Tipping Removal Men

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It looks like we are moving at last. Is it still usual to tip removal
men and if so, how much? This will be northern England. Thanks.

Wouldn’t occur to me to, they’ve set a price I’ll pay it, if they wanted more they should quote more, I don’t think we should encourage tipping culture in the UK.

Last time I moved was over 10 years ago but I tipped the boss £50. There were four of them and I just said something like 'Get the guys a drink - they deserve it'. I left it up to him to decide what he actually did with it.

They worked incredibly hard all day in terrible weather and unlike other removals I'd had, nothing got broken and they went over and above, putting some furniture together for me on arrival which they didn't need to have done and making sure new floors were properly protected so didn't get damaged etc...

I did. 5 of them, they were brilliant, gave them £50 each

It definitely always used to be the “Done thing” but I’m not sure these days; Maybe have some cash on hand and see how good the service is?

We gave them £50 in cash on the day, gave it to the lads that came not the boss.

Also had a case of lager we’d got from Costco (think it was 4 x 8 packs of Kronenbourg) told them they could have that, not sure of the monetary value.

I give them £20 each. Plus food. We're usually a two-three day move.
I have done £50 each in the past.

When I looked at removal men a couple years ago they charged quite a large amount, I wouldn’t pay a tip on top of that. Why would you pay them, then pay them again with a tip?

Ours went above and beyond, tip and a treat.

Gave mine £30 each and a box of beers each.

Cash, no.
But we kept them going with cold drinks, and they were particularly impressed when I sent the kids to tesco for ice creams. It was a double win - gave the kids something to do, and immensely pleased these great big burly blokes!
It was a heatwave, BTW. Bacon sandwiches might have gone down better if it was cool!

But people tip in restaurants, hairdressers etc, so surely it’s no different. Waiting staff and salon staff are paid.

So why do these people get tipped and not the person serving you on a checkout?
I don’t tip my hairdresser, she charges enough why would I give her more?

Last time we moved the boss tried to hit me up for a further $1000 as he had underquoted. I didn't pay that or tip him.

I gave mine £20 each a couple of years ago, there were 3 of them.

I expect if you’re someone who tips generally, you’d tip removal people. If you don’t normally tip, you wouldn’t.

Maybe it depends on the level of service, especially if you have heavy or awkward furniture, or the weather is really bad or the access is difficult.

Moved last week and gave them £20 each. They earned every penny imo. They worked solidly for hours and this was one job I was happy to tip for. I’ve stopped tipping my hairdresser as she’s self employed.

Gave mine £20 each there were 4 of them. They were brilliant, it was during Covid and we had to wait all day for the key exchange so they were still moving my stuff at 7pm. This was 6 years ago.

How are you supposed to know this is even a thing? We’ve always self-moved but if we had removal men it wouldn’t even occur to me that it was a tipping situation.

I used to do removals. I'd say it was 70/30 those who tipped vs those who didn't. It's something that was always nice but never expected. Just as good were the people who bought in pizzas or sandwiches. And let us use the loo. You'd be surprised at the number of people who don't.

I think it's the done thing. My daughter's ex worked in removals for a few years and got a lotbof tips. I think his boss hinted to the customers that tips would be welcome. But this was about 10 years ago when the market was flooded with people doing removals and so the bosses were quoting silly low prices to get the jobs. So the pay was low and subsidised with the tips.

But by the same argument, childcare workers, rubbish collectors, call centre staff, checkout operators, HCAs etc are also paid but don't usually get tips?

Why some jobs and not others?

The point of a tip used to be if you went above and beyond, not just for doing the job you are paid to do. So personally I wouldn't tip movers automatically but if they were, for example, particularly efficient, or did something extra like helped taking a bed apart while they were waiting for completion, or if there had been a delay in the chain and they had worked later than planned to get everything done (but not charged a fee as some places do!), then might.

I didn’t. I had cash to do so, but could not remember where I’d put it. So other than offering cold drinks from the fridge they didnt get anything extra.

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll have some cash handy and if goes well tip them.