How much do you tip? (non-poker/casino related) (1 Viewer)

jbutler

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i like to think i have a handle on whom to tip and how much, but was recently castigated by my mother for not giving to the postal worker or garbage/recycling collectors during the holidays (though these seem more like bonuses than tips, but whatever), so i wonder who else i'm unjustly leaving out or shortchanging. i tend to overtip some people, but i've worked a few of these jobs, so my empathy compels me to bump it up a little.

FOOD SERVICE: 20% no matter the quality of the food or speed of service unless it was beyond doubt that it was the server's fault
BARTENDER: 20% if paying on tab at the end of the night; $1 per drink if paying as i go
TAKE-OUT/PICK-UP: $1 or $2 depending on the singles i have available
BARISTA: if just one or two cups of coffee, the change leftover or a dollar on the card; if something more involved, 20%
FOOD DELIVERY: $5 or 20% whichever is higher
HOUSE CLEANER: $10 for standard; $20 for deep cleaning (twice a year); $100 bonus at xmas
HOTEL HOUSEKEEPER: $5 or $2 per day, whichever is higher
CAB DRIVER: $2 or 20%, whichever is higher
VALET: $2
GAS STATION ATTENDANT: $2 (all stations are full service in NJ)
COAT CHECK: $1

i guess i'll start giving out xmas cards with cash for garbage/recycling collectors and postal workers next year - maybe $20 each?

requisite reservoir dogs scene:

 
Having been a waiter in the past, I tend to tip good
 
Dine-In Restaurant - Min: $0 / Max: 50% / Typical: 20-25%

Bar - $1 (plus loose change) per drink or 20-30% on the tab

Take Out/Pick Up - Don't do this often but when I do I don't tip if I go in to pick it up or tip $1 or $2 if they bring it carside

Barista: $1 - $2 plus loose change

Pizza Delivery - At least $5 and often more, rounded up to the nearest $5 increment, especially if they get it to us fast. I used to deliver pizza in college. You're kidding yourself if you don't think they know which houses tip well and which don't. It's also remarkable how often our pizza arrives in less than the lower end of the time range given on the phone, often in ~15 minutes even during "peak" times.

Hotel Housekeeping: Usually $10 on the first day plus $5 each additional day if they go above and beyond. My stays are usually less than 2 nights though.

USPS, UPS, FedEx: $25 gift cards to local places. I've been told they "can't" accept cash which is why I go the gift card route.

Trash Collectors: $25 gift card, if I can catch them - they usually come by when we're at work.
 
i like to think i have a handle on whom to tip and how much, but was recently castigated by my mother for not giving to the postal worker or garbage/recycling collectors during the holidays (though these seem more like bonuses than tips, but whatever), so i wonder who else i'm unjustly leaving out or shortchanging. i tend to overtip some people, but i've worked a few of these jobs, so my empathy compels me to bump it up a little.

FOOD SERVICE: 20% no matter the quality of the food or speed of service unless it was beyond doubt that it was the server's fault
BARTENDER: 20% if paying on tab at the end of the night; $1 per drink if paying as i go
TAKE-OUT/PICK-UP: $1 or $2 depending on the singles i have available
BARISTA: if just one or two cups of coffee, the change leftover or a dollar on the card; if something more involved, 20%
FOOD DELIVERY: $5 or 20% whichever is higher
HOUSE CLEANER: $10 for standard; $20 for deep cleaning (twice a year); $100 bonus at xmas
HOTEL HOUSEKEEPER: $5 or $2 per day, whichever is higher
CAB DRIVER: $2 or 20%, whichever is higher
VALET: $2
GAS STATION ATTENDANT: $2 (all stations are full service in NJ)
COAT CHECK: $1

i guess i'll start giving out xmas cards with cash for garbage/recycling collectors and postal workers next year - maybe $20 each?

requisite reservoir dogs scene:



Pretty much spot on here, although out here in BFE, I can't get delivery and don't use baristas, cab drivers, valet, coat check, except on Vacation, and can't remember the last time I was at a full service gas station......probably twenty years ago. Personally never even crossed my mind to tip UPS, USPS, FedEx, or Trash collectors. I will probably start doing that now that it has been brought to my attention
 
USPS, UPS, FedEx: $25 gift cards to local places. I've been told they "can't" accept cash which is why I go the gift card route.

it's funny - after my mom yelled at me about this i googled for what i should be "tipping" them and this rule came up. i mentioned it to her and she said she's tipped $20 every year for 40 years (solid COLA for garbage collectors obv). i guess suburban georgia is not completely up to date with enforcement of the regulation of gifts to public employees.
 
I still can't believe NJ has that stupid full service only law in place at gas stations.
 
I still can't believe NJ has that stupid full service only law in place at gas stations.

the law is stupid obv, but i'll be honest: when i'm in PA or NY, i despise having to get out of the car to pump gas in the frigid weather. i have been coddled by NJ far too long.
 
As a one-time tipped employee, I tend to tip actual tipped employees very well (on the rare occasions when I actually use their services.) Waiters, food delivery, valets, cab drivers, etc - anybody doing something for me that I could have done myself. 25% plus for waiters, $5-$8 for delivery, $5 valet. But usually I do do it myself.

However, for me, for a tipping situation to exist, a NON-tipping situation has to exist - it must be possible to partake of the product without the optional service by driving to the pizza place/ordering pickup/parking your own car/walking your happy ass down the street/etc. (or playing in a self-dealt home game. :))

I really don't agree with tipping baristas or other types of food pickup or similar ("valet-only" parking - I've heard of such a thing, but never seen it...) If you're bringing it out to my car when I could have come in and got it, OK, that's a couple of bucks, but if I'm in there getting it myself, nope, this is not a tipping spot unless the guy/girl has gone above and beyond somehow. If I'm at a Sonic with no drive-thru and I'm not ALLOWED to come in, no tipping. The guy making sandwiches at Subway isn't getting one no matter how many tip jars you put out, unless you're going to let me come back there and make my own sandwich (I'll do it...) My new USPS guy will most certainly be getting a fat Christmas tip next year as he actually brings stuff to my house which is 350 feet off of a one-lane gravel road (which I know he doesn't have to do,) but in my previous "normal" postal delivery situations, no.

Does that make me a bad person??? :eek:
 
i like to think i have a handle on whom to tip and how much, but was recently castigated by my mother for not giving to the postal worker or garbage/recycling collectors during the holidays (though these seem more like bonuses than tips, but whatever), so i wonder who else i'm unjustly leaving out or shortchanging. i tend to overtip some people, but i've worked a few of these jobs, so my empathy compels me to bump it up a little.

FOOD SERVICE: 15-30% pending my service. If the service is exemplary I also request to speak to the Manager to let them know this.
BARTENDER: Same as above
TAKE-OUT/PICK-UP: nothing, wtf did they.
BARISTA:N/A
FOOD DELIVERY: I only order delivery once in a great while. Its usually 6-10 pizza's (when I host a poker party). I'll tip pretty good.
HOUSE CLEANER: My tip is, I let my wife have sex with me :)
HOTEL HOUSEKEEPER: If its a one night deal, nothing. We have been to a few Mexican resorts over the last few years and I'll leave a couple of bucks every day.
CAB DRIVER: Don't take the cab
VALET: $2
GAS STATION ATTENDANT: N/A
COAT CHECK: N/A

There ya go
 
However, for me, for a tipping situation to exist, a NON-tipping situation has to exist - it must be possible to partake of the product without the optional service by driving to the pizza place/ordering pickup/parking your own car/walking your happy ass down the street/etc. (or playing in a self-dealt home game. :))

I really don't agree with tipping baristas or other types of food pickup or similar...

Does that make me a bad person??? :eek:

i don't think so. although i tend to tip for take-out and coffee, i wouldn't look askance at someone who didn't. however, people who don't tip servers/bartenders/delivery drivers are scum imo.
 
I tipped 100% on a £2.50 coffee/scone with jam at an Ayr hotel last week.

Mostly because they gave over the whole bar for the baby to crawl about in. It was 11am so no punters/hazards.

Both the coffee and scone were gud too.

10% seems to ĺthe standard in most places in the UK. I pay 20% if the service is really good (it rarely is) or the food is exceptional (almost never).

Too many places are geared towards profit and not quality of food/service over here these days.

Cabbies up to 50% but 0% and insistence on change if they fail to get out the cab to assist with buggy/baby paraphernalia and they are grouchy.
 
I did 50 on a ten dollar order once. In all fairness it was my daughter who was the server :)
 
I'm in NJ too and while the gas rule is stupid we still have cheaper than average or average gas prices and some kid gets a job out of it. And like said before I don't mind not getting out of my car in 18 degree weather like today.
 
There are many people who I tip depending on what they do. I get to travel around the world and the tip amount is usually based on the local economy so I cannot give dollar equivalents. I make sure to take care of people that are handling my bags if I use a skycap. Family of 4, 8 big ass bags slightly overweight from PHX to LHR---25-40 bucks with a "Make sure these get through, they are a bit heavy."

FOOD SERVICE: depends on the type of food and type of restaurant 15-25%
BARTENDER: same as food service, I always run a tab over singles
TAKE-OUT/PICK-UP: usually just a round up from the total, hard to say.
FOOD DELIVERY: about 5-10 bucks
COAT CHECK: I live in a desert
 
I am often confused on what to tip a Food Delivery person when they are already charging a Delivery fee?
 
I am often confused on what to tip a Food Delivery person when they are already charging a Delivery fee?

Generally the delivery fee is not going to the driver/delivery person. That's how it is around here anyway (and at all the places I've worked that offers delivery).
 
I am often confused on what to tip a Food Delivery person when they are already charging a Delivery fee?

Generally the delivery fee is not going to the driver/delivery person. That's how it is around here anyway (and at all the places I've worked that offers delivery).

ditto for here as well. i only know the inner workings of one place (the owner plays in our games and has his drivers deliver food for players), but they charge a $2 delivery fee and the driver gets $.50 per delivery. i always err on the side of caution and assume most places hose their drivers like this and so tip without regard to the delivery fee.

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I'm in NJ too and while the gas rule is stupid we still have cheaper than average or average gas prices...

unfortunately, the only reason this is the case is that the state cheaps out over basically every element of roadway infrastructure maintenance. these costs are passed on to us in the forms of tolls, higher local taxes necessitated by less money being distributed to municipalities for road maintenance, and a hundred other less obvious pass-through costs that would otherwise be absorbed if not for money expended elsewhere to subsidize our "cheap" gas.

i don't mean to rant at you specifically, ChipTalker. the only reason i even get riled up about this sort of thing is that i hear it all the time how lucky we are to have such "great" "free" public schools when the difference between my property tax here and what it would be in an equivalent area in most other states would more than pay for the private school tuition my parents paid for me when i was a kid.
 
Generally the delivery fee is not going to the driver/delivery person. That's how it is around here anyway (and at all the places I've worked that offers delivery).

Back in the day when gas was cheap, everyone offered free delivery, and the delivery person was compensated (poorly) on a per-mile or per-delivery basis - they were lucky if it was enough to cover the gas, IF they were driving a cheap, fuel-efficient vehicle. It certainly wasn't enough to cover the actual cost of mileage (tires, brake jobs, oil changes, depreciation, etc.)

Fast forward to 2005 - the price of gas skyrockets, and (for the most part) doesn't come back down. Delivery people CANNOT work and operate their vehicles under their current pay structure. The company HAS to give them something. 2007 - minimum wage (for most states) increases by over $2/hour. Trust me when I say, restaurants whose business model is based on food delivery do NOT operate on a high profit margin. Your average Dominos pizza outlet makes something like $500/month in profit after all expenses. They cannot possibly absorb these huge increases. The answer is the delivery charge - of course, delivery charges piss a lot of people off who are used to getting free delivery, so the delivery charge has to be disproportionately high to offset the loss of business that it causes.

So does the delivery fee go to the actual delivery person? Part of it does, in a manner of speaking. In another manner of speaking, it doesn't at all. Today the delivery person is compensated in a similarly-poor fashion to the way he was 15 years ago, with the COLA's to meet the bare minimum covered by the delivery charge. If your delivery charge is $3, your delivery guy may be getting $1.50 - which in fact is more than the $0.50 he was getting when there was zero delivery charge, but certainly no more relative to the cost of doing his job.
 
yeah I'm not going off on a good bad tangent ... I just don't mind a kid pumping my gas when it's cold if it is still a comparable price.
 
yeah I'm not going off on a good bad tangent ... I just don't mind a kid pumping my gas when it's cold if it is still a comparable price.

totally agree - would absolutely still pay extra even if given the option.
 
I have traveled for business for 30 years and have never known that tipping was customary for regular hotel stays. Cruise ships and resorts, yes. The Hilton Garden Inn, no clue.
 
I wonder if tipping delivery people (Mail, parcel, etc. not food) is a regional thing? I've heard of it, but never known anyone that does it here in the warm southwest.
 
For pick up, I still tip around 15-20%, depending on the total price. My Chinese food is generally $35, and I tip $6-7
 
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I did a 3000 dollar tip on a 9 dollar tab once at a Mexican restaurant.


Food was excellent. Service was marginal. Oh and did I forget to mention my tip was supposed to be for 3.00 dollars but the waitress entered it in as 3000.00 which I didn't even notice until I logged onto my online banking a couple days later.
 
Food service varies greatly...
For a decent restaurant, a solid 20% of the food portion of the bill, rounded up to the next whole dollar. I feel no need to tip a greater amount because I ordered a $100 bottle of wine, instead of a $20 bottle of wine. This rule is thrown out if the restaurant employs a useful sommelier. Then I tip $10 per glass of wine that I think pairs well. You would not believe how often a sommelier will "recommend" a wine that completely overpowers the food, or is overpowered by the food.

Mrs. Zombie used to deliver pizzas, so she tips "generously". I don't ask.

At hotels, especially in Vegas, I tip $20-$100 to the desk person. Though in retrospect, this is more of a bribe.

I also used to work sanitation. Our tips varied from cash in an envelope taped to the inside of the lid, to cheap beer - lots and lots of cheap beer - I guess that's what they think Garbage men drink. Occasionally they would tip with a bottle of whisky. Those people usually came home to their cans being put back in the back yard. Of course this was in the day when garbage men did back-breaking labor, not the mechanical lift type where they rarely get out of the vehicle.

USPS? Please, I would have her fired if I could. I do not doubt, even for a moment, that some of my CPC's would have arrived broken. She is the master of the 12" package stuffed into the 9" mailbox, or leaving the box open despite the box being on a fast paced road. It is not unheard of for me or Mrs Zombie to hand deliver mail that we find blowing down the road.
 
I tip delivery people well. I used to be one. I over tip at restaurants as well. But USPS doesn't get a tip. They get a good salary and a government federal pension. They are not tipped labor. Valets get their $2. Gas attendents don't get anything from me. I pay by card, and my local gas stations have no way to tip on the card. They run it at the pump like at a self serve. It's weird.

I will always chose full serve, even if a little more. It rarely comes to more than $2 more per tank. I can sweat that. I go through 2 tanks a month, tops.
 
I remember this conversation, or similar, happening over on CT a while back. Tipping culture is way out of hand in the U.S. IMO. I see tip jars everywhere now. I see tip jars in fucking convenience stores now! I have never had a convenience store clerk ask me what I need, and then go get it for me. There is no way that someone that just stands there and rings people up deserves a tip. That includes food pickup. If I am spending my time/money to come and pick up my food, why the hell should I tip them? A tip jar is nothing more than lazy begging to me.

I tip food servers (15-30%) and the rare delivery driver well to very well ($3-$10) depending on service. I tip bartenders even though it is extremely rare that I drink anymore. I will generally drop a buck when I get my water refilled.

I think the last time I saw a full service station I wasn't able to drive yet.

I don't drink coffee.

Hotels I usually tip $10-$20 depending on length of stay.

USPS - no

I used to tip my UPS guy when I was buying a lot of cases of wine. I would usually give him a bottle out of the case. I rarely even see the guy now.

Coat check is usually a buck or two.

Valet up to $5

Poker room waitress is usually a buck a beverage. At the cage it depends on the person. If they are personable up to $5 (more if a really good session...which doesn't happen). If they just stand there silent they get squat.

The only time tipping should be required is for people that have to make up their hourly wage with tips. If you get a full wage without tips, lose the jar. That doesn't mean that above and beyond service shouldn't be tipped, they just shouldn't expect it.

There is an IHOP near the tattoo studio I pierce at. Neighborhood is not bad, but is a little rough around the edges. We will go there after closing up shop sometimes if it is late and nothing else is open. No matter the size of the party, gratuity (15%) is added between 10pm and 6am. I understand the reason to add a gratuity to a bill if it is a large party. But for two people is ridiculous.
 
I'm glad you mentioned valets. I forgot about them.

Valets get 0-$5 depending on how quickly they hustle while still within my eyesight. If there are some vehicles parked right up front, I will tip $10 upon arrival and they will "keep it close" - usually right up there with the high $$$ vehicles. Then again, this is getting back into bribe territory.

As for tip jars, I'm pretty sure I have never put anything into one of those - excluding bartenders that put tips into a jar. But it's not exactly me putting it in the jar then.

Waitresses in a card room: $1 per drink. I am at my worst when in a card game. Dealer only gets a tip if I am up... so rarely. Even then, I usually wait until they are about to swap out, then I give up to 10% of my winnings.

At a cage, I've never tipped. If I were to buy a rack, and they game me minty ones, that would be different.
 
I am at my worst when in a card game. Dealer only gets a tip if I am up... so rarely. Even then, I usually wait until they are about to swap out, then I give up to 10% of my winnings.

this is really wrong imo. it's not the dealer's fault if you're not up, so his compensation shouldn't depend on the quality of your play. in fact, the more inefficiently the dealer performs his job, the most money he saves you since you're admittedly rarely ahead in the game.
 
At the cage it depends on the person. If they are personable up to $5 (more if a really good session...which doesn't happen). If they just stand there silent they get squat.
ous.

Crap, you're supposed to tip the guy at the cage?
 

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