Tipping/feeding removal men 14 February at 12:14AM in House buying, renting & selling 37 replies 3.3K views

Letsgetmoving

We are moving on Thursday! And are using professional movers to make things easier.

it was quite expensive (over £1k) do I need to tip/feed the movers? I imagine the majority of the fee goes to the company rather than the guys doing all the heavy lifting. I was thinking of getting paper cups etc… for tea/coffee and biscuits.

We’re only moving a mile away and their depot is not much further so I imagine they’d go back there in the in between time

_Penny_Dreadful

I tip removalists in cash, the amount being dependent on how many flights of stairs they’ve had to lug a washing machine up. 

goater78

I tipped them £20 each (2 of them) and it took them an hour to collect my stuff and an hour to drop it off

TheJP

Do you tip the bin men/women, the person on the till at Tesco's, the barista at Starbucks. I'm guessing no as you pay for that service. This isn't any different.

Tipping is an Americanisation system due to low wages/tip based wage contracts. We don't have that system here.

SuzeQStan

Just give them some money for maccies on their departure. A tenner per person should sort it.

user1977

I would expect them to make their own arrangements (whether with or without cash assistance from you) rather than rely on their clients being organised enough to feed and water them. 

Murphybear

My last move took up a good proportion of the day.  I provided chocolate biscuits, cake and drinks.  They actually didn’t want anything as they had provided their own 

goater78

TheJP said:

Do you tip the bin men/women, the person on the till at Tesco's, the barista at Starbucks. I'm guessing no as you pay for that service. This isn't any different.

Tipping is an Americanisation system due to low wages/tip based wage contracts. We don't have that system here.

Do you not tip the bin men? Most people give them something at Christmas. 

To be clear though tipping is not an Americanisation. Tipping is widely practiced in the UK (although clearly not be you). It’s done in appreciation for good service. 

F70

The three guys I had on my last move when above and beyond moving three massive tool chests and said I didn't have to remove the tools which save me so much time they were also really respected the stuff we had. I had to shoot off somewhere and even fitted the washing machine and fridge freezer in place. I gave him 50 quid each. To be fair it is a really hard job.

This was a small local firm who were very competitive on price.

mi-key

Nothing wrong with tipping the workers if they provide a good service. Most removal men are probably on minimum wage, and its hard work moving a house full of stuff ( twice as they do it at each end ! ) so giving them £20 each is a couple of hours extra pay for them.

At the least I would provide cold drinks for them during the day, and maybe a couple of packs of beer at the end 

jonnydeppiwish!

TheJP said:

Do you tip the bin men/women, the person on the till at Tesco's, the barista at Starbucks. I'm guessing no as you pay for that service. This isn't any different.

Tipping is an Americanisation system due to low wages/tip based wage contracts. We don't have that system here.

Absolutely the binmen - if I’ve forgotten to leave the bin out, they come and grab it. Over the festive period, they emptied both bins on household waste day so we didn’t have overflowing recycling.

Best £20 I spend each year. And they are very grateful for anything - the number of boxes of chocolates the old ladies had given them stacked up in the cab!

If we’re home and it’s hot. We also run them out cold drinks as well. They are part of our community.