Do you tip long distance movers?

[Heidict]

So, let me get this straight. You have to pay thousands to hire the movers, maybe hundreds depending on the amount of stuff and the distance. On top of that everyone is saying that you should buy them lunch, drinks and tip on top of it?

Seriously? Why would it be my responsibility to buy them lunch? Just sounds so bizarre to me and it seems like its the norm, based on on the above posts.

 

[dish rag]

So, let me get this straight. You have to pay thousands to hire the movers, maybe hundreds depending on the amount of stuff and the distance. On top of that everyone is saying that you should buy them lunch, drinks and tip on top of it?

Seriously? Why would it be my responsibility to buy them lunch? Just sounds so bizarre to me and it seems like its the norm, based on on the above posts.

I haven't read where anyone said it was a responsibility, but it is customery and a nice gesture, that's miserable work that no one wants to do. I've been around the bliock a few times in my life, met lots of people. Some poor, some famous, some extremely wealthy. The one constant that I have noticed is that generous tippers are much happier people.

 

[DawnM]

I still feel bad that I didn't last time we used movers. I didn't know I was supposed to! If I could find those guys today I would tip them.

 

[Heidict]

I haven't read where anyone said it was a responsibility, but it is customery and a nice gesture, that's miserable work that no one wants to do. I've been around the bliock a few times in my life, met lots of people. Some poor, some famous, some extremely wealthy. The one constant that I have noticed is that generous tippers are much happier people.

Your right, it's not a responsibility but it sure seems like it's expected. Aside from buying pizza and beer for friends / family that are doing it for free, I would not be running around buying lunch for the people I am paying thousands of dollars to.

Tipping is optional, based on service. Same as in a restaurant. I have tipped guys delivering furniture before and there were others I didn't tip.

 

[traviesojmt]

In our experience, the packers, loaders and unloaders tend to be locally subcontracted workers. Only the driver travels. I believe that in the military community, it is pretty standard to provide water and lunch. i will say that the quality of lunch provided in no way correlates with how much of our stuff gets broken/lost in transit. Lol. We still provide lunch though.

 

[sonnyjane]

I haven't read where anyone said it was a responsibility, but it is customary and a nice gesture, that's miserable work that no one wants to do. I've been around the bliock a few times in my life, met lots of people. Some poor, some famous, some extremely wealthy. The one constant that I have noticed is that generous tippers are much happier people.

It might be miserable work, but clearly it IS something that someone wants to do, because they do it. When we moved this most recent time, the movers were actually trying to recruit my DH because he said he was going to be retiring from the military. They told us what they make... they aren't that "miserable"...

 

[Tink_83]

We don't provide lunch, we do typically have gator aid and water. We typically tip them because it is hot and exhausting work and the workers themselves don't make that much. We also tip on each end. The one time we didn't tip the guys were SLOW and I mean we had already moved like 5 times (we keep moving for some reason, just bought a house so hoping this is the last move for a while) anyway during that move I was pregnant and started lifting boxes to get them moving faster; didn't help. And I was over 1/2 through the pregnancy and definitely showing at that point. Anyway, they took an "extra hour" and so we paid for that but then they were like what about the tip and which point we explained that they had all the cash and they could either let their employer know they took an extra hour or keep it... And we left a bad review. Ugh, I'm pregnant for this move as well and hoping that we won't have the same problem!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

In our experience, the packers, loaders and unloaders tend to be locally subcontracted workers. Only the driver travels. I believe that in the military community, it is pretty standard to provide water and lunch. i will say that the quality of lunch provided in no way correlates with how much of our stuff gets broken/lost in transit. Lol. We still provide lunch though.

But in the military doesn't the military pay your moving expenses? My BFF has been in 15 years and she has never paid a mover. So you are only OOP water and lunch.

 

[traviesojmt]

But in the military doesn't the military pay your moving expenses? My BFF has been in 15 years and she has never paid a mover. So you are only OOP water and lunch.

You are correct. The military pays the movers directly, typically by weight. Which is why, even my tennis shoes gets wrapped in layers and layers and layers of paper. Lol.

 

[Pipkin]

Only if we ask them to do something outside of the scope of the agreement.

 

[Valorie S. Harvey]

We are moving our home in a month. Someone suggested that we should tip the movers after unloading. Is this tipping normal?

I don't know if it is a good process. But when we are usually happy with someone's service, tipping is normal. Last week, my friend took help from a long distance mover in Canada. He was so happy with their service. In fact, I write this message because he told me how they helped him in relocating everything with such great care. He did not tell me anything about tipping.

Anyways, if you feel satisfied with their services, give them a tip. It makes someone happy, eh.

 

[Poohforyou]

I've only moved short distances and have always tipped. Not a ton, but enough for the guys to go get pizza and beer after, or whatever. Of course I've also had cold drinks for them as well.

My mom moved from Florida too nj last year and the same guys loaded and unloaded the truck.

 

[firecracker725]

Nope. When we moved this past July, we had 15 men show up to load. They provided their own water and took a lunch break, so they didn't even need my snacks and gatorade.

O/T: Tipping is truly out of control. The girl at the cupcake shop pointed out the tip line the other day when I went to pay. Seriously? She literally put my two $4 (each!) cupcakes in a paper bowl and handed them to me.

 

[Tinfolio]

I've always thought you were supposed to tip movers, but you don't have to feed them. Of course, it's nice if you do. As for how much to tip them this article explains the arguments on both sides and gives some suggestions ($10 for half $20 for full day). Sounds about right with what I've tipped in the past.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Yes, we moved from NW Louisiana to SW Florida and tipped at both ends. At the loading end, they worked for two days getting all the stuff loaded and they had to move the furniture from one truck to a storage facility and then get a bigger truck to finish loading. We tipped them $500 to be split four ways. At the unloading, they were done in about six hours and we tipped them $300 split two ways. We did provide lunch for the two days they loaded the truck. We had a refrigerator loaded with bottled water and sodas for both ends.

At both ends, the guys worked their butts off. And our belongings arrived in relatively good condition.

 

[scrhsa]

Do you mean before or after they lose and damage my things?

After many moves (military) I've never been happy with movers enough to think they deserved a tip, and I'm a generous tipper.

We did have Gatorade and water for them.

This!!! On one of our moves they boxed up our bathroom and kitchen garbage cans WITH the garbage in it!!!!

 

[North of Mouse]

We are moving our home in a month. Someone suggested that we should tip the movers after unloading. Is this tipping normal?

Nope, not us. We were moved many times over the years with job transfers paid by dh's company, but to my knowledge, no kind of tipping was ever suggested or done.

On one of our moves, our bathroom trashcans (with trash) was packed! Also, each and every shoe was wrapped separately!! We had a great laugh over that. They also unpacked everything that we wanted them to. Lots and lots of paper used!!

 

[Micca]

We've been moved long distances by professional movers many times over the years. This goes all the way back to the 70s when tipping wasn't expected by as many professions as it is now, so we didn't tip until more recently. The past couple of moves we did tip, we also bought them lunch, provided bottles of water & soft drinks. I figure these people have pretty much our entire earthly belongings in their grips, it couldn't hurt to treat 'em right. It's certainly up to the individual to decide if they want to tip. I wouldn't hesitate to forego the tip if I thought they were rude or reckless with our stuff.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I wouldn't even know how much to tip long distance mover. Customarily tipping is done as a percentage of the total, but for a cross country move, the total cost would be thousands of dollars - surely the movers don't expect a 20% tip of $4000, but on the other hand, I would feel kind of cheap only tipping $50 when I knew the total cost was $4000.

Luckily we have only ever done in town moves. One time the movers were as slow as sloths and we were paying by the hour, so I did not tip. The next two moves, we had guys that were great and very efficient and so we tipped them.

 

[wgeo]

I didn't tip the first time we did a cross country move, it didn't cross my mind even. But this last time, the driver went above and beyond when the local subcontractors didn't show up to unload, and he helped get my washer and dryer into a room that required taking off a door to make happen, and he knew that we were moving into a rental and moving again in 6 weeks and he left my piano super protected in all of his moving blankets and everything and positioned it perfectly so that it would be as easy as possible when we had to move ourselves in a few weeks. I tipped him, not because I thought he was miserable or underpaid but because I was very happy with how thoughtful he was.