STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

jettie · Kate Spade

Relocation Packages

carmenb513 · Coach

Hmmmm.Not exactly sure.I got $1500 cash for incidentals when I moved from Cincinnati to Connecticut.Then they paid for a hotel and rental car for a month- oh and for my food (can't remember the total but hotel was at least $700/week). Then they paid for the movers to come and pack ALL my personal belongings (they'll pack the trash unless you tell them not to ) they also shipped my car w/ all my stuff.The company -Atlas Van lines then billed my job- it was at least a few thousand dollars.

Call some moving companys and get quotes, also know how much you'll need to secure housing- they should be giving you at least that total amount, or close to it.

Well IMO, if they are initiating the relocation they should.

kealoha · Kate Spade

When my FH relocated for his last job in 2002, they only gave him $1000. However, b/c he was working for a hotel, they put him up for 2 weeks in a fairly nice room.

When we recently relocated last November, he got $5000, plus another 2 weeks in the hotel where he's a Chef. We could either take the $5000 & be taxed or pay for the move & then be reimbursed. It worked out to be equal either way.

Keep in mind we shipped a car from Honolulu, HI to Long Beach, CA, which is probably why they gave him so much. We contacted a moving company & they boxed up everything & had it to us w/in 3-4 weeks (across the ocean), which included delivery & assembly of several items they had to dismantle.

Obviously we lucked out, but I think the standard is between $1000-$2500. A friend of mine got $3000 when she moved back from Portland, OR to Honolulu, so it very well could be how deep the company's pockets are.

Good luck.

nikkib222 · BCBG

I just relocated from Atlanta to Madison, WI and I got $1000 for incidentals. The company paid for my hotel for a month, rental car, and to bring my car up here. They also paid for my food for a month and coordinated the moving company to move everything up here.

jah · Dooney & Bourke

I've relocated twice in the past two years for my company and I got up to $15,000 each time. My first move was from Kansas City to Atlanta and my second trip was from Atlanta to San Diego. For the first trip, I only used $9,000, but the last time, I used $14,000. The $14,000 is what it took to buy my lease out, pay 1st month deposit on my new place, set up utilities, pay the movers, move my car, pay for a rental until my car arrived and pay for hotel and plane fare to find the apartment. Oh, and I also took the $5,000 as cash incidental my company payed. This allowed me to only have to put $9,000 in with receipts, etc.

My company does relo allowance based on your title. Analyst get $5K, Lead $10K, Mgr. $15K, Director, $25K, VP $50K and SVP and up get unlimited. That being said, every level only gets $5K in cash allowance with no receipts and everything else must be reimbursed with receipts. Also, the IRS has a very strict list of things that can be reimbursed and not considered "additional income", so a great deal of my $15K was considered income and thus had all the tax implications.

Elle · Hermes

FH got $2k to relocate to his first job - we saw only about $300 of that, and our move easily cost $2,300 or so not including any kind of rental deposits or anything like that. They added it on to his first check, which also had half his sign-on bonus on it, so it bumped him up into a much higher taxable rate. I think we might have actually seen more of that check if there had been no relocation at all. I would not recommend taking a lump sum.

This time we're going for reimbursement - up to $3k. They tax it at a lower rate, so you end up getting more in the end.

We moved 1,500 miles or so - 1 bdr apartment so we rented a 17-ft Uhaul and a trailer for our car. We paid approx $2,300 for the moving truck, car trailer, gas, 2 nights hotel stays, food, and 2 movers to move the big stuff into our new place. We looked into a larger moving company that picks up your stuff and moves it for you, but it would have cost $3k just for that alone, and we didn't take our dining room table, computer armoire, etc with us either.

mikacat · Coach

It totally depends on the job, company, etc.
I have relocated twice for a new job.

My most recent to Chicago, I got $18K for 6 months of housing, flights, moving cars and food and in addition, they completely packed us, moved us and unpacked everything, they also paid our closing cost on the selling side.

Moving is such a pain in the butt though.