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

totallybored

Proxy wrote: »

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.

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That's the problem though doing it yourself, it's incredibly difficult to do in one trip and when you're buying and selling you really need everything to be loaded on the one van. My buyers were waiting outside at 11am for us to leave as their money had gone through. Now we could have been awkward and took the rest of the day to get our stuff out and made her wait outside but this wouldn't be a very fair or nice thing to do.

I admit I wouldn't be able to do it myself which is why I said that removal guys do a very good job. I can imagine the pathetically small amount of stuff me and my 30 something female friends would be able to carry. One of my first flats I moved myself with the help of a friend, hired a van and took a lot if trips. I was lucky I could move over a couple if days and had a 1 bed flat of cheap stuff though. I didn't worry about breaking stuff or if it would all be insured.

totallybored

morganlefay wrote: »

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 !

Next comes the other bad bit, unpacking:eek:

googler

morganlefay wrote: »

....... 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 !

Good for you.

Our removal men turned up with what looked like an under-sized van, the reaction from us being "We'll never get our stuff in there" .... but they did. Fitting it all in like a 3D jigsaw, taking care to strap it all in at intervals so it didn't move, taking extra care with the valuable and fragile items, and they didn't break, scratch or ding anything.

They lifted on one arm items I'd struggle with two of my arms and a helper. A couple of them were time-served types who didn't say a word to me the whole time, but on turning up, donned their workmen's aprons, and got straight to work with not a hint of faff or messing about.

Did we keep them going with tea, coffee, biscuits, sandwiches, home baking? You bet.

Did we tip them? Absolutely.

Would we use them again. In a heartbeat.

Good removal men are worth their weight in home baking, let there be no doubt.

J_i_m

Originally Posted by pacific4130
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!

namecheck wrote: »

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.

Not only that yet pacific4130 seems to assume that there would be a so called high paid job for everybody. Now that would be a startlingly blinkered assumption since there actually isn't a job for everyone let alone a high paid one. So perhapps social economics wasn't one of the subjects he worked so hard on at school?

The capacity point is also all too relevant. Just because a person doesn't walk out of school with straight As (or whatever) doesn't mean that they didn't work very hard to achieve what they did and it also doesn't mean because a person stacks shelves for a living that they don't put the effort in.

In fairness it was an outrageously sweeping generalisation that shows a detachment from the diversity of real people.

And academic high flyers aren't as always clever as they may like to think they are, we shouldn't devalue menial jobs because we'd be far worse off without them.

girl_withno_name

googler wrote: »

Good for you.

Our removal men turned up with what looked like an under-sized van, the reaction from us being "We'll never get our stuff in there" .... but they did. Fitting it all in like a 3D jigsaw, taking care to strap it all in at intervals so it didn't move, taking extra care with the valuable and fragile items, and they didn't break, scratch or ding anything.

They lifted on one arm items I'd struggle with two of my arms and a helper. A couple of them were time-served types who didn't say a word to me the whole time, but on turning up, donned their workmen's aprons, and got straight to work with not a hint of faff or messing about.

Did we keep them going with tea, coffee, biscuits, sandwiches, home baking? You bet.

Did we tip them? Absolutely.

Would we use them again. In a heartbeat.

Good removal men are worth their weight in home baking, let there be no doubt.

I like the idea of providing cakes, I hadn't thought of this

I must admit that I don't think me and the Mr could manage ourselves, me being a little weakling especially... and given that we might have little (< week) between exchange and completion, I imagine the majority of our mates wouldn't be able to get time off - although several have offered to help and one even to drive a massive van for us if needed.

So, we came to the conclusion that we'd pay someone to do it for us and I'm sure we'll be very glad we did! I'm nervous about the second move - my Grandpa's piano from my Grandma's house to our new house....

Bettie

pacific4130 wrote: »

I don't recall ever saying everyone could have a high paid job.

My point is that people who don't like working a menial minimum wage job should strive to better themselves, not seek to inflate their (fair) wage by pressuring society into tipping them. Not to mention that their extra pay is invisible to the taxman.

If the tax man knows you're a waiter/waitress you get taxed on tips whether you get them or not.

jjlandlord

Bettie wrote: »

If the tax man knows you're a waiter/waitress you get taxed on tips whether you get them or not.

HMRC does not tax people at random, you don't get taxed on nonexistent income...

Bettie

jjlandlord wrote: »

HMRC does not tax people at random, you don't get taxed on nonexistent income...

It is up to staff to prove they don't get what the tax man dictates they get - otherwise it's pay up time. All those tips on cards either the employer will have to pay or the staff. The tax man dictated how much I was paid in cash tips and I had to attend and fight my case that I never received what he estimated. :mad:

J_i_m

Sorry to be slighty off topic still..

I'm actually of limited capacity... I spent much of my school life in special needs and I tell you I worked dammed hard to achieve the GCSEs that I did, I took on more further education than I could cope with and it didn't work out, not through a lack effort. And yet I've been in full time employment since I were 19. I've never been on benefits, I've never expected a hand out nor ever asked for a tip nor would do so. I myself don't tend to tip others often or much because I don't have the funds to do so, but if I've been suitably impressed with a service I've recieved I might say "and keep the change". It's not a hand out, it's simply a way of showing appreciation.

I actually work in the NHS as well, in a very stressful and often dangerous environment as well, in one of me least thanked roles, mental health. I have been assulted on ocassion and I do not recieve tips.. Indeed if I did I'd be subject to a "safe guarding of vulnerable adults" enquirey.

You saf a shelf stacker is not comparable to waiting in a restaurant... Well.. If one of those shelf stackers carried a heavy item for you from the store and across a large carpark.. Is that not a service at least on par with plonking a plate on your table? and at the very least worthy of a "thanks very much!" ?

Besides, that wasn't my logic for tipping... But yet I've just showed that it isn't flawed as you make out.

undaunted

morganlefay wrote: »

assuming they are nice and efficient and it all goes OK I imagine I would like to tip them - so can someone kindly tell me what we should do ?

There's your own answer then - there is no should but if YOU want to tip them then YOU tip them, how much is also upto YOU.

Personally I'm with your partner - you're paying for a service , why should you tip anyone just because you then get what you're paying for?