Tipping Movers -- How Much? (1 Viewer)

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Got three dudes moving a pretty normal townhouse across town....4-5 hours of work. What's a good tip?

$50 each about right?

 

[Spin]

Buy em lunch. When my wife was being moved, I just asked the guy. He said lunch is perfect.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Got three dudes moving a pretty normal townhouse across town....4-5 hours of work. What's a good tip?

$50 each about right?

Each?!? Wow. Let me know the next time you move. I'll come help.

 

[sports_fan]

$50 sounds generous

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Never more than 45 degrees.

 

[shadyridr]

$20 each

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Thanks guys...appreciate the help.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Movers are about the only people I'll give an excessive tip to. I'd probably give them at least $50 each.

 

[Annyong]

Never more than 45 degrees.

depends what they are carrying.

 

[avoiding injuries]

My buddy in NYC moved last weekend. The storage unit he's keeping his stuff in provided free moving. He tipped them each $40 and they were excited about it. And that was for a free move.

 

[The Hank]

I have 2 movers coming on Friday to help load our truck, we are going to be doing the actual driving the truck and unloading once we get to Pittsburgh.

Does $20/each sound reasonable for 2-3 hrs of work?

 

[Jaysus]

beer and pizza

 

[Fat Nick]

$20 each

This.

We moved out of a 3rd floor walk-up apartment into our house 3 years ago. Cost us $1,800. They had 4 guys. The head of the moving company called me about 10 minutes before they were done with a "how'd they do?" speech, and at the end said that his guys appreciate tips if they've done a good job, and that the "standard" tip was 20%. I said, "20% of what?!?!" He said "the total moving bill." I told him quite sincerely that his guys did a great job, but that if they expected $320 in tips, they were going to be sorely disappointed. He said that they "expected" that, and I told him again, "well, they're going to be disappointed. Maybe you should pay them more out of your pocket rather than make them depend on tips, or build the tip into the price." $320 in tips is obscene on a SMALL move...heck, on any move.

 

[RUSF18]

$20 each

This.

We moved out of a 3rd floor walk-up apartment into our house 3 years ago. Cost us $1,800. They had 4 guys. The head of the moving company called me about 10 minutes before they were done with a "how'd they do?" speech, and at the end said that his guys appreciate tips if they've done a good job, and that the "standard" tip was 20%. I said, "20% of what?!?!" He said "the total moving bill." I told him quite sincerely that his guys did a great job, but that if they expected $320 in tips, they were going to be sorely disappointed. He said that they "expected" that, and I told him again, "well, they're going to be disappointed. Maybe you should pay them more out of your pocket rather than make them depend on tips, or build the tip into the price." $320 in tips is obscene on a SMALL move...heck, on any move.

Are you "this"ing $20 a man for your move too? Gotta say, moving out of a 3 floor walk up makes for a much bigger job than whatever you consider your small move to be.

I paid about $550 for 3 guys to move me out of one NYC apartment and into another a few years back. Elevators both ways. Four hour job total. Gave them $150 to split and bought them a lot of water. They were real good and most importantly were fast which saved me an hour on the move, which would have cost me more money. So more tip to them.

 

[McGarnicle]

$50 seems about right if they don't break anything. I hired one of the big companies for a long-distance move and was blown away by how careful and organized they were. Every item was tagged and catalogued, then checked off when they unloaded at the new house. I tipped $200 total.

 

[Bucky86]

I did a local move and tipped about $80 between 3 guys.

 

[Fennis]

a hearty handshake

 

[Fat Nick]

$20 each

This.

We moved out of a 3rd floor walk-up apartment into our house 3 years ago. Cost us $1,800. They had 4 guys. The head of the moving company called me about 10 minutes before they were done with a "how'd they do?" speech, and at the end said that his guys appreciate tips if they've done a good job, and that the "standard" tip was 20%. I said, "20% of what?!?!" He said "the total moving bill." I told him quite sincerely that his guys did a great job, but that if they expected $320 in tips, they were going to be sorely disappointed. He said that they "expected" that, and I told him again, "well, they're going to be disappointed. Maybe you should pay them more out of your pocket rather than make them depend on tips, or build the tip into the price." $320 in tips is obscene on a SMALL move...heck, on any move.

Are you "this"ing $20 a man for your move too? Gotta say, moving out of a 3 floor walk up makes for a much bigger job than whatever you consider your small move to be.

I paid about $550 for 3 guys to move me out of one NYC apartment and into another a few years back. Elevators both ways. Four hour job total. Gave them $150 to split and bought them a lot of water. They were real good and most importantly were fast which saved me an hour on the move, which would have cost me more money. So more tip to them.

See, I think the walk-up should be considered in the company's charged price. It shouldn't impact my tip. The company charged me more for that, just like they would if I had more stuff or longer distances to go...in turn, the movers should get paid more. That shouldn't go straight to the company's pocket.

For my move, I think I tipped $30/guy, and we had a case of cold water and gatorade and bought them $40 in Pizza (almost forgot about that...asked them what they wanted, and they ordered 2 large meat-lovers that were $20 each!)...I only tipped $30/guy because of the crap with the owner...if it wasn't for that, I would've tipped $20. The move was local and took them ~8 hours.

I guess my thing is, these guys shouldn't be working for tips only. The company should be paying them wages. Tips are for a job well done. They did a good job in my eyes, but "good job" didn't justify $80/head by my book.

To each his own.

 

[Freelove]

Movers, I don't mind overtipping by a healthy margin if they're fast, efficient, careful, and organized.

I also don't have the slightest hesitation about stiffing them completely if they're bumblers. Because I'm not going to be hiring THEM again, let me tell you.

 

[RUSF18]

$20 each

This.

We moved out of a 3rd floor walk-up apartment into our house 3 years ago. Cost us $1,800. They had 4 guys. The head of the moving company called me about 10 minutes before they were done with a "how'd they do?" speech, and at the end said that his guys appreciate tips if they've done a good job, and that the "standard" tip was 20%. I said, "20% of what?!?!" He said "the total moving bill." I told him quite sincerely that his guys did a great job, but that if they expected $320 in tips, they were going to be sorely disappointed. He said that they "expected" that, and I told him again, "well, they're going to be disappointed. Maybe you should pay them more out of your pocket rather than make them depend on tips, or build the tip into the price." $320 in tips is obscene on a SMALL move...heck, on any move.

Are you "this"ing $20 a man for your move too? Gotta say, moving out of a 3 floor walk up makes for a much bigger job than whatever you consider your small move to be.I paid about $550 for 3 guys to move me out of one NYC apartment and into another a few years back. Elevators both ways. Four hour job total. Gave them $150 to split and bought them a lot of water. They were real good and most importantly were fast which saved me an hour on the move, which would have cost me more money. So more tip to them.

See, I think the walk-up should be considered in the company's charged price. It shouldn't impact my tip. The company charged me more for that, just like they would if I had more stuff or longer distances to go...in turn, the movers should get paid more. That shouldn't go straight to the company's pocket.

For my move, I think I tipped $30/guy, and we had a case of cold water and gatorade and bought them $40 in Pizza (almost forgot about that...asked them what they wanted, and they ordered 2 large meat-lovers that were $20 each!)...I only tipped $30/guy because of the crap with the owner...if it wasn't for that, I would've tipped $20. The move was local and took them ~8 hours.

I guess my thing is, these guys shouldn't be working for tips only. The company should be paying them wages. Tips are for a job well done. They did a good job in my eyes, but "good job" didn't justify $80/head by my book.

To each his own.

I think you did an okay job making up for the cash with the other things. As for the larger point, I guess that depends on how the company charged you extra. Is it more money just because it takes longer without an elevator? Or is there some sort of other surcharge? If so, I'd still say being paid at the same rate for a 3 hour move with an elevator is much more preferable than being paid for 5 hours without an elevator. Moving companies around here are pretty much always booked, especially around beginning/end of month, so just earning the extra hourly rate didn't really help with it being a bigger ##### of a job.

 

[Mr. Ected]

a hearty handshake

Fist-bump is heathier.

 

[Sarnoff]

Gave a generous tip to my movers, but they were awesome. Booked 1 truck, 3 guys, 3 hours for a 8 mile move for like $210 ($70 per man). I figured I'd let them take "the big stuff" and I'd do the rest on my own. Showed up on time with the truck and eight guys. And boxes. They wrapped all the big stuff, then helped me box up everything else. Couches, big furniture, TV, clothing, cleaned out the place so fast I gave them the small stuff I was planning to do separately because I had them there and we had time. Drove across town, filled my place up, unboxed everything for me, put everything away, moved furniture, the works. Done right on time. Charged me for just the 3 guys I ordered. Had to throw a pile of extra cash on top of it. Best movers ever. I'd move again just to have them help out one more time.

 

[Fennis]

Gave a generous tip to my movers, but they were awesome. Booked 1 truck, 3 guys, 3 hours for a 8 mile move for like $210 ($70 per man). I figured I'd let them take "the big stuff" and I'd do the rest on my own. Showed up on time with the truck and eight guys. And boxes. They wrapped all the big stuff, then helped me box up everything else. Couches, big furniture, TV, clothing, cleaned out the place so fast I gave them the small stuff I was planning to do separately because I had them there and we had time. Drove across town, filled my place up, unboxed everything for me, put everything away, moved furniture, the works. Done right on time. Charged me for just the 3 guys I ordered. Had to throw a pile of extra cash on top of it. Best movers ever. I'd move again just to have them help out one more time.

$50 each?

 

[Freelove]

Gave a generous tip to my movers, but they were awesome. Booked 1 truck, 3 guys, 3 hours for a 8 mile move for like $210 ($70 per man). I figured I'd let them take "the big stuff" and I'd do the rest on my own. Showed up on time with the truck and eight guys. And boxes. They wrapped all the big stuff, then helped me box up everything else. Couches, big furniture, TV, clothing, cleaned out the place so fast I gave them the small stuff I was planning to do separately because I had them there and we had time. Drove across town, filled my place up, unboxed everything for me, put everything away, moved furniture, the works. Done right on time. Charged me for just the 3 guys I ordered. Had to throw a pile of extra cash on top of it. Best movers ever. I'd move again just to have them help out one more time.

$50 each?

Make it rain.

 

[Fat Nick]

I'll also add that I think it hurts guys when there are a bunch of them. The guys that moved us IN to our 3rd floor walk-up were fantastic. 2 guys. Mid July. 100+ degrees. They slaved like pack mules up and down those stairs non-stop till they were done. We tipped them each $60 and they were very happy with that. Same total amount as the team of 4 that moved us out. If you've got a team of 6, I'm not just going to tip the same since you did less work.

 

[mquinnjr]

Moving in a few weeks, so timely thread.

 

[Psychopav]

What about moving cross country (800+ miles) with packing and unpacking?

 

[Major]

I find if you offer up a sixer of Smirnoff Ice they're more than content after a long move. Money isn't everything.