I wont recommend a mover, but I will give you a piece of advice... I once worked for a moving company (worst 6 weeks of my life) and I learned a thing or two.
Rich (or 'well off') people are annoyingly cheap when they are dealing with laborors. Common folk are amazingly generous in the same circumstances.
If you want your furniture and walls to be in good shape, be nice to the guys that are doing the moving. MAybe go to subway and buy 2 sandwiches, get them cut into quarters instead of halves and have some pop on hand. aHave it on a tray and tell them to just help themselves. The $20 you spend right there will save you ding marks or your walls and they'll actually tie down the furniture in the truck.
Dont follow them around and point stuff out. Dont stand in the truck and ask them if they're sure they're loading it properly. Just back the hell off and let them work.
Have a COLD 6 pack waiting at the other end. Maybe another sandwich or two.
You can tip alot less and the work will get done well.
You'd be surprised at how cheap some people are. I remember moving one guy's mahogany furniture out of one mansion into another and both him and his nasty wife were following us around, making us stop (while holding a f'n mahogany credenza) so that they could inspect the sticker on the back of it and reminisce where they bought it... Stuff like that will result in broken mirrors and severely dinged furniture.
And for god's sake, if you have a cat, vacuum around and behind your couches before the guys have to pick it up.
But I can't stress enough how far a snack goes for these guys before they start lifting. You probably have done some labour in your life whether you've dug a trench in your yard or whatever, an empty stomach sucks. These days, most guys working for moving companies are on skid row. Half of them haven't eaten breakfast. It was a pretty humbling experience working there.
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