I would put them back in, just make sure they can't move around and damage the dresser when things shift around. I just helped my daughter move with a U-haul for the upteenth time. This time she was in a hurry and they didn't have the cusioning blankets so we just used her stuff (blankets and throws) and moving paper to cushion things. Nothing broke or was scratched up.

Hired movers can add up. Make a list of heavy items. Make a list of what it would cost to just replace the items at the new home. Compare it to the cost of the moving help, especially if you are hiring on both sides, and add in planned tips. Realize that with traffic, bad weather, etc, additional hours might be needed. It might be less expensive to just buy new (of course, not if the furniture is antique or family heirloom where there are non financial reasons to keep it).

Use existing sheets and towels to wrap breakable items. Don’t forget to cushion the inside bottom and top of any boxes packed with breakable items.

Pack a separate “first night” box with paper towels, all-purpose cleaner (sealed in a plastic bag in case it leaks), box cutters, sheets, sleeping pillows, bath towels, toilet brush, toilet paper, a good knife for cutting food, a big spoon, some eating utensils and paper plates. You want to be able to eat, shower, sleep and clean surfaces without unpacking any of your other boxes. I’m assuming they are driving their car(s) to the new place, so the box can travel with them. If they are flying, they’ll want to adjust the list and pack the most essential and allowable items in a checked bag. Paying for a checked bag won’t cost much more than shipping these days.

If you have something really precious to you, hand carry it. Good luck to them! Hope all goes as smoothly as possible.

Generally, movers will want items to be as light as possible, so I suspect they will want you to empty the drawers. Again, clothes make good padding around fragile items and are cheaper than packing paper.

Great idea to do your own packing as packers will fill boxes with paper. They normally get paid by box count. Using soft things to pack with fragile takes up less space elsewhere. Run the idea of packed drawers by the loaders. They can decide. Asking never hurts. Be ready for them to not be on time. And I ditto the box with essentials. Add a first aid kit.

We kept items in our drawers our last move. Nothing breakable.

On the second to last move, my daughter hired movers for two hours to help with heavy items. Through the site she used, she couldn't hire for less than 2 hours. They were great and stayed a little longer. She tipped them good. I think most younger people do this these days than hire a company that costs a lot more and have a truck. She used a U-haul that time too.

Use blue painter’s tape to keep dresser drawers closed. Safe to pull off at the other end.

Dd, DH and I just jelped DGD move out of her college town apartment into a 10’ Uhaul. She has a job already in Kansas City and has an apartment leased but it won’t be available for a couple more weeks. So for now it's all in a storage room. She’s living temporarily with a relative.

Her dresser drawers were not removable (I know, right?), but we removed everything, moved the dresser into the van, then put most of the stuff back into the drawers.

Get lots of bubble wrap and especially the brown paper sheets for wrapping dishes & breakables.

Boxes are cheaper at Uhaul if you need to buy some.

Get some of that plastic cling film (we almost went thru a whole roll). It helps to wrap art work, small pieces of furniture, holds bubble wrap around pieces like a mirror and tvs better than packing tape. We made out own wrapping around pieces of art and the tvs using leftover boxes we had and then wrapping the film around those. Very secure.

She had 5-6 large vinyl tote bags (from Amz i think) that were very useful for random stuff like towels, sheets, and the few other things we could cram in those not breakable.

Come up with a plan for how you’re going to load & pack the moving van before you start. She had her own sofa, bed, dresser, 2 bar stools, small coffee table, 2 small-ish tvs, a small coffee bar and then various small and medium boxes. She had already taken most of her clothing in her car earlier. We loaded the mattress, headboard, and sofa first, then started putting boxes in back, leaving room for the dresser in the middle and the smaller items on top of it all last. We made it but barely.

Good luck!

I also was going to say put the dresser in the middle of the van. My GF hired movers to get them from BethPage NY to Phoenix AZ. The antique dresser they purchased from Christies arrived in pieces and her Portmerion dishes were stolen. DO NOT mark the boxes with the brand names...just put "dishes". Common sense, but ya just don't think about it when your in the moment.

Keep an eye on the folks loading the truck to be sure that they aren't just squeezing things in, but placing them with an eye to minimize vibration, movement, and friction against other things. There will be a lot of that in an interstate journey! You can place a double or triple layer of the good painter's tape over projections and corners to help protect those.

They don't always bother to use moving blankets, even when you've made them available - insist! In particular look for things that are just being set atop the rest of the load but not secured in any way.

A few larger bungee cords can help to secure things.

Stuff clothes or towels etc inside lamp shades then wrap with bubble wrap.

When we moved here, it was only a few blocks and we moved much of it ourselves. Hired a company to bring the heavier furniture, books (they offered to bring the boxes of books :))

They had big rolls of shrink wrap stretch and seal type plastic and wrapped each piece of furniture. Dressers with drawers still full included. Nothing became unfolded or displaced. Magic. There was no tape to stick or damage a surface and no exposed corners to get dinged through several layers of plastic wrap.

Later, when moving my mother from one senior facility to another with better medical oversight, we used the same method. Home Depot carried the wrap and a long handle with which to put it on - no tangles. Who knew. It was genius. My nephew became so adept at applying it and I'm still grateful at how helpful removing it!

ETA Should have added, BIL had an appliance store at one time and when he sold it 'the family' kept the hand trucks in more than once size so we had those for our convenience if they don't come with the rental truck. It's surprsing how many people have borrowed them over the years for a number of reasons.

When we've moved (with movers) the dressers were always full. I can't remember if they tied them or did something but the drawers were not emptied.

Also, if you are using wardrobe boes, you really just hand stuff on still on hangers.

You can also use tie down straps to secure drawers and cabinet doors and cushion them with fabric, rags, old towels, etc. - to keep the strapping from damaging surfaces.

This idea of moving dressers with the items still in them is very foreign to me. I think of the many cross country moves we did in the military and the several I did for college/first jobs/changing homes never once did we have anything in the dressers. Yes the drawers are moved in the dressers. You don't waste cargo space in a van they are safest in their dressers.

Check with the movers - it might save you time. The last time we moved we hired a local moving company and they said to leave the clothes in the dresser. It was a very heavy cherry triple dresser and It was amazing to watch these big guys carry it down a flight of stairs at my old home. Then in my new home they had to hoist it on it's end to turn the corner at the top of the stairs to get it into the guest room.

Morz, isn't that shrink wrap stuff great? I watched the pro moving guys use huge rolls of it when they moved my brother and sil a couple of years ago. (We were just helping them with small stuff and cleanup.) Nothing was damaged and those guys did a great job wrapping every piece of furniture.

If I have to move in the future IDK if I would take my cases of mason jars both empty and full with me, however most of them are stored in boxes on a wheeled wire shelf. If I were to plastic wrap the shelves so the boxed cases were secured, the entire shelf could be wheeled up a ramp into the truck.

Don’t empty drawers! Why make work?

Cover the contents with towels tucked over. Remove the drawers before the dresser is picked up. Follow the dresser to the moving van with the drawers and put them back in the dresser. When you get to the new house, carry the drawers into the new house and slide them into the dresser when it comes in.

littlebug, of course that is the perfect solution. However in our case the drawers were not removable, we had to take the items out (mostly tshirts and sweatshirts) and then put them back in after the dresser is loaded. I had no idea a dresser would be made that way. It is a modern design she ordered for her college apartment about 3 years ago thru a subsidiary of Wayfar that sells modern furniture.

When your help on this end was my DH and DGD’s boyfriend, we needed to minimize weight as much as possible even tho they are 2 strong men. Professional situation could be entirely different. I was assuming the OP is talking about preparing for a DIY move.

FWIW, IMPE, there's always a way to get drawers out - even when they seem fastened in.