I have been in a bit of a tizzy since I realized that I would have to tip my movers substantial sums of money to get my stuff out of Wilmington, and up to New York. Part of it is due to my deep seated aversion to hiring people to do things for me. But more of my anxiety had to do with the mechanics of the thing.

I figured out how much to tip fairly easily - lots of people have discussed this online. The remaining problem, though, was that neither the pick up tip nor the delivery tip create the right incentives. The pick up tip does nothing to get the people to pack you up quickly and effectively, because they dont know about it until after all the packing is done. And the delivery tip is, of course, after delivery, just like at a restaurant. In effect, then, the one relevant tip, the pick up tip, is a bribe to keep the movers from exacting revenge on your furniture. That is not an ideal situation.

In the end, I decided to try to signal my intention to tip well by producing coffee and donuts for breakfast. That seemed to have the right effect, and I am now happily packing to leave for Iceland tomorrow evening. But does anyone else have a better idea?