Normally, I would close comments when I borrow Tom’s stuff; however, there is something to add this time. In addition to, and indeed, related to the supply-and-demand note from Eugene, there is another reason why it costs so much more money to get a U-Haul truck outbound than inbound. U-Haul sees it likely that trucks inbound to Milwaukee will return to their points of origin full and paid for by somebody using that truck, while it sees it likeky that trucks outbound from Milwaukee will need to have somebody paid by U-Haul to return that truck to Milwaukee.
I believe former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson said it best: “When the last company leaves Wisconsin, please turn off the lights.” Of course, with the Doyle/Spendocrat “energy” plan, it is likely that the lights will be off before that happens.
Revisions/extensions (12:10 pm 3/30/2009) – In the comments, HeatherRadish suggested looking up one-way rates between Milwaukee and places like Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia and LA. These are all for pickup of a 26′ U-Haul truck on 4/4/2009:
Milwaukee-to-Detroit – $542
Detroit-to-Milwaukee – $735
Milwaukee-to-Buffalo – $997
Buffalo-to-Milwaukee – $720
Milwaukee-to-Philadelphia – $956
Philadelphia-to-Milwaukee – $1,072
Milwaukee-to-Los Angeles – $1,788
Los Angeles-to-Milwaukee – $2,026
Would be interesting to compare these rates to the rates to/from other places people want to get the hell out of–Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia, L.A. I’m guessing Milwaukee-Detroit doesn’t show much directional difference anymore.
Well there we go–not as bad as I thought. Yet. :)
If you read U-Haul’s website, you’ll see that U-Haul does not move
vehicles around empty. Like rental car firms, the trucks randomly
circulate as part of a corporate fleet. It will always cost less to
rent a vehicle one-way from a low demand area to a high demand area
than the other way around. Ex: Hertz car from IA to NY = $95/day.
NY to IA = $200/day.