Dity Move Calculator

Dity Move Calculator
Plan a complete Personally Procured Move (PPM). Check your weight allowance by rank and dependents, estimate the incentive, and total the real costs of doing it yourself.
Planning estimate only. Weight allowances follow the Joint Travel Regulations table in common use; your official allowance is confirmed by your transportation office and your orders. The incentive estimate applies the standard 95 percent PPM factor to the constructed cost of the weight you actually ship, capped at your allowance, and the incentive is taxable income. Certified empty and full weight tickets are required for payment.

Planning a DITY Move From Start to Settlement

A DITY move, formally a Personally Procured Move, is a project with a budget, a weight limit, a route, and a settlement at the end. The families who profit from one treat it that way from the first day. This planner walks the whole project in order: it starts with the weight allowance your rank and family status actually authorize, checks the load you intend to haul against that ceiling, builds the incentive from the government rate for your route, and then subtracts the rental, fuel, and daily costs that a real move accumulates. The output is a plan you can act on, not just a single number.

The order of operations matters. Weight comes first because it controls everything else: the truck size, the rate the government applies, and the point where extra pounds stop earning money. Only after the weight picture is clear does it make sense to price trucks and count rental days. Work through the sections below in that sequence, and use the calculator at each stage rather than waiting until the end, because a problem found at the allowance stage costs nothing and the same problem found at the scale house costs a fortune.

Weight Allowances by Rank and Dependents

Your authorized weight allowance comes from the Joint Travel Regulations and turns on two facts: your pay grade and whether you are moving with dependents. The table built into this calculator reflects the allowances in common use. An E-5, for example, is authorized 7,000 pounds without dependents and 9,000 pounds with dependents. Senior grades rise from there, with an E-9 at 13,000 or 15,000 pounds and officers ranging from 10,000 pounds for an O-1 without dependents up to 18,000 pounds for senior officers. Junior enlisted allowances are tighter, starting at 5,000 pounds, which is why young families feel the cap first.

Treat the allowance as a ceiling with money attached. The incentive is computed on your shipped weight only up to that ceiling. Every pound above it travels at your expense and earns nothing, and excess weight can also create liability if the government ends up shipping or storing what you could not move. Your orders and your transportation office confirm the official figure for your move, and where the table in this planner and your orders ever disagree, the orders govern. Some moves, such as certain overseas, unaccompanied, or first-duty-station situations, carry special limits that a general table cannot capture.

Building the Incentive Estimate

The government pays a PPM incentive built from the Government Constructed Cost: what it would have paid a contractor to move your weight over your route. This planner lets you express that as a rate per 100 pounds, often written as per cwt, for your lane. Multiply the paid weight, meaning the lesser of your actual weight and your allowance, by that rate and you have the constructed cost. The incentive is then generally 95 percent of the constructed cost. Your transportation office can quote the current estimated constructed cost for your move, and dividing that figure by your expected hundredweight gives you the rate to enter here.

Distance hides inside that rate, which is why a coast-to-coast move generates a far larger incentive than a move two states away at the same weight. When you compare plans, compare total incentive against total cost for the same route and the same paid weight, and be careful about one seductive error: adding weight you own but do not need, purely to raise the incentive. Extra weight only pays when it stays under the allowance, fits the truck you already rented, and costs less to haul than the rate it earns.

Costing the Move Day by Day

  • Rental total: rental days multiplied by the daily rate. Loading, driving, unloading, and a buffer day all count, so count them honestly.
  • Fuel total: distance divided by fuel economy, multiplied by the price per gallon. A loaded truck on hills in summer heat will not match the brochure figure.
  • Packing and protection: boxes, tape, pads, and mattress covers, plus a dolly or hand truck if the rental does not include one.
  • Road costs: lodging, meals, and tolls for each driving day, priced for your family size rather than for a solo driver.
  • Arrival costs: cleaning supplies, utility deposits are not moving costs, but a night or two of lodging while you wait for housing often is a real one.

The planner folds packing, lodging, meals, and other costs into one field so you can build the total from your own checklist. Families consistently undercount two lines: rental days, because loading a family home almost never fits the optimistic schedule, and road lodging, because a truck that averages 45 miles per hour turns a paper two-day drive into three. Add a buffer day to both lines before you trust the profit figure, and if the plan still profits with the buffer included, it is a plan worth executing.

How to Use This Planner

  1. Select your pay grade and dependent status, and note the allowance the planner reports before you enter anything else.
  2. Enter your best weight estimate, using a room-by-room count if you have one, and watch the allowance utilization figure.
  3. Enter the government rate per 100 pounds from your transportation office estimate, then your distance, rental days, daily rate, fuel figures, and remaining costs.
  4. Read the projected profit, fix the weakest line item, and rerun. Planning is iteration, and two or three passes through this page is normal.

If the utilization figure passes 100 percent, stop and solve that problem first. The planner will flag the excess and cap the paid weight, because the government pays nothing on the overage. Trimming a load usually starts with the heaviest low-value items: particle-board furniture, duplicate appliances, book collections, and garage equipment that would cost less to replace than to haul across three states at zero incentive.

Worked Example: An E-5 Family Move

Take an E-5 moving with dependents, which sets the allowance at 9,000 pounds. The family estimates 8,200 pounds of household goods, a utilization of 91.1 percent, comfortably inside the ceiling. Their transportation office figures work out to a rate of $128 per 100 pounds. The constructed cost on 82 hundredweight is $10,496, and the incentive at 95 percent is $9,971.20. Against that, the truck rents for 6 days at $310, a rental total of $1,860. The 1,600-mile drive at 9 miles per gallon and $3.60 per gallon costs $640 in fuel. Packing, lodging, meals, and other costs add $1,450. Total cost is $3,950, and the projected profit before tax is $6,021.20. Note how much room the plan carries: even two extra rental days at the same rate would still leave the family well ahead, which is exactly the kind of cushion a good plan should have.

The Moving Timeline That Protects the Profit

Profitable moves follow a calendar. Four to six weeks out: attend the PPM briefing, confirm the allowance and the constructed cost estimate, reserve the truck, and start the room-by-room purge. Two weeks out: buy packing supplies, confirm the certified scale locations at both ends, and reserve lodging for the driving days. Loading week: weigh the truck empty, load heavy and low, and weigh full before you leave the scale area. Travel days: keep every fuel and lodging receipt in one envelope. Arrival week: unload fast to stop the rental clock, weigh nothing out of order, and assemble the settlement packet while the move is still fresh in memory.

The scale tickets deserve their own sentence in every plan: empty weight before loading, full weight after loading, both from certified scales, both kept with the orders. The government pays on the difference between those two numbers, capped at your allowance, and no amount of careful estimating substitutes for the tickets at settlement. Photograph them the moment they print.

Partial Moves and Other Options

A planner should also price the exits. In a partial PPM, the government ships part of the load and you haul the rest, earning the incentive on your portion. For a family at 115 percent of allowance, splitting the load often beats trimming it in a panic. A full government move, the HHG shipment, costs you nothing out of pocket and none of your leave, and for very short routes or very tight timelines it is frequently the rational choice. The calculator does not judge; it prices. Run your full plan here, then run the partial version by reducing the weight and rental size to what you would haul yourself, and let the two profit figures argue it out.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the weight allowance for a DITY move determined?

The Joint Travel Regulations set the allowance by pay grade and dependent status at the time of the move. Junior enlisted members start at 5,000 pounds, mid-grade enlisted and officers range upward from there, and moving with dependents raises most allowances by 2,000 pounds or more. Your orders and transportation office confirm the official figure for your specific move.

What does the incentive in this planner represent?

It is an estimate of the Personally Procured Move incentive: generally 95 percent of the Government Constructed Cost of shipping your paid weight over your route. This planner builds it from the rate per 100 pounds you enter, multiplied by your paid weight in hundredweight, which is the same arithmetic your transportation office estimate is built on.

Where do I find the government rate per 100 pounds for my route?

Ask your transportation office for the estimated Government Constructed Cost of your move, then divide that figure by your expected weight in hundreds of pounds. If the office quotes a rate directly for your lane, use that. The rate already reflects your distance, which is why long moves generate larger incentives at the same weight.

What happens if my household goods weigh more than my allowance?

The incentive is paid only on weight up to the allowance. The planner caps paid weight at the ceiling and flags the excess, because overweight pounds cost you fuel and space and earn nothing. Trim the load, arrange a partial government shipment, or accept that the overage rides free for the government and at your expense.

How many rental days should I plan for a DITY move?

Count loading days, driving days, one unloading day, and at least one buffer day. A typical family move needs five to eight days total. Rental days are the most common budget failure in PPM planning, so build the schedule honestly here rather than discovering the extra days at the rental counter rate.

Does this planner include the tax on the incentive?

The projected profit shown is before tax, and the incentive itself is taxable income. Many families reserve roughly a fifth to a quarter of the profit for taxes when they plan. The companion profit-focused Dity Calculator on this site applies an explicit 22 percent reserve if you want the after-reserve figure.

What weight should I enter if I have not weighed anything yet?

Use a room-by-room estimate rather than a guess. Count beds, sofas, appliances, and boxes against standard average weights, the method used in the Dity Move Weight Calculator, and then add a margin, because estimates usually land low. Recheck the plan once you have a real scale ticket from a partial load or a prior move.

Can I do a partial DITY move and let the government ship the rest?

Yes. A partial PPM splits the shipment: the government moves part of your goods and you haul the remainder, earning the incentive on the weight you moved yourself. Model it here by entering only the weight, truck size, and days for your portion, and compare the result with the full self-move plan.

Are weight allowances different for overseas moves?

They can be. Overseas, unaccompanied baggage, and certain first-move situations carry special limits, and some locations restrict total shipment weight regardless of grade. This planner uses the standard stateside table; for an overseas assignment, confirm the controlling allowance with your transportation office before planning around any figure.

What documents do I need at settlement for a PPM?

Bring the orders, the PPM application and counseling paperwork, the certified empty and full weight tickets, the rental agreement, and receipts for operating expenses such as fuel and tolls. The weight tickets are the heart of the packet, because payment is computed from them, so obtain them from certified scales and keep them safe.

How far in advance should I reserve the rental truck?

Reserve as soon as your orders and dates are firm, especially for the May through August PCS peak, when one-way trucks sell out in popular origin cities and prices climb steeply. A reservation also locks the daily rate that this planner uses, turning your largest cost from a variable into a fixed number.

Does rank change the profit on the same move?

Indirectly, yes. A higher allowance raises the paid-weight ceiling, so a senior member hauling the same 12,000-pound household gets paid on more hundredweight than a junior member capped lower. The rate and costs are identical; the entitlement ceiling is what changes the outcome, which is why allowance checks come first in the planning order.

What fuel economy should I enter for a loaded rental truck?

Most loaded 22 to 26 foot trucks return 8 to 10 miles per gallon on the highway, and this planner defaults to 9. Mountain routes, headwinds, and summer air conditioning push toward the low end. Entering 8 instead of 10 on a long move adds a realistic fuel cushion to the plan.

Can retirees and separating members use a DITY move?

Members separating or retiring within their authorized move window can generally elect a PPM for their final move, subject to the time limits and rules in their orders. The planning math is the same: confirm the allowance and constructed cost, run the plan, and mind the deadline, because the entitlement expires even if the furniture has not moved.

Why does the planner ask for an other-costs figure instead of more fields?

Every move accumulates a different tail of expenses: storage, equipment, cleaning, hired help, insurance, extra lodging. One combined field keeps the planner fast while still forcing the honest total onto the page. Build the figure from your own checklist rather than entering zero, because the tail is where optimistic plans go to fail.

Check the allowance first, price the truck second, and iterate the plan until the profit survives a buffer day or two. That is the whole secret of a DITY move that pays.

Dity Move Calculator

Dity Move Calculator
Plan a complete Personally Procured Move (PPM). Check your weight allowance by rank and dependents, estimate the incentive, and total the real costs of doing it yourself.
Planning estimate only. Weight allowances follow the Joint Travel Regulations table in common use; your official allowance is confirmed by your transportation office and your orders. The incentive estimate applies the standard 95 percent PPM factor to the constructed cost of the weight you actually ship, capped at your allowance, and the incentive is taxable income. Certified empty and full weight tickets are required for payment.

Planning a DITY Move From Start to Settlement

A DITY move, formally a Personally Procured Move, is a project with a budget, a weight limit, a route, and a settlement at the end. The families who profit from one treat it that way from the first day. This planner walks the whole project in order: it starts with the weight allowance your rank and family status actually authorize, checks the load you intend to haul against that ceiling, builds the incentive from the government rate for your route, and then subtracts the rental, fuel, and daily costs that a real move accumulates. The output is a plan you can act on, not just a single number.

The order of operations matters. Weight comes first because it controls everything else: the truck size, the rate the government applies, and the point where extra pounds stop earning money. Only after the weight picture is clear does it make sense to price trucks and count rental days. Work through the sections below in that sequence, and use the calculator at each stage rather than waiting until the end, because a problem found at the allowance stage costs nothing and the same problem found at the scale house costs a fortune.

Weight Allowances by Rank and Dependents

Your authorized weight allowance comes from the Joint Travel Regulations and turns on two facts: your pay grade and whether you are moving with dependents. The table built into this calculator reflects the allowances in common use. An E-5, for example, is authorized 7,000 pounds without dependents and 9,000 pounds with dependents. Senior grades rise from there, with an E-9 at 13,000 or 15,000 pounds and officers ranging from 10,000 pounds for an O-1 without dependents up to 18,000 pounds for senior officers. Junior enlisted allowances are tighter, starting at 5,000 pounds, which is why young families feel the cap first.

Treat the allowance as a ceiling with money attached. The incentive is computed on your shipped weight only up to that ceiling. Every pound above it travels at your expense and earns nothing, and excess weight can also create liability if the government ends up shipping or storing what you could not move. Your orders and your transportation office confirm the official figure for your move, and where the table in this planner and your orders ever disagree, the orders govern. Some moves, such as certain overseas, unaccompanied, or first-duty-station situations, carry special limits that a general table cannot capture.

Building the Incentive Estimate

The government pays a PPM incentive built from the Government Constructed Cost: what it would have paid a contractor to move your weight over your route. This planner lets you express that as a rate per 100 pounds, often written as per cwt, for your lane. Multiply the paid weight, meaning the lesser of your actual weight and your allowance, by that rate and you have the constructed cost. The incentive is then generally 95 percent of the constructed cost. Your transportation office can quote the current estimated constructed cost for your move, and dividing that figure by your expected hundredweight gives you the rate to enter here.

Distance hides inside that rate, which is why a coast-to-coast move generates a far larger incentive than a move two states away at the same weight. When you compare plans, compare total incentive against total cost for the same route and the same paid weight, and be careful about one seductive error: adding weight you own but do not need, purely to raise the incentive. Extra weight only pays when it stays under the allowance, fits the truck you already rented, and costs less to haul than the rate it earns.

Costing the Move Day by Day

  • Rental total: rental days multiplied by the daily rate. Loading, driving, unloading, and a buffer day all count, so count them honestly.
  • Fuel total: distance divided by fuel economy, multiplied by the price per gallon. A loaded truck on hills in summer heat will not match the brochure figure.
  • Packing and protection: boxes, tape, pads, and mattress covers, plus a dolly or hand truck if the rental does not include one.
  • Road costs: lodging, meals, and tolls for each driving day, priced for your family size rather than for a solo driver.
  • Arrival costs: cleaning supplies, utility deposits are not moving costs, but a night or two of lodging while you wait for housing often is a real one.

The planner folds packing, lodging, meals, and other costs into one field so you can build the total from your own checklist. Families consistently undercount two lines: rental days, because loading a family home almost never fits the optimistic schedule, and road lodging, because a truck that averages 45 miles per hour turns a paper two-day drive into three. Add a buffer day to both lines before you trust the profit figure, and if the plan still profits with the buffer included, it is a plan worth executing.

How to Use This Planner

  1. Select your pay grade and dependent status, and note the allowance the planner reports before you enter anything else.
  2. Enter your best weight estimate, using a room-by-room count if you have one, and watch the allowance utilization figure.
  3. Enter the government rate per 100 pounds from your transportation office estimate, then your distance, rental days, daily rate, fuel figures, and remaining costs.
  4. Read the projected profit, fix the weakest line item, and rerun. Planning is iteration, and two or three passes through this page is normal.

If the utilization figure passes 100 percent, stop and solve that problem first. The planner will flag the excess and cap the paid weight, because the government pays nothing on the overage. Trimming a load usually starts with the heaviest low-value items: particle-board furniture, duplicate appliances, book collections, and garage equipment that would cost less to replace than to haul across three states at zero incentive.

Worked Example: An E-5 Family Move

Take an E-5 moving with dependents, which sets the allowance at 9,000 pounds. The family estimates 8,200 pounds of household goods, a utilization of 91.1 percent, comfortably inside the ceiling. Their transportation office figures work out to a rate of $128 per 100 pounds. The constructed cost on 82 hundredweight is $10,496, and the incentive at 95 percent is $9,971.20. Against that, the truck rents for 6 days at $310, a rental total of $1,860. The 1,600-mile drive at 9 miles per gallon and $3.60 per gallon costs $640 in fuel. Packing, lodging, meals, and other costs add $1,450. Total cost is $3,950, and the projected profit before tax is $6,021.20. Note how much room the plan carries: even two extra rental days at the same rate would still leave the family well ahead, which is exactly the kind of cushion a good plan should have.

The Moving Timeline That Protects the Profit

Profitable moves follow a calendar. Four to six weeks out: attend the PPM briefing, confirm the allowance and the constructed cost estimate, reserve the truck, and start the room-by-room purge. Two weeks out: buy packing supplies, confirm the certified scale locations at both ends, and reserve lodging for the driving days. Loading week: weigh the truck empty, load heavy and low, and weigh full before you leave the scale area. Travel days: keep every fuel and lodging receipt in one envelope. Arrival week: unload fast to stop the rental clock, weigh nothing out of order, and assemble the settlement packet while the move is still fresh in memory.

The scale tickets deserve their own sentence in every plan: empty weight before loading, full weight after loading, both from certified scales, both kept with the orders. The government pays on the difference between those two numbers, capped at your allowance, and no amount of careful estimating substitutes for the tickets at settlement. Photograph them the moment they print.

Partial Moves and Other Options

A planner should also price the exits. In a partial PPM, the government ships part of the load and you haul the rest, earning the incentive on your portion. For a family at 115 percent of allowance, splitting the load often beats trimming it in a panic. A full government move, the HHG shipment, costs you nothing out of pocket and none of your leave, and for very short routes or very tight timelines it is frequently the rational choice. The calculator does not judge; it prices. Run your full plan here, then run the partial version by reducing the weight and rental size to what you would haul yourself, and let the two profit figures argue it out.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the weight allowance for a DITY move determined?

The Joint Travel Regulations set the allowance by pay grade and dependent status at the time of the move. Junior enlisted members start at 5,000 pounds, mid-grade enlisted and officers range upward from there, and moving with dependents raises most allowances by 2,000 pounds or more. Your orders and transportation office confirm the official figure for your specific move.

What does the incentive in this planner represent?

It is an estimate of the Personally Procured Move incentive: generally 95 percent of the Government Constructed Cost of shipping your paid weight over your route. This planner builds it from the rate per 100 pounds you enter, multiplied by your paid weight in hundredweight, which is the same arithmetic your transportation office estimate is built on.

Where do I find the government rate per 100 pounds for my route?

Ask your transportation office for the estimated Government Constructed Cost of your move, then divide that figure by your expected weight in hundreds of pounds. If the office quotes a rate directly for your lane, use that. The rate already reflects your distance, which is why long moves generate larger incentives at the same weight.

What happens if my household goods weigh more than my allowance?

The incentive is paid only on weight up to the allowance. The planner caps paid weight at the ceiling and flags the excess, because overweight pounds cost you fuel and space and earn nothing. Trim the load, arrange a partial government shipment, or accept that the overage rides free for the government and at your expense.

How many rental days should I plan for a DITY move?

Count loading days, driving days, one unloading day, and at least one buffer day. A typical family move needs five to eight days total. Rental days are the most common budget failure in PPM planning, so build the schedule honestly here rather than discovering the extra days at the rental counter rate.

Does this planner include the tax on the incentive?

The projected profit shown is before tax, and the incentive itself is taxable income. Many families reserve roughly a fifth to a quarter of the profit for taxes when they plan. The companion profit-focused Dity Calculator on this site applies an explicit 22 percent reserve if you want the after-reserve figure.

What weight should I enter if I have not weighed anything yet?

Use a room-by-room estimate rather than a guess. Count beds, sofas, appliances, and boxes against standard average weights, the method used in the Dity Move Weight Calculator, and then add a margin, because estimates usually land low. Recheck the plan once you have a real scale ticket from a partial load or a prior move.

Can I do a partial DITY move and let the government ship the rest?

Yes. A partial PPM splits the shipment: the government moves part of your goods and you haul the remainder, earning the incentive on the weight you moved yourself. Model it here by entering only the weight, truck size, and days for your portion, and compare the result with the full self-move plan.

Are weight allowances different for overseas moves?

They can be. Overseas, unaccompanied baggage, and certain first-move situations carry special limits, and some locations restrict total shipment weight regardless of grade. This planner uses the standard stateside table; for an overseas assignment, confirm the controlling allowance with your transportation office before planning around any figure.

What documents do I need at settlement for a PPM?

Bring the orders, the PPM application and counseling paperwork, the certified empty and full weight tickets, the rental agreement, and receipts for operating expenses such as fuel and tolls. The weight tickets are the heart of the packet, because payment is computed from them, so obtain them from certified scales and keep them safe.

How far in advance should I reserve the rental truck?

Reserve as soon as your orders and dates are firm, especially for the May through August PCS peak, when one-way trucks sell out in popular origin cities and prices climb steeply. A reservation also locks the daily rate that this planner uses, turning your largest cost from a variable into a fixed number.

Does rank change the profit on the same move?

Indirectly, yes. A higher allowance raises the paid-weight ceiling, so a senior member hauling the same 12,000-pound household gets paid on more hundredweight than a junior member capped lower. The rate and costs are identical; the entitlement ceiling is what changes the outcome, which is why allowance checks come first in the planning order.

What fuel economy should I enter for a loaded rental truck?

Most loaded 22 to 26 foot trucks return 8 to 10 miles per gallon on the highway, and this planner defaults to 9. Mountain routes, headwinds, and summer air conditioning push toward the low end. Entering 8 instead of 10 on a long move adds a realistic fuel cushion to the plan.

Can retirees and separating members use a DITY move?

Members separating or retiring within their authorized move window can generally elect a PPM for their final move, subject to the time limits and rules in their orders. The planning math is the same: confirm the allowance and constructed cost, run the plan, and mind the deadline, because the entitlement expires even if the furniture has not moved.

Why does the planner ask for an other-costs figure instead of more fields?

Every move accumulates a different tail of expenses: storage, equipment, cleaning, hired help, insurance, extra lodging. One combined field keeps the planner fast while still forcing the honest total onto the page. Build the figure from your own checklist rather than entering zero, because the tail is where optimistic plans go to fail.

Check the allowance first, price the truck second, and iterate the plan until the profit survives a buffer day or two. That is the whole secret of a DITY move that pays.