Nebraska Furniture Mart is one of the most popular furniture retailers in the US with a whopping $500m yearly turnover.
While they are known for their furniture sales, they also sell a wide variety of other household goods such as appliances, bikes, sports equipment, and electronics.
If you’ve ordered goods from Nebraska Furniture Mart, you might be wondering whether you need to tip the driver when your goods show up.
Knowing when and when not to tip can help you manage your financial budget and save you hundreds of dollars throughout the year.
To help you out with that, we’ve done some research and looked at the common practice for tipping their delivery drivers, what their delivery drivers earn, how much delivery will cost you, and a whole bunch of other factors.
Keep reading to learn more…
Do You Tip Nebraska Furniture Mart Delivery? The Short Answer
There is no requirement to tip NFM’s delivery drivers. It isn’t customary to tip furniture delivery drivers and NFM’s drivers are well paid. If you do wish to tip for exceptional service then $5 – $30 is more than adequate.
How Much Do Nebraska Furniture Mart Delivery Drivers Earn?
Most people consider earnings a key factor when it comes to tips. If earnings are low then that’s an indication that a tip should be provided.
For example, tips are generally paid to cafe workers, carhops, and even some delivery drivers.
They then use those tips to make up their salary, in a similar fashion to how in some industries, workers use commission earnings to boost their income.
But what about NFM’s drivers?
We’ve taken a look at the data and it’s clear the NFM drivers do not need tips to subsidize their earnings.
According to Indeed, Nebraska Furniture Mart drivers earn $59,184 per year which is almost $10,000 higher than the US average yearly income, which stands at around $50,000.
On that basis, there is no need to tip an NFM delivery driver unless you want to reward exceptional service or if they’ve gone beyond the call of duty.
We concluded something similar when looking at whether to tip Sleep Number drivers.
How Much Does Nebraska Furniture Mart Delivery Cost?
Another consideration you might want to put some thought into is how much delivery from NFM is going to cost you.
According to NFM’s website, there are 5 options:
- Drive-Thru Pickup = Free
- Basic shipping = Free
- Next day shipping = $49.99
- Same-day shipping = $69.99
- In-home delivery = $199.99
So it’s clear they do offer a free delivery option but you can also pay for faster delivery and also for a white-glove type service where the item is placed in your house, albeit for a fee of $199.99.
Many furniture and appliance retailers actually charge for delivery which can be anything up to $250.
NFM, therefore, offers excellent delivery options compared to its competitors and you may be inclined to offer a tip for this reason if you choose the free delivery option.
How Much Should You Tip Nebraska Furniture Mart Delivery Drivers?
If you do decide to tip NFM’s delivery driver then we would recommend $5 – $30 as being reasonable.
You might wish to increase this sum if the delivery is large or you’ve opted for the premium delivery where the goods are taken into your property.
Tips are normally paid at a rate of 10-20% of the services in the US but given the delivery is free with NFM that’s not going to work here unless you opt for the paid delivery.
Other Ways of Tipping NFM Drivers
If you would rather tip your NFM driver with something other than cash then you could offer:
- Food or drink;
- A thank you card;
- An appraisal or review online or on their website;
- Verbal praise.
Should You Always Tip and Can You Withhold a Tip?
As above, there is no requirement to tip this kind of driver but you may feel compelled to tip if:
- The NFM driver has done more than required (i.e. taken the delivery inside or upstairs);
- The NFM driver has been polite and professional
- The NFM driver has come out in bad snow;
- Around the holidays.
You may decide you definitely won’t tip if:
- The driver has missed your allocated slot or has delivered to the wrong address;
- The item is damaged;
- The item is incorrect or not as expected;
- The driver is unprofessional or rude.
Related Post: Do You Tip Pottery Barn Drivers?
How Should You Tip?
If you do intend to tip, then we’d suggest doing so in cash so that the driver definitely receives the money.
If you pay by card then the driver may not receive the money.
Final Thoughts
In summary, tipping an NFM delivery driver is not required but it will be welcomed as a display of gratitude.
NFM delivery drivers earn an excellent salary as far as delivery drivers’ salaries go and there will be no hard feelings if you decide not to tip.
We tend to tip delivery drivers if the goods are super cumbersome and heavy as most furniture and appliance deliveries are but we’ve never met a furniture delivery driver that was clearly expecting a tip and this is likely the case with NFM drivers also.
If you do wish to tip then $5 – $30 should suffice depending on the weight and size of the load and other shows of gratitude such as a simple review or praise are usually enough in lieu of a monetary tip.
