Overview: the job
U Storage will run a one-day, full-service move-in for 2,400 students across IU Indianapolis's four residential communities (University Tower, North Hall, Ball Hall, and Riverwalk Apartments) on Saturday, August 14, with all four operating simultaneously from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Families arrive by scheduled window: top floors first in the halls, building by building at Riverwalk. A crew of 70 professional U Storage movers runs the operation end to end, with U Storage supplying all personnel and equipment; no university volunteers or bins are required.
The schedules in this proposal are built on 2,400 beds: Ball Hall (325) and North Hall (about 600) per IU Indianapolis housing's published figures, Riverwalk (776) per the housing diagram, and University Tower (699) as the balance. All counts are pending confirmed occupancy from IU Indianapolis housing; the schedule structure does not change either way.
The plan keeps IU Indianapolis's existing arrival flow: families check in at the Campus Center, then follow their unloading pass to their community's drop-off. From there U Storage takes over, and the family heads to long-term parking.
The item chain, car to room:
Arrive & drop off
Red-route to the building's own lot. Two cars per station.
Into SpeedPacks
Two packs per car, tagged with name, hall, floor, room. Car heads to parking.
Staged by floor
Packs line up in the lot's staging rows, sorted by floor.
Train to the hall
Runners wheel a 4–6 pack train to the elevator queue.
Up the elevator
The operator runs it nonstop to the active floor.
Placed in the room
Floor captain + unpackers set items in the room.
Site-wide the schedule delivers roughly 300 cars per hour, a steady, sustainable pace for the full eight hours with no mid-day spike. The working chain moves a student's belongings from the car to the room in about 30 minutes; a family's own walk on move-in day (parking, key pickup, reaching the floor) typically takes 15 to 20 minutes, so belongings arrive at the room within minutes of the family. Just as important, this lets each family settle in at their own pace: once the belongings are in the room, unpacking happens on the family's schedule, not the operation's.
Self-move window, 4:00–6:00 PM. Students who elect to move their own belongings get a dedicated two-hour window at the end of the day. U Storage operations are wrapped by 4:00, so self-movers never compete with our crews (or vice versa) for elevators, docks, or curb space.
Two sides of campus, running at the same time
The operation is split into an East zone and a West zone, matching IU Indianapolis's own move-in geography and long-term parking: University Tower and North Hall on the east (Lot 71), Ball Hall and Riverwalk on the west (Lot 63). Every community has its own drop-off and staging area, built on the unloading points IU Indianapolis already uses. Both zones run all day. Staging locations are subject to IU Indianapolis approval.
| Zone | Communities served | Students | Stations | Cars / hour | Staging & drop-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | University Tower, North Hall | 1,299 | 9 | ~162 | Tower: north circle drive via Blake St. and North St. North Hall: Lot 69 via Blackford St. |
| West | Ball Hall, Riverwalk Apartments | 1,101 | 9 | ~138 | Ball Hall: front drive via Riley Hospital Dr. Riverwalk: the five Riverwalk unloading zones. |
Communities and arrival windows occupancy pending IU Indianapolis
The three halls work top-down, one floor at a time, and families receive the arrival window for their student's floor. Riverwalk works building by building, two or three of its nine buildings per window. Floor counts are placeholders (four floors assumed at Ball Hall, five at North Hall, five floor groups at University Tower) and per-floor splits are even until IU Indianapolis housing confirms actual occupancy; the schedule structure does not change either way.
| Community | Zone | Students | Floors / buildings | Stations | Arrival windows (top floor first) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University Tower | East | 699 | Floors to be confirmed | 5 | 90-min windows by floor group, top first: G5 8:00, G4 9:30, G3 11:00, G2 12:30, G1 2:00 |
| North Hall | East | 600 | 5 (to be confirmed) | 4 | 90-min windows: F5 8:00, F4 9:30, F3 11:00, F2 12:30, F1 2:00 |
| Ball Hall | West | 325 | 4 (to be confirmed) | 3 | 2-hour windows: F4 8–10, F3 10–12, F2 12–2, F1 2–4 |
| Riverwalk Apartments | West | 776 | 9 buildings (A–H, J) | 6 | 2-hour windows by building: D + E 8–10, B + F 10–12, G + H + J 12–2, A + C 2–4 |
Why top-down: elevators do their hardest work early in the day while crews are fresh, U Storage movers can flex ground-floor deliveries to the stairs late in the day, and every student on a floor moves in with their floor community.
Click any community name above to open its hour-by-hour rate plan.
Rate plan, hour by hour
Families never wait at the curb: every community's drop-off runs ahead of its arrival schedule. The table below shows each hour's arrivals and when belongings reach the room. For reference, a family's own walk on move-in day — parking, key pickup, reaching the floor — typically takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Timeline: August 13–14
Friday, August 13 · Pre-planning session and BBQ
Hosted by U Storage the evening before move-in. All 70 movers and IU Indianapolis housing staff are invited. The whole crew is in the room for the walkthrough and role assignments. Everyone leaves knowing their role, their captain, and their station or community.
6:00 PM
Welcome and big-picture walkthrough. Site Lead presents the day: the car-to-room chain, both zones, the community schedule.
6:20 PM
Role assignments. Vests and radios handed out on the spot.
6:45 PM
Team breakouts. Each captain huddles with their crew and walks their piece of the chain.
7:10 PM
Captains-only close. Site Lead, captains, and the IU Indianapolis coordinator run the timeline once more and exchange cell numbers.
7:30 PM
BBQ dinner, hosted by U Storage. Closes the evening after all assignments are set.
Saturday, August 14 · Move-in day
7:00 AM
Crew call. Stations set, staging grids laid out, SpeedPacks positioned, signage up in both zones.
7:30 AM
Captains' final huddle. Crews report to their zones.
8:00 AM
Gates open. The first window at all four communities begins arriving.
8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Continuous operations. All four communities at once, window by window, per the arrival schedule.
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Staggered 30-minute breaks. Floaters and captains cover so no chain ever goes dark.
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Final sweep and SpeedPack count, at the staging lots. Crews are clear of the buildings by 4:00. All SpeedPacks load back on the trucks.
4:00 – 6:00 PM
Self-move window. Students moving their own belongings get the buildings, elevators, and docks to themselves for two hours. No competition with U Storage crews in either direction.
Staffing: 70 U Storage movers
U Storage's 70 professional movers run the complete car-to-room operation and hold every role, from the curb to the room door. No university volunteers are required. The university's own move-in programs (check-in, campus wayfinding, family events) remain under IU Indianapolis's direction.
U Storage: 70 professional movers
| Role | East | West | Total | Job description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car unpackers | 5 | 5 | 10 | Work the drop-off stations; empty each car into SpeedPacks with the family handing items from their own vehicle. |
| Runners, car to staging | 2 | 2 | 4 | Wheel loaded, tagged SpeedPacks from the stations to the staging area. |
| Staging captains | 1 | 1 | 2 | Run the staging grid: keep packs sorted by community and floor or building, dispatch outbound runners, receive empties back into service. Responsible for all pack flow in their zone. |
| Runners, staging to building | 8 | 6 | 14 | SpeedPack trains from staging to the elevator queue or building door: four each at University Tower, North Hall, and Riverwalk, two at Ball Hall. |
| Elevator operators | 4 | 1 | 5 | Two each at University Tower and North Hall, one at Ball Hall. Operates the reserved elevator and manages the hall's intake queue. |
| Riverwalk building team | 0 | 4 | 4 | Moves packs from the building door to the apartment floors in the two or three Riverwalk buildings active in each window, by elevator or stairs. |
| Floor runners | 4 | 3 | 7 | One per floor crew. Elevator or stair landing to the room door on the active floor. |
| Floor captains | 4 | 3 | 7 | Two each at University Tower, North Hall, and Riverwalk, one at Ball Hall. Leads the active floor or building: verifies each pack's tag against the room roster, directs placement, and coordinates the full delivery chain. |
| Unpackers | 8 | 6 | 14 | Two per floor captain. Place items in the room and release the empty pack back downstairs. |
| Empty-pack returns | 2 | 1 | 3 | Cycle empty SpeedPacks back to the staging rows so stations never wait on a pack. |
| Total | 38 | 32 | 70 |
Chain of command
-
Site Lead (U Storage) runs the day.
- Staging captains (one per zone) supervise the car unpackers and both runner groups in their zone.
- Floor captains (one per floor crew or active Riverwalk building) supervise their elevator operator or building team, floor runner, and unpackers.
Student belongings tracking
Every student is tracked on a branded U Storage mobile app, listed by building and floor, and moved through four stages: initial pickup, items in bin(s) with SpeedPack numbers, items in staging, and items in room. The family receives a text message at each step (SMS preferred, email available).
Roster by building and floor. Every student, grouped the way the day runs, with a live status chip.
One student, one tap per stage. Bin numbers captured at the car; each stage stamps the time and texts the family.
What the family sees. A text at every step, ending with delivery confirmation to the room.
Chain of custody: every pack, accounted for at every moment
A SpeedPack is never in limbo. From the moment items leave the car, each pack is logged to a place and a person, and every handoff is recorded in the app. At any moment of the day, the answer to “where are this student's things?” is one lookup: the pack's last custody point and who holds it.
| Custody point | Who logs it | What is recorded | Family sees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Station check-in | Check-in tagger | Student name, room assignment, family cell number, arrival time, station number. | SMS: crew has met you, unloading now. |
| 2. Packed & tagged | Station mover | Pack numbers tied to the student; tag carries name, hall, floor, room in weatherproof marker. | SMS with their pack numbers. |
| 3. Staging intake | Staging captain | Packs logged into the building's floor row; custody passes from curb to staging. | SMS: items staged for the hall. |
| 4. Train dispatch | Runner | Packs logged out of staging onto a named runner's train; custody rides with the runner to the elevator queue. | — |
| 5. Room delivery | Floor captain | Tag checked against the floor roster at the door; items placed; stage marked In Room with a timestamp. | SMS: delivery confirmed to the room. |
| 6. Pack return | Staging captain | Tag pulled and retired; empty pack logged back into service. | — |
The custody rule: No pack moves between areas without a log entry, and no pack sits anywhere without belonging to a logged location: a station, a staging row, a named runner's train, or a floor. The app's roster view doubles as the live audit: every student's packs, their current custody point, and the timestamp of every handoff.
If something is off: Any crew member who finds a discrepancy at a custody point (damaged item, tag mismatch, missing pack) flags it in the app on the spot with a photo. The Site Lead is notified immediately and owns the resolution with the family before end of day. Because every pack has a numbered trail, a search means retracing at most one handoff, not searching a campus.
Proposed pricing
The rate reflects a fully U Storage-staffed and -equipped operation: IU Indianapolis is not asked to provide volunteers or moving bins. The final per-student rate within this range is set in the service agreement once the building roster and scope are confirmed.
Billing is per student served at the agreed rate, with a 1,500-student minimum. Every student served above 1,500 is invoiced on a per-student basis. The tracking app records every student moved through the four custody stages, so the final count is auditable to the room and the minute.
Included in the rate
- 70 professional U Storage movers and full site leadership for the entire operating day, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
- All equipment: 550 SpeedPacks and ~350 dollies.
- The August 13 pre-planning session and crew BBQ, hosted by U Storage.
Access needed from the university
- Room access. U Storage floor captains are provided access keys (or card access) to unlock student rooms ahead of each floor's arrival window, so belongings are placed before the student and family arrive. Every room entry is tied to a named floor captain and logged in the tracking system.
- Reserved elevators. Reserved for U Storage from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and run by our operators: two elevators each at University Tower and North Hall, and one at Ball Hall. At Riverwalk, building access for the buildings active in each window.
- Facility access per this plan: the existing unloading points at each community, an adjacent staging area at each, and the posted arrival routes.
All figures on this page are planning estimates for discussion. Actual pricing, terms, and commitments are established solely in the executed service agreement between U Storage and IU Indianapolis.
Open items
- Move-in schedule. This proposal moves all four communities on Saturday, August 14. IU Indianapolis's fall 2026 move-in ran over three days by class standing; confirm which populations move on August 14.
- Occupancy by community, floor, and building. Confirm bed counts for University Tower and Riverwalk, floor counts for the three halls, and per-floor and per-building occupancy. Current splits are placeholders.
- Staging areas and routes. IU Indianapolis approval of a staging area beside each community's unloading point, and of the Riverwalk unloading-zone assignments. The interactive map will be updated once finalized.
- Reserved elevators. Confirm elevator counts. U Storage requests two reserved elevators each at University Tower and North Hall and one at Ball Hall, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and confirmation of elevator or stair access in each Riverwalk building.
- Room access. Confirm how floor captains receive CrimsonCard or key access ahead of each arrival window.