I understood helping friends move when we were students. Money is tight, it's the same city, and everyone moves at roughly the same rate.

I didn't understand why a friend with a good job wanted his friends to drag all his furniture across town and up 4 flights of stairs.

I'm invited to "help move" someone's stuff in September. He has booked movers, and says we'll drink beer while watching them unload, then have a party. That sounds like a good non-student version.