One of the most frequently asked questions we get during the reservation with a client on the phone at LA Moving Star is “How much should I tip movers” that’s why we created a guide so that you can avoid awkward situations and stress on deciding how to handle that part of your move.

Hiring a moving company equals requesting a service hence as with any other service you may use it is pretty common and service industry standard on tipping the person, or crew for delivering that service to you. Moving companies do not include tips into the price of your move so it’s a good gesture that would be worth considering if you show your appreciation to thank your movers for a well-delivered job. Tipping is especially common in the moving industry and your professional hardworking movers like any other service industry workers would highly appreciate the gesture.

It is hard to determine ahead of time what would be fair to tip a professional, polite, helpful moving crew however we suggest taking these 5 major variables into consideration that you would need to ask yourself before tipping your movers:

  1. How difficult my move was? Considering stairs, distance between the pick up and drop off, packing included, any extra heavy items
  2. Has everything arrived in perfect condition, with no visible damage?
  3. Can I consider my move a high-quality one?
  4. Have I had a big enough move, so that I can tip well my movers?
  5. How many movers I had during my move?

At the end of the day the key here is to trust your feelings and please do not ever feel obligated to tip more than you can afford.

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Have some sort of tipping budget in place

It would be a great idea to have some money set aside ahead of time to be prepared for a job that deserves some respect and recognition.

A lot of times especially during Covid-19 you need to document your tip for work-related or tax reasons, just let the foreman know regarding that so it would be reflected on your bill of lading. Best way scenario if you can make this decision in advance and not worrying during your move.

The general rule of thumb is to determine your tip based on the total move cost, 12% – 20% is an industry average. However there’s no obligations and no limits on how much you would truly want to tip your movers.

We suggest a move size approach which would depend on whether our movers assisting you with a small, medium or large relocation.

Below is a quick guide on how to determine that estimate:

Let’s suggest you had a medium-sized move and your total move cost came to $1,000 so based on our guide that would be equal to $200 tip, that it is gonna be shared between the 2 movers that serviced you that day, if only if they’ve provided an excellent service and your felt a genuine commitment to your needs throughout the entire move day.

If your grandfather’s old safe that weights over 350lbs was moved down and up stairs across the city, that would be an obvious reason for recognizing that movers stressed out their backs in order to make you happy and raising the total amount of tips because of that job complexity.

What if you would need to determine the tip amount on the move day itself ?

At LA Moving Star we have some procedures to assure a good minimum level of service that should be provided by all our movers. We also handle in-house training for all our movers that helps us to set then apart from any other movers. Because we are always trying to evolve and adapt to ever changing world.

Our Basic Movers success indicators include the following:

  • Moving crew shows up on specific time-frame that was communicated with the client prior to the move start or communicating their updated arrival time, especially for the moves that are scheduled in the afternoon window
  • Finishing your move faster than what was estimated to you
  • Per your request helping you unpack or set up your furniture pieces the way you want at your new place
  • Going through the flights of stairs with no damage on the walls
  • Nothing has been broken during the move
  • Polite, kind and professional movers and a great work ethic overall that impressed you
  • Following your, other family members, friends instructions during the entire move on where to place your furniture, what to assemble
  • Depending on your needs followed Covid-19 protocol accordingly

Reduce your tip amount when you confront with one of the following Red flags during your moving process:

  • Movers arrived way too late and never updated you on their late arrival
  • Rude and poor attitude overall
  • Made too much noise and shouted throughout your neighborhood, disturbing peace
  • Never followed your instructions related to your most fragile items where you marked to place those on the top instead movers piled them under heavy furniture inside the truck cargo area
  • Scratched, damaged or broke some of your belongings
  • Asked you to tip them more than what you already tipped or suggested the tip amount before you even tipped them

All our movers at LA Moving Star normally work relentlessly over the course of the entire shift with you, making sure that you are fully satisfied with the entire moving process from start to finish because your experience is what always come 1st.

How do you need to handle the tip itself

Per move completion it is worth tipping each mover in the team equally, thanking everyone individually. We suggest passing the tip amount directly to every mover just to avoid scenarios where a foreman would have to distribute it among the movers on his own.

What can help your movers to perform the best?

If you have a big move ahead and clearly understand that at times it may get superhot in Los Angeles and surrounding areas so it would be really polite of you to prepare some bottles of cold water or any soft drinks. Our movers always focus on on getting the job done however being kind and offering that is always greatly appreciated. If the move takes way over 5-6hrs our movers would politely ask for a short lunch break that’s going to be deducted from your total. Keep in mind that it is not your responsibility to provide food as our movers normally carry food with them inside food storage containers.

We understand that especially during pandemic you may not be able to afford a tip so your positive review on websites such as Yelp, Google and Facebook would be very much appreciated by your movers and would help us to understand that everything went nice and smooth.

Ready to make a move? Get in touch today for an obligation-free guaranteed price moving quote.