placed on top and secured.

A couple of caveats: CDs and software do not survive high temperatures. These items should be transported another way. And if you're moving a piano, consider hiring a specialist to pack and load it.

We made the 600-mile move for less than $800.

For more information on making cross-town or cross-country moves and the options available, www.moving.com is a great resource. You can find tips on short hauls, long moves and more.