What movers will not move
The refusals are not arbitrary. Almost all of them come down to one of three things: the item can catch fire, it can ruin everything else in the truck, or it is alive. Knowing which category applies tells you what to do with it instead.
Anything that can ignite or leak
This is the largest category and the least negotiable. A moving truck is a sealed metal box that sits in the sun, and a single leaking container can write off an entire load.
Propane tanks are the one that catches people out, because the grill is coming and the tank is attached to it. Disconnect it and take it separately, or leave it. Gas in a mower or a string trimmer needs draining before the machine goes on the truck.
- Propane and other pressurised gas cylinders
- Gasoline, diesel, kerosene, lighter fluid and paint thinner
- Paint, including part-used tins
- Aerosols, from spray paint to hairspray
- Pool chemicals, fertiliser and weedkiller
- Car batteries, and loose lithium batteries in bulk
- Fireworks and ammunition
Living things
Pets travel with you, not in the truck, which most people already know. Plants are the surprise. Many companies will not take houseplants, and the ones that will usually decline any liability, because an unlit truck in an Iowa August or an Iowa January is not survivable for most of them.
For a local move within the metro, plants in your own car is the simple answer. For anything longer, assume they are not going and either rehome them or accept the risk knowingly rather than discovering the policy on the day.
Things you should not let out of your sight
Cash, jewelry, passports, deeds, medication and small irreplaceable items are usually declined, and where they are not, they should still travel with you. This is less about trust than about how a move works: dozens of boxes moving quickly between two buildings is simply the wrong environment for the things you cannot replace.
Firearms are a separate case with their own handling rules and are worth raising directly when you book rather than assuming either way.
The stuff that is not coming anyway
The other half of this conversation is the pile you already know you do not want: the sofa that will not fit the new lounge, the exercise bike, the contents of a garage that has been accumulating for a decade.
That does not have to become your problem on move day. Cleanouts and junk removal can run alongside a move or ahead of it, and doing it first means the crew is not carrying things to a truck so they can be carried off it again and thrown away.