Do I tip the removal men ? and if so how much ?

Elliesmum

Having run a small business doing removals, the lads would and do appreciate anything they are offered/given. This can be from a cup of tea and biscuits, sandwiches, lunch to a tip. Generally most jobs would tip 70% of the time and I know this is always really accepted gratefully.

The majority of removal roles are minimum wage jobs and can be very long hours. They are there to help and assist in what is a very stressful (one of the most along with divorce and bereavement) situation and if you get a good crew they can help that move go just that little bit smoother.

Thanks

EM x

namecheck

pacific4130 wrote: »

They weren't comparisons, they were examples.

Many people in supermarkets do work hard for minimum wage yet no-one tips them. My (uninformed) opinion would be that a shelf stacker and a removals man are pretty much in the same socio-economic group.

The staff in my local co-op probably work the same casual part-time hours as a waitress and hence earn around the same and have the same holiday and pension etc. So should I feel duty bound to tip them too?

I'm just always amazed by the demand for tips from people in certain jobs. I think it's just an extension of the fe*kless something for nothing culture. The UK is a land of great opportunity (although some lazy beggers will disagree) if people don't like their hourly wage they can work hard to get a better job. Don't complain about a sh*te job and then hold your hand out for more!

I haven't worked hard all my life so that I can subsidise someones lack of drive and ambition to get a better job. They know the pay when they took the job... If they didn't want to do menial tasks for minimum pay they should've worked harder at school!

I am amazed at this.

Some people do not have the drive...or the capacity for a "better" job and higher pay. And if there were not such people doing these jobs, where would that leave us all.

In addition, many people in the current economic climate do not have the choice of what or who to work for (assuming they can get a job at all).

In my experience, most people in low paid jobs do not "hold out their hands for more" but are very grateful if SOME people do offer them a tip.

totallybored

Some of these posters who wouldn't tip and claim they'd wheel their own sofas and get a mate and a van obviously have no idea what it is like buying and selling a house! You can't just load your car up several times and take a whole weekend to move! That isn't how buying and selling a house works. It's a major financial transaction worth several hundred thousands of pounds with solicitors involved and once your buyers money has reached your solicitors that's it, the house belongs to someone else and you need to be out!

And for whoever said that the removal guys don't have a stressful job and they just pick up a few boxes I find that quite insulting. It's a very physical job, carrying sofas, wardrobes, kitchen appliances, plants etc up and down stairs all day. I can't begin to imagine how hard this would be and I doubt most people on this thread would be able to do it.

Proxy

totallybored wrote: »

Some of these posters who wouldn't tip and claim they'd wheel their own sofas and get a mate and a van obviously have no idea what it is like buying and selling a house! You can't just load your car up several times and take a whole weekend to move! That isn't how buying and selling a house works. It's a major financial transaction worth several hundred thousands of pounds with solicitors involved and once your buyers money has reached your solicitors that's it, the house belongs to someone else and you need to be out!

And for whoever said that the removal guys don't have a stressful job and they just pick up a few boxes I find that quite insulting. It's a very physical job, carrying sofas, wardrobes, kitchen appliances, plants etc up and down stairs all day. I can't begin to imagine how hard this would be and I doubt most people on this thread would be able to do it.

Nonsense. A few friends and a van is fine. I've done it twice.

totallybored

Proxy wrote: »

Nonsense. A few friends and a van is fine. I've done it twice.

Maybe if you only have a small amount of cheap stuff and friends without jobs.

Some of us have family sized houses full of valuables that we don't want broken and damaged. It's not going to fit in a Ford transit and I've never seen a van rental company with a removal sized van. I must have the wrong type of friends too, there is no way I'd be able to get a few people to take a day off work and get them to do manual work for 10 hours for nothing (you can't move at a weekend when buying and selling as solicitors and banks don't work weekends).

CKhalvashi

£10 and a liter of Russian vodka that came from Russia/some Georgian wine :beer:

Proxy

totallybored wrote: »

Maybe if you only have a small amount of cheap stuff and friends without jobs.

Some of us have family sized houses full of valuables that we don't want broken and damaged. It's not going to fit in a Ford transit and I've never seen a van rental company with a removal sized van. I must have the wrong type of friends too, there is no way I'd be able to get a few people to take a day off work and get them to do manual work for 10 hours for nothing (you can't move at a weekend when buying and selling as solicitors and banks don't work weekends).

You're making a lot of ill-advised assumptions about me and anyone else who does it themselves. I have a large house with a lot of furniture/white goods/valuables. I have friends who are willing to give up their time to help a friend out with nothing else but some food and beer as a reward.

You're right, a little small transit wouldn't work. There are plenty of bigger vans you can hire. Not the same size as a full removal van, and I admit I wouldn't do it if it was 30+ miles away, because you need a few more trips.

Just don't make poor assumptions about me or others when you can't do it yourself.

tight_is_right

totallybored wrote: »

I must have the wrong type of friends too, there is no way I'd be able to get a few people to take a day off work and get them to do manual work for 10 hours for nothing (you can't move at a weekend when buying and selling as solicitors and banks don't work weekends).

I took a day off to help my friends move, so did 2 others. It was a 10 hour day and 3 trips in a big van but saved them a fortune in removals. I didn't expect a tip nor would I have accepted one.

I too hate the tipping culture. In America it's expected which makes the service you receive feel very fake, over here it's not so bad but like everything else it's going the same direction. I would much rather a tip be a reward than a tax.

Probably wouldn't tip removal men but I would be unlikely to hire them in the first place. I would certainly look after them in terms of food & drink though.

seven-day-weekend

I think I would give them some 'drinks money' if they had done a good job, and certainly keep them supplied with tea etc on the day.

We have only moved four times in forty years of marriage. One was from a mobile home, so had no furniture of our own. The first 'real' move (in 1976), we did not have much furniture and did it ourselves (moving from rented to bought, so could take our time). The second time we moved to Spain, but still kept our house in the UK, so just bought new furniture from IKEA for the Spanish house. The third time, we moved back from Spain, and we sold the house fully furnished and just brought back one Seat Alhambra full of stuff.

We have helped our son move (from family home to his own flat), so did it ourselves as it didn't all have to be on one day.

So have never had occasion to use a removal firm, but as I say, would tip if they did a good job.

morganlefay

Thank you everyone for helpful responses. We are both late 60s, I have bad arthritis so the 'mates with a van' option is not one we can adopt. Have a big house and 40 years' worth of stuff to pack and move - hideous for them. My computer is about to be disconnected, but my conclusion is - thanks to kind people on here - that we will give them tea, coffee, biscuits all day - maybe a bacon sandwich and a tip at end of day, as I would run a mile from moving me if I were them, and I am grateful to anyone who is prepared to do it, even if I do have to pay them - don't grudge them that at all !