How Much Should You Tip Your Movers?

Moving is hard work.  Planning a move is tiring and overwhelming.  But, actually physically moving items from one location to another is utterly exhausting.  There is a reason many people hire someone else to move their belongings.  So when you hire someone to properly take care of your items and relocate them to your new home, it is important to reward them with a tip based on your experience.

Yes, they are paid by their employer to complete the work, but according to glassdoor.com, a mover brings in on average, about $13 per hour.  That adds up to about $100 for 8 hours of constant, heavy lifting.  They are carefully packing and wrapping up your precious belongings.  They are lifting items that are hundreds of pounds and often awkwardly shaped.  They are carrying items many yards, and frequently up and down stairs.  They are organizing objects properly to load and unload the moving truck.

In my opinion, laborers for a moving company are not paid enough.  As a Physical Therapist, I have seen many patients with work-related injuries caused by lifting and carrying bulky items.  They put their quality of life on the line each day at work.  One stumble, one fall, or dropping an object could debilitate them for the rest of their life.  It would be interesting to see what the average injury rate is for laborers at any given moving company.  It would also be interesting to see what type of training laborers receive on proper lifting and carrying to protect their bodies.  I could go on and on about injury risk and prevention, but I will spare you the details today.  😉

Before I get too off track, my point here is that yes, tipping can be an awkward experience when working with moving companies.  Just know…

You Need to Tip Your Movers

They are taking care of your belongings. They are working hard.  So how much do you tip?  Like with most service industries you tip based on your experience.  Did they do a good job?  Did they properly take care of your belongings and home?  Were they polite?  Are you satisfied with their service?

If yes, then you can tip 10-15% of the cost of the move and divide it among the laborers.  You can also tip $20-$25/mover per day of work.  These rates are for an average experience.  Are you extremely satisfied with their work?  Tip more!  Are you very dissatisfied?  Tip a lesser amount and contact their supervisor.

Are you moving around the holidays?  If you can spare the money, I recommend you tip extra for the movers who have taken the time out of their holiday schedule to help you.  We have even given items to the movers that we weren’t able to pack and load.  We had a large living room rug that wasn’t going to fit in our new place.  We were going to toss it, but one of the laborers was happy to take it off our hands.

Here are a couple of examples of what we have paid in the past.  Once, we hired two guys to load boxes we packed into our rented moving truck.  It took them about 4 hours total from start to finish.  We tipped them $20 each.

Another time, we hired a full service moving company to move us around the holidays.  A set of folks came in and packed our items in one day.  And the next day a different group of movers came in and loaded our packed boxes and furniture onto the moving truck.  We tipped each person $60 because it was the holiday season.  They also did a fantastic job and were extremely polite.

At the end of the day, you decide what you tip your movers.  But make sure you take care of them.  They are sacrificing a lot to get your belongings from point A to point B.  Reward them for their hard work.  Let the movers know you appreciate their work.