The moving day has arrived! You’re all packed up and have hired a team of helpful professional movers to relocate you to your new home. Your movers will take care of everything, from handling fragile items, lifting heavy objects, and ensuring that your mattresses are covered and nice and clean upon arrival.
You may be wondering at this point whether it is appropriate to show your appreciation with a tip for all of the care and hard work provided by your crew. The answer to this is dependant on the quality of service you may have received! Here are some helpful tips to help you decide when, how, and most importantly, how much.
When Should I Tip my Movers
Cross Country: You have made the very exciting choice to move cross country or to another province. You’ve been planning for months and although it is very exciting you may be nervous and stressed out with all of the moving parts required to make the move as smooth as possible. Your moving company has spent time helping you organize the details and your movers have arrived to relieve some of that stress for you. The crew arriving to load your items may be different than the crew who will deliver your precious cargo. In this situation, it may make sense to set an amount for each crew rather than waiting to tip at the end of your move.
In-town Moves: Local moves are handled differently as you will have only one crew throughout your entire move. Some may choose to tip at the beginning of their move to provide extra motivation and others would like to wait until the end of the move to see if the move has been completed to their satisfaction.
How should I tip my movers?
Tips can be paid out several ways. You may choose to be prepared and have some cash on hand but let’s be real, in the world we live in today most people do not have a wallet full of cash laying around! Although every moving company has different policies on payment, most reputable companies will allow tips to be paid via debit and or credit cards. This option may be available to you on the debit/credit machines that most movers carry with them. If you are unsure about the company policy you can ask at the booking level and your customer care representative would be more than happy to clarify this for you.
How much should I tip my movers?
It is common for people to tip for outstanding service. If you eat the tastiest burger or receive a bomb haircut? Well, most people will show their appreciation with a 5%, 10%, 20% tip. Maybe you were blown away and want to go big with a 30% tip – Hey big spender! Moving happens far less often and there are no set rules on the amount you should be tipping. Some may not even know if it is appropriate to tip movers but they are providing a service and if you are happy then why not? Of course, tipping is not mandatory so it will be up to you to decide how much and if you would like to tip at all. It’s also understandable that people have budgets and it’s fine to stay within it.
A general rule of thumb may be to tip $2-$5 per hour per mover. Or maybe you would like to tip a percentage of your final costs. For example, if your move is $1000 and you would like to tip 5% – 10%. This would be $50-$100 to be split evenly between your crew. Whichever method you decide just know that tips are highly appreciated and can be the icing on the cake after a long hard day for your movers!
At the end of the day, the biggest compliment a moving company can receive is a simple posting of a great review or recommendation to friends and family.