Should You Tip Your Junk Haulers?
Tipping Junk Removers
Picture this: you’re at the end of a junk removal appointment. Your haulers have done a truly excellent job; they did everything you asked for and better than you imagined, at that. Everything’s loaded up in the trucks, and the team is ready to roll out. However, there’s a question nagging at the back of your head. You paid for the service already, but what about the crew? They deserve something for such great service, you think. That said, you’re short on cash, and you’re not sure whether it’d be rude to even give a tip that small anyway. A tricky situation, isn’t it?
If this has ever been you, then you’ve come to the right article. In this short blog, the pros here at Johnson Junk Removal will discuss the topic of junk removal tipping and help assuage any doubts you might have about “industry standards” and the like. By the end, you should never have to ask questions like “Should I tip junk haulers?” ever again.
Do You Tip Junk Haulers?
The short answer is: no. No, you do not have to tip your junk haulers. We request only that you pay the agreed upon amount for the service; anything else you decide to give after the fact is just a bonus for us. We can’t speak for other crews, but we can guarantee that no member of Johnson Junk Removal will ever request a tip from you before, during, or after an appointment. Tipping is a totally voluntary decision meant to reward exceptional service, and that’s the simple fact of the matter.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s say you do want to tip your junk haulers. What’s the right way to go about it? Is there even a “right way”? Keep reading for the answers to these questions and more.
How Much Do You Tip Junk Removers?
Once again, let us make this abundantly clear: anything you decide to give us beyond the payment for your service is a bonus and will be appreciated heavily by the crew. That said, we know that tipping something like a single dollar doesn’t feel good—doesn’t feel substantial. So if you have the cash to spare, how much is “enough” to tip haulers? To answer that question, we need to talk about flat and percentage-based tips.
Flat and Percentage-Based Rates
To give a “flat” rate tip is to pay a fixed amount that has no relation to the established cost of your appointment. To give a “percentage-based” rate tip is to pay, well, a percentage of what you already paid on top of that. Those terms don’t mean much in a vacuum, so let’s use some examples to demonstrate the difference. This is about to get a little mathematical, so bear with us.
Let’s say you had a mattress removal appointment that cost you $84.65, and you want to give a percentage-based tip—20% is pretty standard—to your haulers. You’ll probably need a calculator to work the details out in the moment, but we’ll do this one for you. Rounding up a bit, 20% of $84.65 is $17 exact, so you’d tip $17. Not too complicated.
On the other hand, if you wanted to give a flat tip to your crew, then you don’t have to bother with all the math. You would simply pay whatever amount you want; $20 is a common amount, but again, whatever you want. $5, $30, maybe even $50 if you’re feeling especially generous.
So now that you understand the economic jargon, another question presents itself: when should I tip flat, and when should I tip percentage-based?
Tipping Flat vs. Tipping Percentage
In our opinion, whether you should tip one way or the other all depends on how much your actual appointment cost. Consider, for instance, the example from earlier, where the cost of the appointment was $84.65. We already worked out that if you were to tip a typical percentage, you’d be paying $17. Compare that to giving a flat tip of $20—which would be three dollars more than the haulers would get otherwise. In this situation, then, it may be favorable to tip flat over percentage, as it would mean more money for the haulers.
But what about an appointment that costs more? How about a garage cleanout that cost something like $156? In this scenario, tipping a flat $20 doesn’t seem like that much. If you were to tip 20% of the appointment cost, however, you’d be paying $31—a substantial difference of $11. Now that’s sure to put a grin on your haulers’ faces.
Junk Removal Tipping—The Verdict?
To recap: no, you do not have to tip junk haulers; no, you don’t have to tip that much if you do; and no, there is no one correct way to go about tipping if you’re really concerned about giving your haulers a nice bonus. That said, if you want to get technical about it, then it’s best to tip flat for lower-cost appointments where a percentage-based tip wouldn’t amount to much. And for higher-cost appointments, the reverse is true: it’s best to tip percentage, as a flat tip wouldn’t mean as much.
But again, don’t sweat the details. The fact that you’re so set on tipping us at all means the world to us!