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When getting ready for your move, it’s important to keep in mind how much to tip your movers. You want to make sure you include the mover’s tip in your moving budget. Several factors can determine how much to tip movers. You can tip $5 to $10 per mover per hour, or you can tip 15 percent to 20 percent of the total bill.
Our essential guide for tipping movers will go over factors to consider for a tip, general guidelines, special circumstances, non-monetary tipping options, and some tipping etiquette.
Factors to Consider for a Tip
A tip amount can increase or decrease depending on several factors. How much to tip movers can depend on quality of service, difficulty of the move, and the level of professionalism.
Quality of service
Local movers who treat your belongings like their own showcase how much they care for your possessions. A mover who takes the time to properly lift, load, and set down your items without breaking anything is important.
Difficulty of the move
If you have a difficult move, and the movers are efficient with your move, you might increase your tip for each mover. If you have some light-weight furniture pieces to move from your dining room to your living room, you might not tip movers as much as other movers who had to go down three flights of stairs and through tight hallways.
Weather conditions that are poor could make your move harder to move. Movers who work through these conditions might earn a higher tip.
Level of professionalism
Taking great care of your belongings, but being friendly and warm toward you, your family, and your friends. Moving crews who are respectful and considerate could earn a larger increase.
If you have an eight-hour move, your movers probably won’t work as fast as they did in hour one compared to hour eight. You’ll still see the difference between local moving labor Service Providers who are tired and working hard vs. movers who are purposely taking their time, going slow, and taking multiple breaks.
A moving company needs to show up on time. It shows punctuality and politeness. Moving companies that arrive early instead of late deserve to be noticed.
If a moving company is going to be late, you might consider reducing their tips. When movers realize they’re going to be late to your home, they should call you as soon as possible and inform you of when they’ll arrive at your home.
General Guidelines for Tipping Movers
At Moving Help®, a tip isn’t included in your moving quote. You get to decide how much you want to tip your Service Providers from Moving Help. You can tip the moving labor providers a percentage of the total moving cost, or you can tip per helper per hour.
A 20 percent tip for the total moving cost is a great tip. A good range could be 15 to 20 percent of the total moving cost. Of course, you can tip more than 20 percent of the total moving cost if your local moving labor team is superb and went beyond expectations.
You also have the choice to tip each helper per hour. You can tip $5 to $10 — or more — per helper per hour. If you pay for two Moving Helpers for two hours, you could tip them anywhere from $20-$40.
Both options have pros and cons. A total percentage of the move can get expensive quickly, but you might want to pay more if you decide to pay per helper per hour.
Special Circumstances for Tipping Movers
Some special circumstances for tipping movers might help you decide how much you should tip them. You can adjust your tip accordingly to the following circumstances:
1. Long-distance moves
A move across the country will require two different moving companies. One moving company to help you load your items, and one moving company to help you unload your items. You’ll need to remember tipping movers for both sides.
2. Moving during peak season
Moving has seasons where it can be busy and where it can be slow. When you move during peak season, movers might have three, four, or more jobs in the same day.
Even when moving labor teams are super busy but they’re doing a job well done with your home, it could increase their tip.
3. Moves that require extra labor
The most common moving order at Moving Help is two helpers for two hours. If you have a large home or a complex move, you might need an extra helper or two. This will mean you’ll have a larger tip to give to your Moving Helpers.
4. Moves that require extra hours
A move with four flights of stairs will take some more time when moving belongings up or down the stairs compared to a home with no stairs. This might mean your move will require extra hours to complete it. You’ll need to make sure you account for this larger tip.
5. Specialty moves
Local Service Providers who need to move a customer’s piano, gun safe, or heavy items could earn a higher tip because specialty moves aren’t easy to complete.
When a provider carefully moves an upright piano or a grand piano without leaving any scratches on your musical instrument or home, that deserves some praise.
6. Extra stairs
Moving items up and down flights of stairs isn’t an easy task. When movers handle your belongings quickly and efficiently when it involves stairs, you might consider tipping them more money.
7. Difficult conditions
Tight hallways, multiple stairs, long distance between the home and the U-Haul rental truck, or weather could make your move have more difficult conditions.
It’s easier to move belongings from the garage of a home to a rental truck that’s parked outside the garage on a driveway during a cool, sunny day. Whereas a move involving four flights of stairs of your apartment and then 100 yards to the rental truck on a cold, rainy day will make it more difficult to move.
Non-Monetary Tipping Options
Maybe you’re trying to figure out how much to tip movers but ultimately decide you’d rather pay them another way besides money.
You can pay movers with refreshments, leaving a review for them, referring them to friends or family, or buying lunch. You also can talk to your moving company about what are some other options to show your appreciation that doesn’t include money.
Don’t forget that if you feel desired, you can reward your movers with a monetary tip and a non-monetary tip. For example, you can tip them with cash and give them some lunch if your move takes a long time.
Tipping Etiquette
When planning to tip your local moving company, you should come prepared. You should get your cash ahead of time, and you should get smaller bills in case you want to increase or decrease your original tip amount.
You should give each helper their individual tip and say, “Thank you.” It’s a nice thing to say “thank you” along with handing a tip to each mover.
Each helper should receive their tip personally from you for two reasons.
The first reason is if you hire four movers, but one of the movers was slacking compared to the rest of them. You can reward the other three movers with a higher tip. The second reason is knowing each mover received their tip. While it rarely happens, sometimes the lead mover might keep the entire tip to themself.
This ensures everyone receives the tip you wanted them to receive along with saying, “Thank you” for a job well done.
How Much to Tip Movers Is up to You
You ultimately get to decide how much your Moving Help Service Providers will get tipped.
You can tip them using the method of paying a percentage of the total cost. You also can pay them per helper per hour. You can pay anywhere from 15 percent to 20 percent of the total bill. You can pay a range of $5 to $10 per helper per hour.
The complexity of a move, special circumstances, and how they treat you and your belongings may increase or decrease their total tip. You can choose to pay them in another way besides money. Find the best moving labor providers for your move in your area today with Moving Help.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tipping
Q: Do I need to tip my movers?
A: Yes, you should tip your movers. Just like any service industry, you should tip your movers based on how well they assisted you.
Q: What if my movers broke my items, do I still need to tip them?
A: You aren’t required to tip your movers, especially if they broke your belongings. A tip shows your appreciation of how careful and respectful they were to you and your items. If your moving company was reckless, irresponsible, rude, or gave a poor customer experience, you shouldn’t tip your movers.
Q: When do I tip my movers?
A: You tip your movers after your job is completed. For example, you hired your movers to load your items, you pay them after they load your items. Another example is you hire your movers to clean your home, you pay them after they’re done cleaning your home.
Q: Do I tip my mover when they load or unload or both?
A: The answer is: It depends. You can choose to tip the helpers after the loading and then again after the unloading. You can pay them their entire tip after they’re done loading and unloading.
Of course, if you’re moving across the country, you’ll most likely hire two different moving companies. You’ll want to pay the movers who helped you load your items, and you’ll want to pay the helpers who helped you unload your items.
Q: Is it customary to tip movers?
A: Yes, it’s customary to tip movers. Unless the movers did a terrible job, you should reward your movers’ hard work with a tip or appreciation of some kind.
Q: What’s the average tip for movers?
A: A good range could be 15 to 20 percent of the total moving cost. A 20 percent tip for the total moving bill is a great tip. Of course, you can tip more than 20 percent of the total moving cost if your local movers were superb and went beyond expectations.
You also have the choice to tip each helper per hour. You can tip $5 to $10 — or more — per helper per hour. If you pay for two movers for two hours, you could tip movers anywhere from $20-$40.
Q: Is $100 a good tip for movers?
A: Depending on how much your total move costs or how many movers and hours you hired, it could be a great tip. You can determine whether a $100 is a good tip based on your own move and how you want to pay your local movers — a percentage of the total bill or per helper per hour.
Q: Is $25 a good tip for movers?
A: Depending on how much your total move costs or how many movers and hours you hired, it could be a good tip. You can determine whether a $25 is a good tip based on your own move and how you want to pay your local movers — a percentage of the total bill or per helper per hour.
Q: Can I pay movers another way besides money?
A: Yes, you can offer to pay your movers in another way. You can pay for them with food, refreshments, gift cards, etc.
Q: Can I use a credit card to tip my Moving Help movers?
A: Yes, you can pay your Moving Help moving labor providers with a credit card instead of cash. For example, if you forgot to get cash ahead of time to pay for your Service Providers, you can still tip them online. When you leave a review for them, you’ll have a section that offers you the chance to tip them online with your credit card.
Keep in mind, 3 percent of your tip will be used to cover the credit card charge processing fees. Therefore, if you wanted to tip them $30, but you don’t want the 3 percent taken out of the $30, you’ll need to leave a $31 tip online.
