We're incredibly lucky that the University is paying our moving expenses for us, so we're getting a removals firm to shift all our junk (for the first time in our lives), and they are even packing stuff for us. Which is just as well, because my packing strategy is rubbish, and half of my plates would probably end up broken. But this raises a tricky issue; how much do you tip removals people? No-one we know has moved recently using a removals company, so we don't have the first idea what the going rate is. We don't want to be stingy — after all, these people will have all our worldly possessions in their hands — but we are also not made of money^1^. There will be two people packing on one day, then three shifting boxes the next. This question is obviously for UK residents only, unless there an International Agreement on Removals Staff Tipping Levels.

^1^ This is a big understatement — we are heavily in debt to our parents at the moment.