Even way before your professional movers knock on your door on Moving day, you may have a number of questions to worry about.
Without a doubt, one of those questions is whether you should tip movers, and if yes, how much to tip movers.
Another question that you may not be sure about is, Should you feed movers? The thing is that there really isn’t a short answer to this one – it will depend on your personal preference and the specific house moving situation.
So, do you offer drinks to your movers? Do you buy movers lunch?
Please bear in mind that your movers are not robots, they are humans just like you – they get thirsty, they get hungry, and they get tired too.
Should you offer drinks to your movers?
Absolutely!
Although you’re under no obligation to offer drinks to your movers when they arrive in your house, it comes down to good manners to keep your hired workers properly hydrated while they are working on your move. Beverages are not expensive so you won’t have to worry about burdening your budget in any way when you offer cold refreshments to your team of movers.
Now, the best movers in the business will have a cooler with beverages on their moving truck, so they may still refuse your kind offer since they don’t want to rely on other people to stay hydrated throughout the move. Nevertheless, your movers can still gladly accept your offer, appreciating your thoughtful gesture in the meanwhile.
Now, what beverages should you offer your movers?
- Bottled water. Without a doubt, this is the best beverage to offer movers while they are packing, carrying, or loading your household items. During a summer move, it’ll be nice to provide cold bottled water to your hired men.
- Soda. Various types of soft drinks will do just fine.
- Lemonade. This is a great choice when moving in the summer thanks to the great refreshing effect of lemonade.
- Coffee. If your movers arrive early in the morning, it’s customary to ask them if they would like a cup of coffee to start the day with an energy boost thanks to the caffeine in the coffee.
- Tea. It’s a good idea to offer movers tea during a winter move when they need to warm up before the hard physical labor.
- Sports drinks. Sports drinks are a bit expensive but if you can afford it, then there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t treat each mover with a Gatorade. That can be especially useful if you notice that their energy levels are going down as the move progresses.
IMPORTANT: Never offer alcoholic beverages to movers!
You might get tempted to offer each of the hired workers an ice-cold beer during a hot summer day but you really shouldn’t.
Your movers will have to drive the moving truck either to your destination or back to their office, so it’s really a bad idea for them to be driving a large commercial vehicle after having had a beer or two. Besides, your movers will be handling your precious items, so you want them to be as sharp and careful as possible.
Besides, top-rated movers are supposed to always turn down alcoholic beverages anyway. So, stick to non-alcoholic beverages and everything should be alright.
See also: Moving Day Tips
Should you offer food to your movers?
There’s no simple answer to this question.
While you don’t have to buy movers lunch, it’s considered proper etiquette to offer food to your hired workers if the move takes longer than 4-5 hours. Thus said, your movers can still turn down your kind offer simply because they have brought their own lunch knowing that they will be working a long shift.
So, should you feed professional movers?
Yes, it’s usually a good idea to provide food to your team of movers, and here are the advantages of doing so:
- Offering food to your movers is very likely to have a positive effect on their attitude toward you and your belongings. Even if they decline your offer, they will definitely appreciate your gesture and generosity.
- Providing food to professional movers will maintain their energy levels high for better performance. As stated above, when a house move takes more than 4-5 hours to complete, the movers will start to get hungry, their energy levels will drop, and their overall performance will suffer as a result. If you yourself are getting ready to have something to eat, then that’s the perfect timing to ask the workers if they would like to join you.
- Offering snacks or food to movers should shorten the duration of the move. Why? If the professional movers you’re working with have not brought any food with them and you never offer them lunch, then they will have to leave your home in search of a place to eat or buy food from. And that alone will eat up a big chunk of the overall move time. But if you buy lunch for your movers, then they can eat it up on-site and won’t have to leave your house, which should save plenty of time.
Believe it or not, some top-notch moving companies have policies that discourage their movers from accepting food or even beverages from their customers. So, if you wish to avoid awkward situations, you can call the moving company in advance and ask them if it’s ok to offer food and drinks to their movers once they arrive at your house.
If you’ve already made up your mind that you will provide various drinks to the pros (bottled water or easy access to drinking water is a must), then you may be somewhat worried about what type of food to offer the workers. As a rule of thumb, you should keep things simple instead of rushing to the kitchen to prepare some hard-to-cook and time-consuming delicacies.
In case you’re wondering, good food choices to offer movers include:
- pizza,
- sandwiches,
- snacks such as cheese bites or cheese toasts,
- burgers,
- bananas and other fresh fruits, and
- nuts and dried fruits.
It’s important to know that the moving contract does not oblige you in any way to feed your movers or offer drinks to them. However, good manners and common courtesy dictate that you treat them like guests because that’s exactly what they are. If you treat them nicely, then they should treat you and your belongings nicely as well.
Read also: What to eat on Moving day
