FMCSA gives you a hard 180-day ceiling on storage-in-transit before a shipment legally converts to permanent storage and your carrier liability changes — and a specific, written four-part notice you owe the customer before that clock runs out (49 CFR 375.609). Miss that notice and your liability window automatically extends. Get the billing wrong and you're either eating warehouse costs or fighting a customer who thought "temporary storage" meant free. Here's how SIT actually works, what you're legally required to do, and how to price and track it so it doesn't quietly bleed margin.
What Is Storage in Transit, Exactly?
Storage in transit (SIT) is temporary warehouse storage you provide when a shipment can't go straight from truck to destination — the buyer's closing fell through, the new office isn't ready, a customer needs a gap between move-out and move-in. It's built into the same bill of lading as the transportation itself, not a separate storage contract, which is exactly why the rules around it are stricter than plain warehouse storage. The moment you place a shipment in SIT, you're still the party the customer's claims and liability run against — not a neutral warehouseman.
How Long Can You Legally Hold a Shipment in SIT?
For interstate moves, FMCSA's 2003 household goods rule set a 180-day ceiling on the total SIT period before a shipment's interstate character ends and it converts to permanent storage under state warehouse law (Federal Register, 68 FR 35064). Most tariffs set their own shorter standard period — 30 to 90 days is typical — with the option to extend up to that 180-day federal cap. Intrastate moves aren't bound by the federal rule at all; that's governed by your state's own tariff and your contract language, so don't assume the 180-day number travels across state lines. If you run both interstate and intrastate business, your SIT policy needs two versions.
What Notice Do You Legally Owe the Customer Before SIT Converts to Permanent Storage?
This is the part that gets skipped and turns into a liability dispute. Under 49 CFR 375.609, before the SIT period expires you must notify the customer in writing of four specific things: the date SIT converts to permanent storage, the existence of a nine-month window after that conversion during which the customer can still file loss/damage claims against you, the fact that your liability as the carrier is ending, and the fact that the goods become subject to the warehouseman's own rules and charges. That notice has to go out at least 10 days before the shorter of your tariff's standard SIT period or the 180-day federal maximum — or one day before expiration if you're holding goods for under 10 days. Skip the notice and your liability doesn't end on schedule: it automatically extends until the day after you actually do notify the customer. Keep a dated record of every notification; it's the one piece of paper that ends a "you never told me" dispute before it starts.
How Much Should You Charge for Storage in Transit?
Pricing splits into two common models. Interstate and long-distance SIT is usually charged per hundredweight (CWT) — a 10,000-lb shipment at $35/CWT runs $350 a month — with published tariffs typically landing in the $25-$60/CWT/month range. Local SIT is more often a flat monthly rate, commonly $50-$150 for an average household shipment. On top of the recurring storage charge, most movers apply a separate handling-in/handling-out fee (often $150-$500) each time goods move into or out of SIT — FMCSA's own consumer handbook defines this as the "Warehouse Handling Charge," a distinct accessorial charge layered on top of your linehaul charges, not folded into them. Bill it as its own line item — bundling it into the linehaul rate is how movers under-recover on long SIT holds.
Is Storage in Transit Taxable?
It depends on your state, and the answer isn't always "yes" or always "no." New York's tax authority, for example, treats SIT charges as incidental to the (untaxed) moving service and generally exempt from sales tax — as long as the storage is genuinely temporary, the mover stays liable for the goods, and the SIT charge doesn't exceed the transportation charge — while treating GENERAL (permanent) storage as fully taxable (NY Tax Bulletin ST-341). Other states draw this line differently. Don't assume your invoicing software's default tax setting is right for a SIT line item — check your own state's rule before you send the first storage invoice, and revisit it any time a shipment crosses from SIT into permanent storage mid-contract, since that's often the exact point the tax treatment flips.
Why Does SIT Billing Break Down When You're Running It on a Whiteboard?
None of the rules above are the hard part. The hard part is operational: SIT billing has a moving trigger date (the day goods enter storage), a moving deadline (10 days before conversion, or 180 days out, whichever is shorter), and a recurring monthly charge that has to hit the right customer at the right rate every cycle — for potentially dozens of shipments in storage at once, each on its own clock. Track that on a spreadsheet or a whiteboard grid and one of three things happens: a notice deadline gets missed and your liability window silently extends, a monthly bill goes out late or not at all, or a container's location and contents drift out of sync with what's actually on the shelf. Every one of those is a customer-trust problem before it's a compliance problem — see our guide on building customer trust for what that costs you downstream.
How Do You Bill Storage in Transit Without Losing Track?
Automated billing tied to each shipment's actual SIT start date is the fix — the system needs to generate the invoice on the anniversary of when goods entered storage, apply your rate per container or CWT automatically, and flag the 10-day notice deadline before you're at risk of it slipping. DriveSales' storage management feature does exactly this: every container gets tracked against a warehouse grid position, billing fires automatically on the customer's own storage anniversary at the rate you set, and the system surfaces upcoming conversion dates so the notice goes out before the deadline, not after. Standalone storage-billing software for movers typically runs $99-$299/month on its own; DriveSales bundles it with the rest of the CRM so a moving job that lands in SIT converts into a tracked storage account without re-entering a single line of inventory.
If you're already building estimates and invoices the right way — see our guides on creating a moving estimate and invoicing a moving job to get paid faster — SIT billing should plug into the same system, not live in a separate spreadsheet. A moving estimate that already accounts for a possible SIT period avoids the awkward mid-move conversation about a charge nobody priced in. And if you're still invoicing storage manually, our free invoice template at least keeps the line items consistent until you're ready to automate.
FAQ
How long can a moving company legally hold goods in storage-in-transit?
For interstate shipments, FMCSA sets a 180-day maximum total SIT period before the shipment converts to permanent storage under state warehouse law. Most carrier tariffs set a shorter standard period (commonly 30-90 days) with the option to extend up to the 180-day federal ceiling. Intrastate moves are governed by state tariff rules instead of the federal cap.
What written notice do I owe a customer before SIT converts to permanent storage?
Four items, in writing, at least 10 days before the shorter of your tariff's SIT period or the 180-day federal maximum: the conversion date, the 9-month post-conversion claims window, the fact your carrier liability is ending, and the fact the goods become subject to the warehouseman's rules and charges. Miss the deadline and your liability automatically extends until a day after you actually send notice.
Is storage in transit the same thing as permanent storage for billing and tax purposes?
No. SIT is temporary storage incidental to an active moving contract, and several states (New York among them) tax it differently than general/permanent storage — SIT is often treated as exempt if it's genuinely temporary and priced under the transportation charge, while permanent storage is taxable. Check your specific state; don't assume either treatment by default.
How much does storage-in-transit typically cost a customer?
Interstate SIT is commonly billed per hundredweight, roughly $25-$60/CWT per month, so a 10,000-lb shipment runs about $250-$600/month. Local SIT is more often a flat monthly rate of $50-$150. Most movers also charge a separate handling-in/handling-out fee of $150-$500 each time goods move into or out of storage.
What's the biggest operational risk with SIT if I'm not using dedicated software?
Missing the 10-day notice deadline before conversion to permanent storage. It's a hard legal trigger with a specific written-notice requirement, and it's easy to lose track of on a spreadsheet when you have multiple shipments each on a different SIT clock. Automated billing and notice-deadline tracking (like DriveSales' storage management feature) removes the manual step where that deadline gets missed.
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*SIT is one more moving part that either runs itself or runs you. Book a DriveSales demo and see how storage management, billing, and the rest of your operation live in one system instead of a warehouse whiteboard and a separate invoicing spreadsheet.*
