What and When to Tip the Movers?
 

We haven't moved in a long while but I know the moving crew work a long hard day hauling furniture and boxes. Do you tip them individually (or give it to the driver to divide among the crew)? Do you tip them after they load the truck or after they deliver everything to the final location or both?

Hello GBelle, I don't know what others do but I and my family have always tipped each individual mover after they arrive at the final location and put everything in the residence, in otherwords at the end of the job. I have always made sure I have had bottled water, soda pop and some sort of snack for the movers also.

We did as LoveItaly said, provide cold drinks during the day ( our last move took about 5 hours for them to get everything on the truck.
Tips come after the job is done.
My husband tipped the men individually.
We had another crew unload the truck in another state so they were also tipped individually..

When the movers packed our stuff up for our move overseas, we kept several bottles of Evian, coke, diet coke, and iced tea on hand. Halfway through the day, we got two large pizzas (one plain, one pepperoni). It was a two day affair and they did an excellent job; we tipped each of the movers $20 and the head of the crew $40.

When my parents had their stuff moved to Florida, they tipped the guys who unloaded the truck in Florida $15 each, fed them chicken sandwiches and chips, and let them buzz up and down the street in the golf cart for about half an hour when they were done (they really liked that).

FWIW, the guys who packed us up were ex-Marines. The day they came, HBO was running three Alien movies. I told them they could change the channel if they liked, but it turned out a lot of Marines and ex-Marines love the Alien series.

After our many moves with the military, we learned a lot. We always had water and sodas on hand for the crew. If it was warm out, I provided deli items for lunch, but if it was cold we would order pizzas for them. We only tipped after we received our household goods. I am glad we didn't tip before that one time since the company lost the moving truck for almost a week, lol!

Umm, mms, I think that was the point. If you HAD tipped for that earlier move, they wouldn't have lost the truck! :)

But seriously, I agree with Scarlett that if you're making a long distance move, it's often a different crew on each end, so it's best to tip upon completion of loading the truck, and then again when it's unloaded at your destination. We've always tipped each mover separately (just in case the driver decided not to "share.")

I agree with the others. I tip each individual when the job is finished. I have lots of 5's in my wallet so the tip can easily reflect my happiness with the job. I've been lucky that I've had great movers and I've given then 100% of what I budgeted for tips. I've always relied upon the referrals of others who have recently used them. When booking the crew, I have always made sure to tell them that it was a happy customer that had referred me.

Based on the reaction of my most recent movers, I thought I was the only one who fed them lunch! I told them that I was getting a head start on the house and that I'd pick up lunch on the way. My guys were very grateful for a $5 meal from Sonic. I looked at it as an affordable investment. I know I move alot slower when I'm tired and low on fuel! With Texas heat, I've always had a very full cooler of drinks at the previous and new dwellings.

Following BTilke's model, for an intrastate move we tipped $20 per crew person and $50 for the crew head. Same team coming and going. We also bought lunch and had cold drinks available.

Haven't done it but if I moved far enough away to have different crews loading on and off I'd tip each crew.

Tip each crew seperately. Provide drinks. But no need to tip the driver. He's a professional that earns good money driving the truck and make a safe delivery. He/she doesn't care or need your few dollars of tips, unlike the local crew.

Well, again Fodor's is a wealth of information. Evidently we, I and my family, have done what most of you have done. We have only moved from one area of N Ca to another, less then 40 miles so have always had the same crew of course. And yes, we have always gotten them lunch, forgot to mention that. Hamburgers and fries, pizza, whatever they want. But some snacks too along with the cold drinks. We have always been so fortunate to have excellent service from our movers, they have always been terrific. Hard working and pleasant fellows.

Judy--The last time I tipped on the front end, they put our washing machine on a formal wing chair, lol! Almost all of our moves we have been very fortunate to have the same people on both ends, so two crews was not an issue with us. We have had 14 out of state moves, and several instate moves. I am tired of moving, lol!

Scarlett--5 hours to load the truck??? Not fair...I want those guys! lol! Our last move took forever. Took twofull days to pack, and on loading day they started at 8am and did not finish til almost 9pm! I think that is a sign that we had way too much stuff:D

We tipped at the end, but only the driver, yet it was intended for everyone. Hope we did it right and I think so. He had his own crew who worked with him each move, no locals. On this end he had more people. (He was from Houston, had moved someone to Orlando then picked us up in Tampa and brought us to San Antonio.) On this end, even his sort of elderly uncle was working and he (the uncle) was fabulous...obviously this had been his profession too, as he was on top of it all, including the heavy work. What an impressive group--our best move <u>ever</u> and we tipped several hundred! It just felt right, not just the amount but the way we did it as we felt certain he would distribute it fairly. We didn't have one item damaged, not even a ding, and they were a fun crew to deal with. Thank you Emile...United Van Lines. Fabulous move.

Food: on the other end we lived in a hotel and got them room service. They loved it! On this end we got sandwiches and chips. We've all come down a step or two since our room service/maid service/everything service days!! LOL

Move from Florida to Georgia 3 years ago/ loading crew were terrible, took three days to pack and then 2 and a half just to load (2 guys kept disappearing), one sofa and a relatively recent Genesis gas grill (large) broken before they ever even got on the road. No tip for them!

Other end, delightful crew, hard workers, about 7 hours of unloading, including moving furniture to a different floor after late arrival of decorator, provided lunch, snacks, water, soda, and a $50 driver tip, $25 per for each of four helpers. They were wonderful and did many extras not included in basic moving contract.

5 hours and they also crated mirrors and paintings and some pieces of fragile furniture..they were gooood.

LOL, it just dawned on me, first we tip the pilots and now we tip the movers ::)