to continue with the math - weight capacity of a 12 foot pods container is 4,700 lbs, so together with the 1750 lbs container itself that's 6,500 lbs, or about 25,000 lbs for four of them.
this is well short of the 45,000 payload capacity of a flatbed trailer, about half the capacity in fact.
so that means the extra 4 x 1,000 lbs weight of the containers here is only really an issue for fuel economy and overall wear and tear on things like driveline and tires, but doesn't impact capacity in anyway.
i spent about $450 on diesel fuel driving a Penske Truck that was about 20,000 lbs ( loaded ) ... and 2/3 of that is aerodynamic drag ... so only about $150 of that was due to the weight which means an extra 1,000 lbs from container would only add $10 in fuel cost, plus perhaps another $10 in wear and tear for tires, brakes and driveline, so $20 total.
movers charge $100 / hour in Florida and $200 / hour in NJ so as the truck has to be loaded in NJ and unloaded in Florida that's $300 total per hour of loading / unloading. the $20 saved on lighter truck would thus translate in just 5 minutes of loading / unloading time at $300 / hour.
however i reckon the convenience of having a container placed at ground level and close to the door would save the movers A LOT MORE time than 5 minutes.
on the flip side ABF freight U-Pack container is delivered without any special equipment or work like this:
while a PODS has to be unloaded using specialized equipment and procedure like this:
so there is obviously extra cost in that ... seemingly shifting the favor back to the trailer
// ABF picks up and delivers one trailer at a time but they move cross country in a double like so:
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