Moving companies are in the service industry, and tipping is a standard way to show your gratitude. At the same time, tipping your movers is not considered something that you have to do. Deciding how much to tip movers is sightly important because you want to factor it into your overall moving costs.

Plan to provide 5% to 20% of your move’s total cost as a tip to the moving team. A decision to pay movers 10% of the total might work perfectly too, if you only work with one team of movers for a few hours. The simplest way to evaluate how much to tip your movers is a scale based on how long the move takes. Generally, $10 per person is acceptable for a half-day (4 hours) and $20 for a full-day (8 hours). If your movers are working from daylight to dark or spending an extravagant amount of time carefully packing fragile items, you can expect to pay up to $40 per person.

An effective approach to tip and encourage movers

Before the moving crew begins with their job, you may want to encourage them to work hard and careful by promising tips at the end of the moving job. In addition to your verbal assurance, you could hand a $10 bill to each mover at the beginning of the move as an added incentive.

However, if this makes you uncomfortable, stick to the general rule that you should tip movers after they’ve completed the job. Don’t give the lump sum to the foreman or driver. Give each worker a tip. Giving each worker their tip recognizes and appreciates their individual efforts. Also, there may be some dishonest foremen who will keep the whole tip for themselves. If you’re happy with the service you received, let each worker know by handing him or her a tip, and smile and say, “Thank you.”

Evaluation criteria to determine mover performance

• Punctuality

Did your movers arrive on time?

• Professionalism

Have your movers acted professionally from the moment they have stepped inside your home?

• Friendliness

Have your movers been nice, friendly, and sociable, or were they rather rude, cold, and disrespectful?

• Quality and Care

Did the moving team treat your belongings with care and attention to detail? You can tell a lot about the quality of the service you’re paying for by merely observing from a distance how the movers go about handling your possessions and moving boxes. Have your movers done what is necessary to avoid property damage?

• Dishonesty

Did the hired moving professionals work hard from beginning to end, or have they tried to deliberately extend the time they need to finish the job? Using frequent cigarette or bathroom breaks are the simplest of dishonest and disrespectful time-wasting tricks. This is especially true for moving professionals charging by the hour.

Additional ways you can treat your movers

If the moving crew is doing a wonderful job and you want to show your appreciation other than by tipping, you can also consider offering other incentives:

• Cold bottles of water and/ or coffee
• Cookies and snacks
• Lunch and/ or dinner
• Gift cards

When offering “pizza and beer” to your professional moving team, keep in mind, many companies have strict policies about employees consuming alcohol when they are working. You don’t want to get a worker in trouble for accepting your hospitality. Make sure to communicate with the moving coordinator ahead of time.

VMoving provides fast transit of goods for our clients

When you hire a moving company, you want a team of movers that know how to do the job and have been doing the job for many years. They need to be experienced and quick on their feet to relocate boxes and furniture to the truck with care and due diligence. Our Moving Companies have only the best staff working for us, and we like to make sure they continue to get training to provide you with a better and better service each time.