Business Notes Moving

U-Haul customers in the oil-producing regions of Texas and Louisiana are understandably upset. In those areas, the price of renting a truck or trailer from the do-it-yourself moving company seems to have shot out of reason. It costs $2,009, for example, to hire a 24-ft. U-Haul truck for a move from Midland, Texas, to Jacksonville. A Florida resident can rent the same truck in the opposite direction for only $744.

The fallen price of petroleum, says an executive for Arizona-based U-Haul, has spawned an exodus from the oil towns and caused shortages of U-Haul equipment. In May and June, the company spent $114,000 to pay people to fly to Florida and drive back 450 trucks and 1,100 trailers to Houston and New Orleans. But many Texans still wait three weeks to get one of the costly U- Haul trucks.