Tipping

[msmemory_archive]

So the professional movers are coming tomorrow, in the teeth of the nor'easter, to move all the furniture. It's clear that gratuities (tips) are expected, and due to the weather I'm especially convinced they're appropriate. But how much? We have four guys and two trucks, for the day.

Comments

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I read you on my friends' friends list. ( friends with MikeKn, but havent been to Carolingia since the 80s )

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Qcgv4raBQ08J:www.tipping.org/tips/TipsPageMovers.html+tip+movers&hl=en

might help. Also, try to have coffee, cocoa, or a dunkin card for them to get some, to warm up.

Congrats on the new home =)

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

When I last moved, I over-tipped at $20 per person, plus I took a lunch order, and had coffee and donuts in the morning.

[rickthefightguy.livejournal.com]

I went with $100 for our 4 guys, and the move was not too much stuff. (I mean, for a Scadian...)

Boy movers are awesome. The whole thing that would have taken 8 friends all day took these four guys about 3 hours... technique and a belt makes the weakest of them able to lift as much as my favorite Duke.

-R
"Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies."

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

It also helps if you know how to pack.

Years ago, I was one of many helping Thorgeirr move out of Framingham. He filled an empty TV box with books. None of us could budge it. Except, of course, Thorgeirr, who didn't see the problem.

(Boy, is he strong!)

Last time I moved, I did a clever thing, and went to a college bookstore when they were receiving fall books, and took all their empty boxes home. Just the right size for my most common commodity!

I live in fear of the notion of moving again. 11 years in one spot, and a bad book habit, is weighing on my soul.

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

$20/person is not over-tipping these days, esp. if there's Factors (weather, specially difficult pieces, specially challenging stairs/terrain).

(I was once a mover myself, but we didn't get tips like that!--that was more than a quarter-century ago)

[dsrtao]

$20 apiece and coffee should be good.

Please check your rates and math separately from theirs. When we moved last, the crew chief worked out a bill on paper and handed it to me. It was clear that he was having trouble with math that day, but it ended up with about what we had been quoted, so I paid in cash. Then we got a call two days later saying that he had miscalculated and we owed them $300 more. I told them to send a written bill showing all the work and rates, and though they tried to get us to send them more cash without it, eventually they gave up.

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

If it's really snowing, I'd pay 25-30 per plus a vacuum pot of hot cocoa and coffee and donuts in the morning (drinks available all day) plus either lunch or a lunch place card for the foreman to take them out. They can make your move change from horrendous to a relief.

All the things goldsquare said about packing.

Also: I found a package of labels that said "Kitchen, living room, bedroom one" etc. I went around and labeled all the furniture and as many boxes as I could, and put one of the labels on the door of each room. The Movers thought it was godlike, since they didn't have to ask where things went.

If that kind of label isn't available in your area, you can use a mailing label, a colored dot and the name of the room, and the same color on the door of the room.

labelling

[cellio]

I did the same labelling thing (with colored dots). I also gave them an index by floor -- e.g. pink, yellow, and green dots all go to the second floor, blue and tan go to the attic, white and orange go to the first floor -- so they could optimize dolly-loads if they wanted to. This boggled them; I was clearly the most organized customer they'd had in a while.

Alas, it did not prevent errors, though I suspect it reduced them.

Re: labelling

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Yes, did reduce errors, but that was so much easier!

[kimberlycreates.livejournal.com]

I haven't the foggiest idea about what would be an appropriate tip. But I'm a dork and would probably do something like bake cookies and have hot chocolate and water at hand for them.