Quick! What do you tip packers/movers?

[Northey]

Three men packing a book-heavy flat and carrying things back and forth in torrential rain and howling winds.

Also, I am quite poor. Not that that actually affects what the going rate is...

I think we tipped £50 between three of them (not sure if that is on the stingy or generous side!)

We tipped £20 each (there were 2 of them).

I have £60 in my pocket (£40 of the original £100 having gone to an emergency electrician) so I shall just hand it all over. In the context of the thousands and thousands that seem to get spunked during house selling and moving I might as well be generous. Well, not be stingy, anyway.

Uh Nothing I have paid for them to provide a service - no one tips me for the service I provide.

Yes but there are services and services, lizcat. Some of which generally come along tips for their providers. I think this is probably one of them.

Sorry, that sounded arsey. What I mean is that for some roles a tip is the norm, and when that is the case I would rather get it right.

Sorry, but I still don't get it. I lug really heavy things into the world at really unsocial hours - no tip, often not even a thank you. Removal men get plenty of tea and chocolate biscuits and a thank you very sufficient in my view. So still no tip from me, I don't tip my hair dresser either.

Agree with Lizcat. Why pay something on top of the fee which has already been agreed. Next thing we know there will be a built in service charge. Don't think I have ever tipped them but then I hate tipping in general. I might have a more generous attitude if I was richer though. Having said that, DS delivers take-aways and relies on his tips, so for the first time I tipped the delivery boy who brought our chinese recently. Must be going soft.

We bought fish and chips for our removals men, and that was only because we wanted it ourselves but didn't want to sit there with a hungry audience.

Not really interested in arguing about it. You (and I) do jobs where tips don't happen. You choose not to tip people who do jobs were they do happen. I choose to tip them. And I wanted advice from other tippers about how much they would give in this instance.

I think £20 each would be fair if you can spare it, in that case. Sorry wasn't trying to start a debate, just got a bit carried away then

Don't worry, wellhello, it wasn't you . I wouldn't normally get tetchy over it,, but I'm a bit snappy after all the moving crap today. Apologies for being grumpy about it.

I don't want to argue just don't see that there is any need to tip anyone apart from table staff and that's where I come from.

Right. But I don't want advice on whether to tip or not. I want advice on how much. Hence my irritation.

I usually base it on my 'couple of pints each' calculation feed them during the move.

Northey Well done you for tipping. I know from speaking to our removal guys that they work crazy long hours for very little money (they are eastern European). They actually broke something of mine (my DS1's bookcase) but to be fair, DH saw it happen and said it was a complete accident. The removal guy was very good about it though he said something about his pay being docked for the damage, so we didn't 'report' it as such. However, he spoke to his boss, admitted what he had done and we got the waiting fee of £65 waived so we thought £40 for them both personally was a fair trade-off. They were very grateful and they made our move a lot more pleasant.

£20 a head and if you want A+ service , half when they turn up and do mention in a nice way , they get the same on completion, it"s called greasing the wheels

Flipping heck. Do some people still tip??

I suppose some people still want the "them and us" culture.

Um, copy, what?! We tipped because they'd worked shockingly hard for pretty much 12 hours non-stop, gone well beyond call of duty in helping us shift boxes to the right places, played peekaboo with the kids, and been generally brilliant. We gave 20 quid each (there were 3 of them) for a round on us. 'Them and us?' Some people will find any reason to be snippy

wow, £20 a head is so much. I thought I was being generous giving £25 for six guys, just thinking they could get a round in. I know it's not a lot in the grand scheme of buying a house, but that's partly the point. you've spunked so much you've got nothing left to give! altho i'd much rather they got the money than the estate agents.