Do you tip for new furniture delivery?

[DLANGE3386]

tipping is out of control!!! do you tip your pharmacist who gives away free advice and encouragement all day long ?

 

[magiroux]

I always tip $10/pp for delivery of furniture/appliances, a little extra if they are setting up tables, beds or such.

 

[magiroux]

We tip furniture delivery guys; carpet guys; cable guys; blind installer guys; all the time - We always give them a cold drink - and if DH isn't home to do the tipping and I have to tip them (if its lunch time) I say, here, have lunch on us....or if its afterwork time - I tell them to get a couple beers on us.

The cable guy . My DH would have a fit if I did that.

 

[patsal]

Any time I have had furniture or appliances delivered I have offered a gratuity which has always been refused and cited as against company policy. In addition when we pick up our own furniture but have help loading it onto the truck we again have offered and been refused for the same reasons.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Let me clarify about tipping the cable guy - I had them out 3 separate times for new jacks to be put in and each and everytime - it was about a 2 hour job. that's why I tip him - we had an older home and I guess the bricks were just too much for his drill bits; one time the poor guy had to work on the floor of my closet - (I don't even go on the floor of my closet); so I felt a little something extra was needed. I didn't clear it out because he was supposed to go through the building - but once again, those darn bricks got in the way.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

I just got a new leather couch and loveseat (which we all LOVE) from IS Furniture. I did not tip the delivery guys as I paid seperately for delivery at the store. I did give them cold drinking waters and they were very happy to get them. Then, after they left, my DS, who graduates HS in 1 1/2 weeks, WOOOHOOO! (sorry just had to have that moment!), came home from school. 3 hours later, he went to get in his car and go to work and had a flat! Yes, the delivery guys had left 3, big furniture tacks in the drive and DS had one stuck in his tire! I called the store and the manager said to have the tire fixed and they would give us the money back. Now, I probably wouldn't have even said anything but DS had JUST bought these expensive tires. I did make certain that the delivery guys wouldn't have any problems with their job if I turned in a claim.

 

[swilshire]

OT a bit, but this thread reminded me. I bought a baby grand piano at an estate sale. My husband took one look at it and said "how do you plan to get it home?". I took that to mean that he didn't plan to throw it in the back of the pickup truck as I had envisioned.

He made several phone calls the next day and found a young man who sells, tunes and (thankfully) moves pianos. He was MUCH cheaper than anyone else we found.

The thing I was reminded of in reading this thread is how extremely CAREFUL he was in the other house and in ours. He even ask the person I bought it from to inspect her floors and her stairs outside after he had moved the piano out to make sure there was no damage of any sort.

We had him back a couple of weeks later to tune the instrument. (It had to sit in it's new climate for a while first.)

My 12yo (who got kicked out of piano lessons after three lessons by a teacher who said we were wasting her time and our money) is teaching himself to play and is just amazing on it. This was probably the best purchase I ever made at an estate sale.

Sheila

 

[PrincessMommyof2]

tipping is out of control!!! do you tip your pharmacist who gives away free advice and encouragement all day long ?

Okay, I'll be in the minority and agree with this. I'm not stingy, but it does seem that tipping is becoming expected. Just my opinion. *bracing myself for flameage*

 

[ckoncurat]

I tip $5-10 per delivery guy. And offer them a glass a water, bathroom, etc. This is HARD WORK, and they are doing me a personal service. JMHO

 

[MrsPete]

I had a leather sofa and loveseat delivered not too long ago. I paid 2K for the furniture, then I paid $80 to have them delivered to my house, which is less than TWO MILES away from the store. They didn't remove my old furniture or anything -- they JUST carried the two items into the house and removed the plastic wrap.

Before the furniture was delivered, I argued with myself: "$80 is outrageous for that distance." "No, the store charges that price -- not the delivery guys."

The delivery people definitely expected a tip: when they handed me the notebook to sign saying I'd received everything, there was a plastic page protector with cash stuck in it on the opposite side as a "reminder" to me. That cinched it -- no tip, though I did feel bad about it later.

 

[branv]

Though I am normally a very generous tipper, I used to buy into the concept of tipping deliverers but not anymore! If I am using whole house movers, as long as they're actually working, not messing around/wasting time/chipping my furniture, then I absolutely tip them (especially in TX in warm weather!). But generally I don't tip for regular furniture delivery for many reasons. First, I live in a one story house with a very short lawn. They have to carry a very short distance. I have never ordered anything my DH and I couldn't move ourselves if they'd let us (i.e. if we could pick it up at the warehouse or store, we would), so considering that, these items aren't too heavy...and plenty of times they have dollys to help them along. I also never let them set anything up, I prefer to do that myself and I always clear the area for them in advance. In addition, I never order "sets" so we're usually talking, at most, 2 pieces. I think it's bogus to tip someone for "not damaging" something - that's the worst thing I've ever heard. I have never been that thrilled with furniture companies and their moving companies: they tell you to wait at home from this time to this time (usually a 6 hour time frame), and I have yet to have had a delivery where they didn't show up at either the last minute, or at least an hour past the latest time (with no calls). Finally, When I've just paid $100 to have something delivered (forced to in, in fact, since most furniture stores have to "Send it from the warehouse") I've given my part to the movers (sorry if you don't get paid enough, take it up with your employer).

When did I stop tipping these people? The last three deliverys I've had were disasters (damaged goods, very late, rude, trying to hide damage). Each time I had cash in my pocket ready to give them, and I finally just said "no! they don't deserve it!" It's not that I'm punishing all future delivery people for this bad service, just that I admitted that I was tipping because I was supposed to rather then trusting in my own fair judgement on the matter. It's not like I'm absolutely, "no tips!" If they were to bring in, say, a big screen TV or high volume of products, or if I did have a difficult delivery area (2 stories, removing doors, etc) I would definitely reward that extra huff-n-puff factor. But I don't tip out of guilt anymore. When I finally gave myself permission to trust in my own conscience on these matters, it was wonderful. Next step: not feeling too guilty to send back under/overcooked food! It's a slow process...

 

[Amyg]

The last delivery I received was my new stove, we did not tip but my DH gave him a soda. I've never heard of anyone tipping for furniture delivery, I don't know about moving men though since that's usually a lot more stuff, maybe a nice thing to do.