PPM move: weight tickets, receipts and your inventory
The paperwork a PPM (the old DITY move) runs on, from weight tickets and receipts to the advance and closeout, plus why your own inventory matters more.
The BoxTrack team · · 6 min read
The truck was loaded by 9 p.m. Saturday, and the plan was to be on the road at six. Then someone asked whether they'd stopped at the scale on the way back from the rental lot. They hadn't. That empty weight ticket was the difference between getting paid for 7,000 pounds and arguing about it for weeks.
A personally procured move, or PPM (the move once called a DITY), can put money in your pocket. It also runs entirely on paper: tickets, receipts and forms that only you can collect. Here's what to keep, when to get it, and what happens if something breaks along the way.
How the money works
With a member-elected PPM, you move some or all of your household goods yourself, and the government pays you an incentive based on what it would have cost it to move the same weight. Military OneSource's PPM fact sheet puts it at 100 percent of the Government Constructed Cost (GCC), based on the weight you actually move and verify with weight tickets, up to your weight allowance. What you don't spend, you keep, minus taxes.
That rate has moved before. The Defense Department raised it to 130 percent for moves between May 15 and Sept. 30, 2025, as the Coast Guard announced. Ask your transportation office what applies to your move date rather than going by what a friend got.
Two things surprise people:
- The incentive is taxable. Air Force PPM guidance tells members to keep their receipts because the payment is taxable income, and your move costs offset the taxable part.
- Expenses aren't paid back dollar for dollar. Marine Corps guidance explains that operating expenses are used to reduce the tax on the incentive, not reimbursed on top of it.
Numbers to plan around
The weight tickets
Weight is the whole basis of the payment, so the tickets are the most important papers you'll carry.
- Get two per vehicle, per trip: one empty and one full, from a certified scale. Military OneSource says to get them for each segment of the move.
- Use installation scales when there's one nearby. The Marine Corps handout recommends them, and it notes that empty weight tickets have been required for every vehicle since the end of 2020.
- Check your service's rule. A Marine Corps checklist notes that the Navy has asked for three tickets (empty and full at origin, plus full at destination), while the Army and Air Force accept an empty and a full ticket from origin, destination or a mix.
If you hire a commercial mover for your PPM, Military OneSource says to confirm they'll give you weight tickets too. No tickets usually means no payment for that load.
The advance, and the clock it starts
An Advance Operating Allowance (AOA) is money up front, up to 60 percent of the government's cost, to cover the truck, fuel and supplies. It's useful, but it comes with strings:
- If your final incentive comes in lower than the advance, you owe the difference back.
- If you took an advance, the deadline to close out is short. Navy guidance gives 45 days from the move date; the Marine Corps handout gives 30 days from receiving the advance. If you miss it, Navy guidance says the advance can be collected from your pay.
Write the deadline down before you leave.
What to keep in the folder
Keep the originals and hand in copies, Military OneSource says, and keep every receipt. If one goes missing, you can submit a written explanation instead.
| What | Why it matters | When to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Orders and counseling paperwork | Starts the PPM in the system | Before you move anything |
| Empty and full weight tickets | Sets your payment | Each trip, each vehicle |
| Truck or trailer rental agreement | Proves the vehicle and dates | At pickup |
| Fuel, tolls, moving supplies, labor | Lowers the tax on the incentive | As you spend |
| Pro-gear weight, if any | Kept separate from your allowance | Before loading |
| Your own inventory and photos | Your record if something breaks | While you pack |
Your counselor will generate a checklist and an expense form during counseling. Closeout now happens online, and Navy guidance for MilMove says the system will prompt you to upload your weight tickets and receipts for each trip.
If something breaks, it's on you
This is the part people forget when they compare the PPM payment with a government move. When a moving company loses or breaks something, you can file a claim against the company. In a PPM, you're the mover. Marine Corps personal property guidance says plainly that the government won't pay claims for lost or damaged items in a PPM, because you're responsible for everything in it.
So the protection you get comes from your own preparation:
- Ask about coverage before you sign. Check what the truck rental's protection covers, and ask your renters or homeowners insurer whether your things are covered in transit.
- Photograph valuables and electronics before they're packed, with serial numbers where there are any. Our guide to photographing belongings for insurance covers it.
- Know what's in every box. If a box falls off a dolly, you want to know what was in it, not guess.
A PPM, start to finish
- After ordersBook counseling; ask about the advance and the deadline
- Before pickupPhotograph valuables; start your box list
- Truck dayEmpty weight ticket before loading
- LoadedFull weight ticket; keep fuel and toll receipts
- ArrivalDestination ticket if your service asks for one
- CloseoutUpload tickets and receipts before the deadline
Keep your own list
A PPM is also a chance to pack exactly the way you want, and to know where everything ended up. BoxTrack keeps that list. Make a box in the app for each carton, snap a photo of what goes in, and AI lists the items with an estimated value for you to check. Print a QR label for each box, and at the new place, scan a label to see what's inside without opening it. BoxTrack doesn't file anything with the military or replace your weight tickets; it's your own record. Start with the free PCS inventory checklist, or see how BoxTrack works for military moves. Your first box is free.
If you're splitting the move, with movers taking most of it and you taking the rest, read keeping your own PCS inventory and how the weight allowance works.
Sources
- Military OneSource, Personally procured moves fact sheet (March 2026)
- U.S. Coast Guard, Reimbursement rate for personally procured moves raised to 130%
- U.S. Air Force, Traditional personally procured move (PPM)
- U.S. Marine Corps, Conducting a personally procured move (handout)
- U.S. Marine Corps, Plan your PPM (June 2024)
- MCAS Miramar, PPM checklist and expense certification
- NAVSUP, Conducting a Navy personally procured move
- NAVSUP, PPM documents in MilMove (May 2025)
- U.S. Marine Corps, Personal property office handouts
This is general information, not official guidance or tax advice. PPM rules, rates and deadlines come from the Joint Travel Regulations and your service, and they change. Confirm them with your transportation office, and ask a tax professional about your own return.
