Moving Etiquette: Should You Tip Your Movers?

When it comes to any kind of personal service, people always wonder when it's appropriate to tip. You do tip waiters and delivery drivers but you generally don't tip the cable guy even though he comes to work at your house. You do tip tow-truck drivers but you don't tip your auto mechanics. So what, then, is the right protocol for your movers? They come to your house on request and take special care to pack up your personal belongings but it's also not an industry with a clear tipping protocol like the %15 rule for wait staff. In fact, there's a fairly prolonged debate among people who move as to whether or not it's required, courteous, or even weird to tip your movers. Some people like to tip anyone who helps them out personally, some feel that a tip is a good business to motivate movers, while others feel that if a professional is paid well, there is no need for tipping.

If you're getting ready for a move and aren't sure if you should tip your movers or not, it's important to understand that this is really more of a personal decision. Because there is no well-known standard, movers are used to not being tipped and to people who feel that tipping is appropriate in all situations. There is no universal rule for tipping movers but if you want to, there are a few ways you can estimate what the right amount might be and other ways you can thank your movers for taking care of the hard part of getting from one home to another.

If you do want to tip your movers, it may be helpful to know that this actually isn't done through percentage the vast majority of the time. How much? That should depend on the difficulty of the job and the number of movers on site. In essence, you want to tip each mover somewhere between $10 and $50 which can be handed to them personally or in a lump sum to the foreman to be split up later on. Bigger houses, heavier items, and more difficult terrain (stairs, elevators, and obstacles) will naturally warrant bigger tips.

For those who feel that hospitality is an important virtue, especially if your move takes more than two or three hours, you can provide an entirely different kind of tip that your movers are sure to appreciate. People often decide that the best way to reward movers for a job well done is to buy them lunch delivered to the house while everyone takes a much-needed break and rests before finishing up the move. This has become remarkably easy to do with the advent of sharing economy services for ordering from almost any restaurant, thus allowing you to order something healthier and better for physical labor than pizza.

Sometimes people who hire movers don't have a lot of extra cash to spare on generous tips or a catered lunch but they still want to give something back to the nice men who arrive to carry all their heavy boxes and take care of driving the huge moving truck to their new home. If you want to tip your movers but the move itself has wrecked your budget, you can still say 'thank you' by putting out beverages that match the season. For a cold-weather move, put out hot coffee and tea with a few thick paper cups so your movers can warm up between jaunts out to the icy moving truck. For summer moves, put out something like lemonade or a 24 pack of cold sodas to keep your movers cool and hydrated. This shows you appreciate all they do without breaking the bank.

So should you tip your movers? The answer is that you don't have to, but because not everyone does, those who do will earn a great deal of appreciation and respect from their moving team. For more helpful advice and tips on how to handle your move from planning the pack to setting up in your new home, contact us today!