Packing and Unpacking in Oregon City for Papers, Photographs and Counted Sets
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The slowest boxes in a household hold a folder with a deed, a marriage certificate, a shoebox of letters, an album with loose prints tucked between the pages, or a set of dishes that has to arrive complete. In Oregon City, the Clackamas County seat, some of that paper may have an official copy on file with the county, while some of it has no copy at all. Knowing which is which before pack day decides what goes in our boxes and what rides with you.
Our packers make the 40- to 50-minute drive from the family company's yard in Hillsboro to Oregon City, so pack days here are booked for the next day or later, with that travel time included in the billed hours. They bill by the hour and can return to unpack once you have the keys.
What Packing in Oregon City Costs
You pay for packer hours and for the boxes the job uses. Paper, prints, and china mostly go into small and medium cartons, and the careful wrapping is where the hours go. The estimate call turns your description of the papers, albums and sets into a packer count and a likely number of hours. There is no deposit to hold the date.
(503) 506-4149Packing labor: dedicated pack day
- 1 packer: $56.40 per hour
- 2 packers: $112.80 per hour
- 3 packers: $169.20 per hour
- 4 packers: $225.60 per hour
Boxes and supplies
- Small $6.30 · Medium $7.45 · Large $9.45 · Wardrobe $31.55
- TV box $55.85 per use, or $199.65 to buy
Moving crew and truck, if you book the move too: Monday–Saturday, 7 AM–7 PM
- 2 movers + truck: $150.35 per hour · 3 movers + truck: $206.75 per hour · 4 movers + truck: $263.15 per hour
- 3-hour minimum · $56.40 per hour for each additional mover or packer
- Evenings after 7 PM Mon–Sat, and Sundays (3-hour minimum): $195.20 / $273.40 / $351.60 per hour
- Holiday rate (3-hour minimum): $230.50 / $325.50 / $420.50 per hour
Unused boxes stay off the bill, and any sturdy boxes you already own can go into the job. Wrapping, padding, and labeling are included in the hourly rate.
Released Value, Replacement Cost and Claims
A saucer from a counted set weighs a few ounces, and the default protection pays by weight. Released value at $0.60 per pound is the legal floor, not a plan. Replacement-cost protection is available if you choose to purchase it. We will submit a claim upon request. For paper that exists only once, no claim brings it back.
Sorting and Packing the Paper, Prints and Sets in an Oregon City Home
Several kinds of contents can stretch a pack day, and each has a sorting question to settle before the packers arrive. In Oregon City, two of them have an answer the county supplies.
Deeds and marriage records: a county copy exists
The Clackamas County Recording Division, at 1710 Red Soils Court in Oregon City, keeps property records going back to the early 1850s and marriage records to the 1840s, with a public area for research and copying, and it can certify copies. A deed or marriage record recorded in this county therefore has a copy on file there. A recorded copy is not your original, so keep originals you value with you. What the county copy changes is the risk: if a recorded document were lost in a move, a certified copy could be requested from that office. If a closing or a refinance is coming soon after the move and you will need a certified copy anyway, order it before pack day, while you still live in Oregon City.
Birth certificates: it depends on how old they are
Clackamas County's vital records office on Kaen Road handles birth certificates less than six months old. Older ones are ordered through the Oregon Health Authority. So a new baby's certificate can be reordered from the county, and a parent's or grandparent's goes through the state. If a household is moving soon after a birth, order the extra copies you expect to need while the county can still issue them, and pack the older certificates in the document box that travels with you. Passports, Social Security cards, and vehicle titles belong in that same box.
Letters, photographs and albums: no copy anywhere
A letter, a diary, a handwritten family tree or a print with no negative exists once. These go in a small, labeled box that rides in your own car. When there are more than a car can hold, our packers can pack them with extra care. Loose prints lie flat with paper between them, face to face or back to back so the images do not rub. Albums stand upright, packed snugly so pages cannot shift. Framed photographs are wrapped one at a time with padding over the glass and packed on edge. Slides, negatives, and film reels stay in their original sleeves and cases. Boxes like these are flagged on the label, and you can ask the crew to load them where nothing heavy rests on them.
China and glass that came as a set
A set is only whole if every piece arrives. Ask the packers to count it and write the count on each carton. Each plate, cup, and saucer is wrapped on its own, and pieces of one set share boxes where they fit. At the new house, unpacking starts with that number. If the label says 38 and the count comes to 38, the set made it. Ask for extra padding on any thin-rimmed glass. Mention any set with pieces that live in more than one cabinet, so none get packed with the everyday dishes.
From the Call to the Last Unpacked Box
Keep this list somewhere you will see it. Most of the work that protects the paper and the sets happens before the packers arrive, and it takes an evening or two.
On the call, describe the contents along with the rooms: how many albums, whether there is a box of papers, how many place settings in the good china. That description is what the estimate call works from.
A week or two out, sort family paper into three piles: county-recorded documents, certificates the state or county can reissue, and one-of-a-kind items that ride with you.
Order any certified copies you will need soon, from the Recording Division or the vital records office, while your address is still in Clackamas County.
On pack day, show the crew the car box first, so it stays out of the cartons. Then the packers work room by room.
On move day, walk the rooms with the crew before the truck leaves, and check that the car box is actually in the car.
If you booked unpacking, start with the counted sets and the photo boxes, check the numbers against the labels, and stack the empty cartons flat.
Oregon City Paper and China Packing Questions
Do we need to sort every drawer before the packers come?
Only the papers you want kept separate. Everything else can be packed as it sits, and the box can be labeled by room and drawer so it goes back the same way.
Can you pack a few boxes of photographs and leave the rest to us?
Yes. Book our packers for the albums and the counted china, and do the linen closet yourself.
How long does a packer take on a full china cabinet?
It depends on the piece count and the glass thickness. Give us the number of place settings and serving pieces, and the estimate will reflect it.
Do old books need special packing?
Books go in small boxes because a large carton of them gets too heavy to carry safely. Older bindings pack flat or upright so the spine carries no weight, with paper filling the gaps so nothing slides. Loose pages, pressed flowers or notes tucked inside can stay put if the book is packed snugly.
What Our Customers Say
What the County Can Replace, and What It Cannot
That is the line the estimate call is really drawing. A deed recorded in Clackamas County has a copy on file with the Recording Division; a letter in your grandmother's hand has a copy nowhere. The first can travel in a carton on the truck, the second belongs in the box on your own back seat, and sorting the two is an evening's work done before our packers arrive. Call (503) 506-4149 and we will go through the list with you, any day between 7 AM and 10 PM. Moving an office in town too? See our Oregon City office relocation page.
Call (503) 506-4149 → Free Oregon City Packing Estimate, 7 AM–10 PM Every Day
Hours
Monday–Sunday, 7 AM–10 PM. Messages left outside those hours get returned.
Butterfield Moving LLC · 2092 NE Aloclek Dr, Suite 516, Hillsboro, OR 97124 · Moving…Like Butter™