Page 4 | Should we tip movers

Evaka · 2025-05-28T22:03:06+00:00

Partner and I are debating whether to tip our house movers. They're packing and moving a one bed flat for us this weekend. We're paying 1.5k for what I think is a fairly premo service. Should we tip the workers? DP was NYC based for years so possibly skews towards tipping in general.

Ah, this is a bit of a sore spot for me.

We moved in September last year, quite an expensive company, but we were in a rush, and didn't have time to shop around.
On the actual move day, my DH had to go and deal with a work-related emergency, it happens. So it was just me on my own.
The movers arrived, 3 big strapping blokes, and the first thing they said was something like "get the kettle on, you doing us bacon sarnies?" Umm... No? I'd long since packed the kettle away and the fridge was empty. It never occurred to me that they might want a hot drink before even starting. Just being cheeky fuckers tbh, but I wasn't confident I knew what the etiquette was. I'd last moved 14 years ago, and that was with a very small "man in a van" operation, who I paid in cash...

They were a bit off with me, but warmed back up as we bantered back and forth. But that was me putting on a front honestly. I was so rattled that by the time they'd done the unloading at the new place, I gave them £20 each as a "tip" because I felt like I'd made some massive unspoken "removal man" faux pas. I was really annoyed with myself once I'd calmed down.