How are professional movers paid?

December 28, 2016 1:25 PM

We've engaged a nationwide moving company to move our stuff about 900 miles to our new home. How are the people who actually do the work paid? Do I tip? (Yes, I'm sure. ) How much?

This is going to be a big job and we are paying by the pound for it, which will be several thousand dollars. But there does not seem to be an additional charge for the really awkward, heavy, weird stuff we have. (Stray lumber; a massive 4x4x4 plastic, metal, and wood fish tank; two pallets of full sandbags (don't ask); and a couple of other choice things that I am probably in denial about.). There is no extra charge for unpacking all our stuff in temps below freezing. Or for shuttling it on smaller trucks if the big one can't make it down the gravel road. 50-50 chance of that happening.

Are the workers and drivers paid a cut of the bill, by the hour, or what? Are they compensated for the extra hours they spend packing and unpacking? I won't feel right just slipping a 20 to everybody, but 10-20% is going to be painful. I want to be fair and I like to be nice. I want to make sure that my definition of a good tip is in line with theirs.
Thanks for your advice!

posted by SLC Mom to Work & Money (17 answers total)

They're paid hourly, most likely. For a big enough job, you might have some salaried supervisor types.

$20 is pretty average, so maybe go up to $40 if you feel like it's a really big job (or do what I've always done and give them $20 and whatever beer you "happen to have left over").
posted by Etrigan at 1:27 PM on December 28, 2016

When much younger I worked for a moving company. I was paid hourly and rarely tipped. On the occasions I was tipped it was wildly inconsistent. But it's not a tip-earning job so if you don't hand the people cash they are not getting that tip.
posted by French Fry at 1:35 PM on December 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

When I moved to my new place last year, I ended up tipping both moving guys $50 each, which was about 20% of the overall moving bill. It was also the day after Christmas (moving to a better place was my present to myself), so I was inclined to be generous. Moving huge pieces of furniture is hard physical labor, and I figure that it's worth it to show appreciation for the people who do it for a living. YMMV.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:43 PM on December 28, 2016

Tipping may vary some by location, but I'd say about $50 each, depending on how tough it is to get that stuff in to your new place, would be generous. For a smaller in town move I did less, but this sounds like a tough job, and you'll likely have three guys, so that's hopefully doable for your budget.
posted by ldthomps at 1:46 PM on December 28, 2016

Having said what I said above, and re-reading your question: If money is tight, do not feel compelled to tip above what you comfortably able to. The labor costs are largely front-loaded into the moving company rates, so don't put pressure on yourself to meet some unspoken standard of generosity. But if you can chip in a little extra, it doesn't hurt your karma.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:49 PM on December 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've only moved in warm weather and also with a tight budget, I make sure the movers have lots of cold drinks and snacks. No cash tips (my household goods are small to regular sized, however).
posted by PaulaSchultz at 1:52 PM on December 28, 2016

I typically tip at around $20 per mover. I wouldn't stress too much your weird stuff. They're used to it. If it's a speciality item or circumstance they feel they need to charge for, they will (assuming they've conducted interview with you already?).

As to how to tip... I almost always give all of the money to the team leader to distribute. I've most always seen recommendations to give it to individuals movers directly, but that's hella awkward, as they tend to peel off as the move is coming to an end, so you may not find every one.

Another way to "tip" is to make sure you have snacks and beverages (non-alcoholic) at both ends of the move as well as an easily accessible and well stocked bathroom (toilet paper, soap, a way to dry hands).
posted by slipthought at 1:56 PM on December 28, 2016

Best answer: I used to work as a "swamper" (what furniture movers are called in Canada). The national moving companies are organized as agents or affiliates. So the company I worked for locally was affiliated with AMJ Campbell, a large national moving company. AMJ Campbell in turn worked as an agent for Atlas van lines.

I was paid hourly; I submitted hours and every two weeks got a paycheque. Some independent van drivers might hire day-laborers (swampers) for cash. The place to go for pickup jobs in my city is the parking lot of the Red Lion Inn. That's where the long-haul drivers stay. I never did that. It was too rough. Swampers are basically the lowest of the low, and many of the men I worked with had been in prison, or would be returning to prison soon.

Swampers do have a strong work ethic, though, at least with the national cartage firms. There is a right way and very definitely a wrong way to carry furniture or boxes. There are many rules, and people will tell you if you're not doing a good job.

On the plus side, one of the biggest compliments I ever got was when a senior mover called me "strong." We were moving pianos.

Since we were paid by AMJ Campbell, which was a national company registered in another province, we were never eligible for overtime (a state-level labour law). So I only really made money if I worked extra hours or extra days.

It's kind of a capricious work environment. Since swampers typically have few options (they generally can't even work fast food jobs; many can barely read), they work extremely hard in order to avoid getting fired. And they don't have very good communication or negotiation skills.

Nobody every tipped me that I can remember. Most of the people ignored us, or treated us like we were the lowest of the low (which, I guess, we were).

On a big job -- moving an entire household where it might be 1/3 of a semi trailer -- there would be a crew of 3 or 4 guys unloading the truck, plus the driver. So, on top of the actual moving expenses, that would be a large tip.
posted by My Dad at 2:03 PM on December 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Within and between major cities I've tipped around 10%--around $40-$60/guy. Higher end for the overnight move. These guys are doing brutal work to care for all your worldly goods and they must basically operate on-call rather than with steady hours.
posted by praemunire at 2:13 PM on December 28, 2016

Best answer: Tip anywhere from $25-50/person, depending on how long the job takes. The other nice thing you can do for your movers, if you're feeling inclined? Buy them food. Doesn't have to be anything fancy - last time we moved, it wasn't till the afternoon, so when the truck showed up I just ran to McDonald's and bought a couple bags of burgers and fries - but especially if it's not particularly close to a meal time, having food handy is never a bad idea. At a mimimum, have water and/or coffee available.

And as others have said: figure out how much you want to tip per mover, and give the total amount, in easily divisible chunks, to the team leader or crew boss or whoever's in charge on site. Easily divisible chunks means that, for instance, if you're tipping $25/person, don't hand the guy five $20 bills or a $100 bill - have the money in $25 increments.
posted by pdb at 2:37 PM on December 28, 2016

When I moved cross-country, one of the movers left a horrible mess and clogged toilet in my bathroom, locked the bathroom door on his way out, and left without cleaning it up or even telling me. At the destination, a different mover wrote "fuck white people" on the inside of my garage door. Much furniture was damaged at both ends.

So, it's worth seeing if they actually do a non-atrocious job before you tip. Few things would give me more satisfaction than taking my $60 in tips back from my origin movers.
posted by deadweightloss at 4:45 PM on December 28, 2016

I tipped $20.00 per mover (we had 4 guys) and I bought drinks and Taco Bell.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 9:47 PM on December 28, 2016

Best answer: I just moved almost a year ago to the day. Here's what I learned:

*Movers who work for many/most big moving companies are not employees of those companies. They are contract workers or day laborers that the move supervisor or crew lead hires to actually complete the move.

Some companies require all movers to do training with them, but not all do. Obviously, this means that not all these workers are trustworthy.

*Movers who work for the smaller companies are more likely to be actual employees of the moving company itself, and with that, will have done training, etc.

Ask about this.

*Movers expect to be tipped. $20/person is probably a minimum. You should also buy lunch/dinner/breakfast/drinks for them while they are moving your things.

*Pay for the moving insurance. No matter how well you think things are packed, things will get damaged, especially if they go to a storage facility between your point of origin and your destination. Also, movers bringing things into and out of your home can do serious damage to walls, floors, doors, and tile.
posted by yellowcandy at 11:45 PM on December 28, 2016

In Ontario, during our first house to house move it was just my wife and I. The movers took several smoke breaks, and the move, which included a 60 minute drive to the new city took from 8am to about 5:30pm. We tipped $40 to each of the three people.

In our most recent move, it was my wife, our three kids and myself (I.E. more furniture). Additionally, after they picked up our stuff at our old house, they hit our storage unit and loaded all that in, before going to our new house (only 20 minutes away this time). There were 5 people this time, and they never seemed to stop moving except for a rotating lunch break. No smoke breaks, just amazing efficiency. Despite having more stuff, the move took from 8am to 2pm and my wife and I just thought it all seemed too fast (what did we miss?). We tipped $60 to each of the 5 people happily.

Both times we were given a price ahead of time via someone who came by to examine what we needed moving - no weight or hourly billing involved. Both times the quote was exactly what we paid. The first time might have been a national company (I don't remember the name), the second time was definitely an independent. I'm pretty sure the second move was the same price including the more generous tip despite 8 years of inflation. Both times the movers seemed more than reasonably careful with the furniture and boxes.
posted by nobeagle at 7:34 AM on December 29, 2016

We bought "one of everything" at Subway around midday and had unlimited soda, ice water, lemonade, iced tea available all day. Tipped around $20/each at the end.
posted by erebora at 8:17 AM on December 29, 2016

Additonal: We used a moving service (provided by new employer) that secured multiple quotes so we were guaranteed a somewhat realistic price. They also acted as intermediary when some furniture was slightly damaged. For one move, the actual luggers traveled as a team with the driver and truck, for another move the luggers were all hired locally so the service itself may vary.
posted by erebora at 8:21 AM on December 29, 2016

Response by poster: Well, here's how it worked in the end.
The driver was always the guy in charge each day. There was a network of local laborers who had all had the company training, wore the company shirt, and knew what they were doing. (In SoCal they were a little grungy and did indeed throw some cracks at one guy about his supposed probation officer. At the delivery end they were a little more clean cut. But they were all excellent workers.)
Packing took two days and a second small truck. That was delivered in a second load.

It snowed the night before and the day of the first delivery. Everything had to be loaded onto a smaller truck in order to navigate our road. They had to go buy chains for the truck, too.
The first big truck load ended up being split into four smaller loads that were delivered over three days. So I don't think our poor driver made a lot of money on us. But he was professional and uncomplaining the whole way through.

I ended up tipping $20 per half day to the luggers and $250 to the driver. It probably added up to $600 by the time we were done but it felt about right. Oh, plus gobs of food and beverages.

Thanks for helping me think it through.
posted by SLC Mom at 2:25 PM on January 28, 2017