Moving companies are bound by the delivery window as specified in their tariff (a tariff is just a list of charges that the moving company is bound to follow).

For those who don’t know: just because a moving company picks up your stuff doesn’t mean it will head straight to your new home.

Some companies will try to combine your shipment with other shipments going in the general direction as your move. And sometimes that means your goods go to a central transit center to be unloaded and stored until a moving van is headed in your general direction. Your items are then loaded onto this van and delivered.

Most moving companies try to avoid this because of the risk involved in damaging your goods because of extra handling. 

The delivery window is a crucial question to ask when choosing a moving company. If a mover is not willing to give you a delivery spread in writing, it should not be one that you move with because they're not committed to a time. (Conversely, if they seem to be overpromising on a delivery date, like giving you an exact date for delivery in a quick amount of time, that's also a warning sign.)

All that said, a mover can’t keep your stuff in storage waiting for a full truck if it means they go past the delivery window that is spelled out in their tariff (which should be reflected on your contract). If it goes past that window, the tariff will often spell out financial penalties that they owe you for hotel stays and the like.

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