Are you Supposed to Tip Movers?

You think that deciding which local movers you want to hire and going through the whole process of exploring reviews, scheduling meetings, getting moving quotes, and comparing your local movers is hard enough. When you finally find reliable and trustworthy local movers, you feel so relieved and you feel this whole burden gradually becoming less and less heavy. You know that your local movers are trained and experienced professionals who know how to handle every little task when it comes to your relocation in a perfect manner, but how should you handle the situation when your local movers are. Many questions arise, but the most common one is definitely – how much do you tip movers?

Movers San Diego have been in the business for so many years that we had the chance to deal with all kinds of situations along the way, and along with that answer questions like “are you supposed to tip movers”, “how much do you tip movers”, “when and how to tip movers”, etc., on a daily basis. That is why we decided to write an ultimate guide on how much do you tip movers and finally resolve the mystery and confusion around it. So, let’s begin.

Are you supposed to tip movers?

First things first, let’s resolve the dilemma about if you are or you are not supposed to tip your local movers. Well, it is really not that difficult when you think about this question, you just think about other similar situations – are you supposed to tip a waiter in a restaurant or a guy that washes your car in the blink of an eye. Nobody makes you do that, but it’s a kind gesture to show your appreciation for somebody’s hard work and good service that they provide you with. The same rule applies when it comes to your local movers. 

Deciding if you want to tip movers and how much do you tip movers are completely your choices and nobody wants or will force you to do that. However, you should know that tips are not usually included in the bill and if you really want to show appreciation and gratitude to your local movers, tipping would probably be the right way to do so. We really think that the answer to this question is an obvious one and it is much less complicated than answering the one about how much do you tip movers. However, according to Google both of these questions make you wonder big time, so we hope that by the end of this text, you’ll have all your answers. If not, movers San Diego are here to help you with any additional questions, just give us a ring. 

Now when we have the dilemma of whether you’re supposed to tip your movers is resolved, let’s move to the next stage, which is when and how to tip local movers, since that is not something you’re doing frequently and it might seem like you could maybe do something wrong or look silly. Let’s try to resolve those issues and avoid any potentially uncomfortable situations.

When and how to tip your local movers?

When it comes to tipping your local movers, besides “How much do you tip movers?”, there are a few more questions that should be answered in order for you to peacefully wait for your local movers to arrive at your doorstep and have all the details that you need to know covered. 

So how do we answer the question “When do you tip your local movers?”. It is actually not that complicated. Just think of some other situations, like the ones when you tip waiters, handymans or delivery guys, when do you do it? The logical answer is to tip people who provide you with any kind of services the moment when the job is finished and you make sure that everything’s done in the way that you expected and you’re satisfied with the service that you got. So, when your movers come to your doorstep, there are many steps they’ll have to take in order to successfully finish your relocation, and this can also have an impact on how much do you tip your movers, but will get into it later. Right now, we want to share with you steps that your relocation will probably consist of: arrival of your local movers, providing you with time-estimate, signing the contract, packing, disassembling big pieces of furniture, loading the moving truck, driving to your new address, unloading the moving truck, reassembling, arranging the furniture around the house, signing that everything went well or writing down potential damages. As you can see, there are many things that your local movers should finish before it comes to the point when they actually know they deserved the tip and you can see the effort they put into the whole process. 

Before we start talking about how much do you tip movers, we want to answer the question “How do you tip movers?” as well. Many people get confused with this one, and we understand it, because here you have a crew of 4-5 people and it is not really clear whether you should give everything to one of them so they can share between themselves or go one-by-one. Well, our advice is definitely to give tips to every one of your movers individually. That is the best way to make sure every one of them gets the equal amount of money and you avoid the risk of someone being unfair and taking the biggest piece of a cake, while giving others only crumbs.

What should you take into consideration before you decide how much do you tip movers?

It is really difficult to have a clear vision of how much do you tip movers. Depending on some other factors, besides your movers’ capability and reliability, there could be many situations that could affect how much do you tip movers. 

Of course, the number one thing when you’re making a decision on how much do you tip movers is to think about how professionally and successfully they handled your relocation. There are some outstanding local movers who will provide you with the perfect service and everything will go as quickly and efficiently as possible. In those kinds of situations it’s pretty clear how much do you tip movers. You should try to make your tip a little higher than usual and really show respect and appreciation for the hard work your movers invest into your relocation. If your local movers did a decent job and handled everything well, but they haven’t really stepped out to amaze you, you should probably go with the usual tip rate when deciding how much to tip movers. On the other hand, if your movers did their job poorly, took long breaks, damaged furniture or behaved disrespectfully in any way, your decision on how much do you tip movers will be in accordance with that. 

Next thing that can affect your decision on how much do you tip movers is the complexity of your move. Simply, there are some moves that require a lot more experience, effort and time to execute and therefore, the tip should also be higher if your movers managed to handle everything in a flawless way and meet your expectations. Things like big, heavy and oddly-shaped furniture, buildings with no elevators and nearby parking space, or simply the fact that you haven’t’ prepared anything in advance and your movers come to a pretty messy situation should actually affect how much do you tip movers. It is very difficult to handle relocations like these and showing how satisfied you are with the effort your local movers put into handling your belongings and making sure everything goes well will mean a lot to them. 

One more thing that you should have in mind when deciding how much do you tip movers is weather. Unfortunately, weather can greatly affect success of your moving and make things a lot harder for your local movers. Movers San Diego have experienced some unbelievably difficult situations and from our experience we can tell you that this definitely requires a lot more effort than your usual local move. Carrying big pieces of furniture in and out of the moving truck is really challenging and difficult on its own. Now, add 95 degrees, slippery ice or heavy rain to this and imagine how dangerous and challenging it might be. If your movers manage to go through all these difficulties uninterruptedly they definitely deserve higher tip.

There are many other things that can impact how much do you tip movers, but these are the most common ones and we think that sharing this is enough to know. If you need any additional advice, you know that you can always give movers San Diego a call and find out everything there is about your local move.

Finally, how much do you tip movers?

We are seriously not surprised that the question “How much do you tip movers?” is the question number one when you write movers in your Google search, since people really have all kinds of theories regarding this. We think that things shouldn’t be complicated and that you should follow your instincts, take the factors we mentioned into consideration and just reward your movers with some additional cash without getting into depths and complicated mathematics. After all, your movers don’t bring calculators to see if you tipped them exactly how much they expect you to and they’ll probably be very satisfied with the fact that you appreciate their hard work and you’re successful with how they executed your relocation. However, there are few rules you might decide to follow if it makes it easier for you to decide how much do you tip movers.

The one way we consider the most convenient and logical when you’re confused about how much do you tip movers is to tip movers per hour. It is the easiest calculation you can make and also take other factors into consideration. If your professional movers did a satisfactory job, nothin out of the ordinary, paying $4-5/hour per mover is definitely standard and you can always go with this. On the other hand, if your local movers really showed some amazing skills and worked in more difficult circumstances, you can go for $7-8/hour per mover and show them how much you appreciate their effort and hard work. 

There are people who like to make it even more simple when you ask them how much do you tip movers. There is this universal rule that many people choose to follow where you tip approximately $10 per mover for half a day and $20 for a full day. If you decide to tip your movers like this, you definitely won’t make a mistake. 

There is one more way you can try when you decide how much do you tip movers. You can use percentages. The standard range is 5-10% of the cost of your move. Again, this is not the best solution if your moving is more complicated or circumstances are more challenging, but for regular relocations, this is totally fine. 

In the end, it is your choice which way suits you best, but with these three your movers will definitely feel appreciated and content.

When not to tip movers?

Of course, it is possible that your local movers just don’t do a satisfactory job and don’t deserve the tip. We will give you some examples of the situations where you don’t have to think about how much do you tip movers. Some of these situations are: damage of your belongings due to lack of attention and care; showing up outside of the scheduled time and taking longer than necessary to finish without a proper reason; being rude, disrespectful, or impolite in any way; leaving items behind, etc. If you deal with these kinds of local movers, not only that you shouldn’t think how much to tip movers, but you should rather find a way to report them and inform the company and their other customers about their bad service and attitude.

We think that we covered the basic information and you are ready for your local movers to arrive at your doorstep and your relocation to begin. If you need any help with your local move or any additional information, Green Movers San Diego are at your service at any time. We’re looking forward to hearing from you. 

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