Tipping Guidelines: Movers

[prubin]

We will be moving cross country. The packing and loading at point of origin will require shuttling our stuff in a small truck to the cross country van, we live on a narrow street with poor access. The receiving end should be straight forward.

I assume the crews at both origin and destination expect to be tipped and I always tip for good service. My questions is how determined the about of the tip, i.e., fixed amount per person, % of moving charge or ...?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Ive never heard of tipping movers.

 

[frayne]

I have tipped movers as well as bought them lunch. Always got good service on both ends.

 

[Buckeye]

We always feed and tip our movers and packers. I think we gave the packers about $40 each for two days work. I think we gave the movers $50 each.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Yup, good idea to tip. FWIW, we have been in the range of $20 each for a full house move, maybe $50 for the driver/owner. Seems to be a bag of Big Macs went a long way, too -- at the departure place especially. That was 7 years ago.

 

[CuppaJoe]

The two guys looked like they were let out of jail for the day. I paid the whole bill in cash as they politely requested and tipped 20% cash, handing it to each of them separately because I didn't trust one to split with the other. My move was only cross town, but, hey, they know where I live. I also gave them as much Snapple and water as they could drink.

 

[bbbamI]

The last time we had professional movers (15 years ago), we tipped the driver $50 and the other two guys $20 each. We put the cash in sealed envelopes and handed them to each guy. We also provided drinks.

 

[samclem]

We generally supplied pizza and drinks on the move-in/move-out day, and tipped the guys who moved the stuff 20-40 bucks each (depending on how long the day was). I don't think we tipped the packers or the van driver.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I learned something new today. The next time I move. Tip the movers.

Ok why do you tip the movers?

 

[prubin]

I learned something new today. The next time I move. Tip the movers.

Ok why do you tip the movers?

Like it or not in our society, at least where I have lived, employees who are service providers depend on tipsmfor a portion of their. I tip wait staff in restaurants, the guy who cuts my hair etc. Tipping is to show appreciation for good service. My preference would be to have employers pay their employees directly and factor this into the price. BTW, I ignore tip jars at cash registers in retail stores.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I learned something new today. The next time I move. Tip the movers.

Ok why do you tip the movers?

So the movers don't tip your stuff onto the street.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

So the movers don't tip your stuff onto the street.

I never dealt with a moving company that would work like this. I supposed if I picked vinnie and larry off the street...perhaps.

 

[freebird5825]

Never used professional movers for any move. The trick used to be to round up a bunch of friends and have plenty of food and beverages on hand.
I agree with the majority of posters - liberally feed and water these hardworking folks. Tips just sweeten the deal and could bring an extra special treat for their families that night.
Some other tips: Try to stay out from underfoot. If you have something really fragile or highly personal and irreplacable, pack it yourself and keep it out of sight from the movers. A friend of mine lost all her childhood and wedding photos and HS yearbook in a move. The box just got lost in the hubbub.

 

[Walt34]

Never used professional movers for any move. The trick used to be to round up a bunch of friends and have plenty of food and beverages on hand.

That's the way we always did it until the last move. By then everybody was in their 50's or better and had various sore knees, shoulders, etc. so we packed and moved everything that DW and I could carry and would fit in a pickup truck, and hired movers to move the heavy stuff.

BTW, we also learned that the beer is only served at the receiving end. Don't ask how we know that.

 

[KB]

This thread is perfect timing for me. I'm moving cross country; actually the movers packed up my stuff on Wednesday and it's on it's way to Florida. I had thought about tipping at delivery....just wasn't sure whether it was done or how much to tip.

There will be 2 guys that loaded and drove the van and a 2 man shuttle team at the other end (new house is on a dirt road that the big truck can't access). I was thinking of tipping the truck owner/driver $100 and letting him share with his co-driver.

Do you think I should plan on tipping the shuttle team at delivery too? I will offer cold water too.

BTW, the move is costing $6600 before tipping.

 

[Moemg]

There will be 2 guys that loaded and drove the van and a 2 man shuttle team at the other end (new house is on a dirt road that the big truck can't access). I was thinking of tipping the truck owner/driver $100 and letting him share with his co-driver.

Do you think I should plan on tipping the shuttle team at delivery too? I will offer cold water too.

BTW, the move is costing $6600 before tipping.

I think I would give the driver & co driver $25-$50 each and maybe a small tip for the shuttle guys .

 

[DangerMouse]

I always tip the movers. On our recent move I tipped $50 per person. I know the company charged DH's employer $7500 for the move, but the way I see it, the guys who actually did the work probably made not much more than minimum wage.

The reason why I tip so much is because what they are doing is hard work. If I'm expected to tip someone 15%+ for taking a food order and delivering it to my table - a service which probably involves not much more than 5 minutes of their time - why would I not give a tip to someone I am entrusting with my worldly goods and who is spending 7+ hours of their day on the task.

At the moment I am trying to be more generous with my tips for those at the lower end of the food chain. You can see so many people suffering with layoffs and not enough money to go around, I have become more conscious that the $100 bucks we might spend going out for dinner probably means a lot more to some others in the world that we encounter on a daily basis.

 

[haha]

BTW, the move is costing $6600 before tipping.

That sounds like an excellent price unless you are just moving a very small amount of stuff. They packed it too?

Ha

 

[CuppaJoe]

....
Some other tips: Try to stay out from underfoot. If you have something really fragile or highly personal and irreplacable, pack it yourself and keep it out of sight from the movers. A friend of mine lost all her childhood and wedding photos and HS yearbook in a move. The box just got lost in the hubbub.

Hubbub is the word. But you do have to check around. When my company moved, I found something left behind on the street near the loading dock.

 

[KB]

That sounds like an excellent price unless you are just moving a very small amount of stuff. They packed it too?

Ha

No, I packed it. It should be about 10,000 lbs of household stuff. Since I'm leaving my son and his friend renting my house, I'm only moving a freezer and roughly a two bedroom house to the new house. I do have a lot of gardening tools and equipment that are moving too, though. It came to 235 items shipped.

 

[prubin]

Update

The owner of the moving company came by this afternoon for walk through. I asked him about tipping and he said that $20/day for each worker is a good tip for good service.

 

[W2R]

Sounds reasonable to me, prubin.

I usually tip, and I give the entire tip to the moving team lead while they are bringing things from the truck into the destination home. I tell him in front of the other movers that this is for all of them and to split the tip fairly between them all. Perhaps I should have gone to each individually. For three movers and one lead mover doing an excellent job I tipped $100 last time, and I do not tip lavishly.

 

[KB]

My load had to be switched into a local U-haul truck since the road was impassable for a large moving van. I ended up tipping the driver/owner and his helper $100, and the local helper $40. They all seemed happy with the $$. I was happy with the move.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Tipping movers

At the moment I am trying to be more generous with my tips for those at the lower end of the food chain. You can see so many people suffering with layoffs and not enough money to go around, I have become more conscious that the $100 bucks we might spend going out for dinner probably means a lot more to some others in the world that we encounter on a daily basis.

I agree wholeheartedly. I am tipping more than usual when I go out due to the economy. I have always tipped the movers. On my most recent move about 6 years ago, I tipped each of the three movers $50.00 and gave one my old washer and dryer to boot as I had new ones on order. It was a move that was completed in a day and was only 20 miles from my old house. However, it was hot and they worked hard and I was ecstatic to be in my new digs. Friends offered to help but I didn't want anyone's 50 year old husband throwing his back out.