Note: This article is a reprint. Several readers have suggested that one way for Get Rich Slowly to retain my voice although I’m no longer a regular contributor is to re-publish old articles like this. This is a keen idea, especially on days like today when the staff writer hasn’t turned in his assignment!
Every time I get my hair cut, I’m faced with a dilemma — should I tip the barber or not? I usually get my hair cut in a small-town shop. I tip $2 on a $12 haircut. If I get to hear stories about Vietnam or histrionic political rants, I tip $3, even if I don’t agree with the barber’s viewpoints. (I tip because I’ve been entertained.) Sometimes, if I don’t have enough cash, I don’t leave a anything at all. Are these tips appropriate?
What about when I pick up Chinese takeout? Should I have tipped the guys who delivered our new gas range last fall? What about a hotel bellhop? A parking valet? Out of curiosity, I did some research on tipping practices in the United States. There’s actually significant disagreement about how much to tip for even common services.
For example, you know you should tip your waitress. But how much should you leave? Some people claim that 10% is adequate. Others claim that 20% is standard. But I suspect that most of us learned to tip 15%, and to give more for exceptional service. (The wikipedia entry on tipping currently contains the bizarre claim that “18% is generally accepted as a standard tip for good service”.) Which amount is correct?
After browsing dozens of pages, I drafted the following guide. The amounts listed are based on averages or on consensus, when possible.
Food Service
- Barista
- No tip required, though many suggest throwing coins into the tip jar.
- Bartender
- $1/drink (or 15% of total bill). Pre-tip for better service.
- Delivery person (including pizza)
- 10%, $2 minimum (also, also)
- Maitre d’
- $5-$25 for special efforts
- Takeout
- No tip required unless something special is done (also, also)
- Waiter
- 15% for adequate service, 20% for exceptional service. For poor service, leave 10% or less. It’s okay to leave nothing for exceptionally poor service, but only if you’re sure it’s the waiter’s fault.
Hotel Staff
- Bellman/Porter
- $1 to $2 per bag, $5 minimum. (Or, just as many places say $1 bag, $2 minimum.)
- Concierge
- $5-$20 depending on the service. $20 if he does something exceptional. Nothing for directions.
- Housekeeper
- $2 to $5 per night, paid daily or as a lump sum at checkout. (Most sites suggest you tip daily.)
- Parking Valet
- A wide range of opinions. Everyone agrees that you should pay when your car is retrieved. Some say to pay when it’s parked, too. Most sites say to tip $2, though some suggest $5.
- Room service
- $5 minimum (unless gratuity is included in check)
Travel
- Bus driver (not mass transit)
- $1 to $2, if she handles luggage
- Cab driver
- 10%, $2-$5 minimum
- Chauffeur
- 10-15%
- Gas station attendant
- Nothing. Or $2-$4. There’s no agreement. (I’ve never seen anyone tip a gas station attendant ever.)
- Porter/skycap
- $1 per bag. $2 for heavy items, or if porter brings luggage to counter.
Personal service
- Barber/Hairstylist
- Again, little agreement: 10-15%, 15-20%, etc. One person recommends $5 to each individual who shampoos or blow-dries your hair! (also)
- Manicurist
- 15%
- Spa service
- 15-20%
- Masseuse
- 10-15%
- Shoe-shiner
- $2 or $3
Other
- Building superintendent
- Varies —read more.
- Coat checker
- Most sites recommend $1 per coat, though one said $2 to $5 upon retrieval.
- Furniture deliverer
- It depends. Most of the time $5-$20. Some recommend simply offering cold drinks. (also)
- Grocery store bagger
- One site recommended $1-$3, though I’ve never seen one tipped in my life.
- Mover
- $10-$25 per person (also)
What about tipping at holidays? Tipping service people with whom you have regular contact can build goodwill. I found these recommendations:
Holiday Tips
- Babysitter: one week’s pay
- Doorman: bottle of wine or box of chocolates
- Garbage collector: $15 to $25
- Gardener: one week’s pay
- Housekeeper: one week’s pay
- Janitor: $15 to $25
- Mail carrier: $15 to $20 (up to $20 non-cash)
- Nanny: one week’s pay
- Newspaper delivery person: $15 to $25
- Parking attendant: $15 to $25
- Personal trainer: $20 to $50 (tip discreetly)
Some points regarding tipping etiquette:
- If you use a coupon or gift certificate, calculate your tip based on the total before discount.
- Tip above the norm if:
- Service is exceptional,
- You’ve been a burden, or
- You are a regular client.
- Don’t tip if it’s not deserved. Poor service should not be rewarded.
- In some circumstances, if you offer an initial tip — especially a large initial tip — you’ll get better service.
- If you take up a restaurant table for a long time, tip extra.
- Tip discreetly.
- When in doubt, tip.
What about public officials? When is a tip a tip, and when is a tip a bribe? Kris and I tipped the judge who married us, but even then we had trouble deciding how much to give him. (We gave him $50.)
I suspect that tipping practices vary widely from region-to-region and, especially based upon the size of the city. As always, do what works for you.
Other articles about tipping:
- How to tip in a foreign country
- International tipping etiquette
- Is it better to tip with cash or with credit?
- Tipping at weddings
- Tipping relieves guilt more than it provides incentive
- Tipping etiquette (which is actually the best guide I found)
Photo by nffcnnr.
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Hotel maid service, definitely worth $2-4 dollars a day! Try to carry my own smallish bags around to avoid airport tipping. Thanks for re-running this, hadn’t seen it before – very useful!
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Three very important points about hotel housekeeping:
1) Studies show that housekeepers are by far the hardest working and lowest paid people in a hotel. So tips are very important to them. I have a relative in the hotel business and he confirms that this is the case.
2) If you want to tip them, put it under a note that says “for housekeeping”. Otherwise, they are required to turn in the money on the assumption that you accidentally left some money in your room. This sounds silly but hotel management usually does this because some people have accidentally left money in hotel rooms and they expect to get it back. Of course it also serves as a little extra income for the hotel in most cases!
3) Tip them every day, not at the end of your stay. If there’s a different housekeeper every day, this assures that they all get their share. Also, if you are staying for more than 1 night, it increases the odds that they will take extra care when making up your room because they know you are a tipper.
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Hi I’m Cat. I’m a pretty regular reader of your blog (finances totally interest me- and it’d be even better if I knew how to handle my own. Thankfully I just got a higher paying job so that helps…)
I read this post, even though it’s an old one and I have to agree with the fact that tips are confusing. I tip 20% standard at restaurants but it’s so hard to tell for everything else. Especially take out! And now places pre-authorize your card for something like 15% when they swipe it assuming you will give them a tip, even at a takeout place like sierra grill. I find this to be frustrating. I never had to tip before unless it was exceptional and now I feel pressured.
I also got hung up on your note at the top and wanted to ask you a question.
“Several readers have suggested that one way for Get Rich Slowly to retain my voice although I’m no longer a regular contributor is to re-publish old articles like this.”
I know you have guest writers and have built up your business and your blog substantially. Can you tell me how you got followers at the start? Was there a long time where you waited to gain these followers or did you actively search for them? I know the key is posting relevant information, but there are so many groups and I was just wondering if there are some standards I can follow. I am currently trying to reach out to rally enthusiasts and I would like to be strategic about it. Or at least consistent.
Do you find that your followers are still there and you have the same statistics now that you don’t write as many posts yourself?
Thanks,
Cat
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I am a server, and though many people tip the 15%, 20% or more, but I find even as an experienced, capable server that many people tip 10% on great service for seemingly no reason. I think it also depends on where they are from (people that come from countries which do not have the same tipping amounts often tip differently), how they are raised, whether they have ever worked in the serving industry, etc. I always tip 20% because I feel like I owe it to my fellow servers
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Wait, we’re supposed to tip hotel cleaning staff and furniture delivery people? What the what?
(Also, we had never heard of tipping a pizza delivery person until my cousin worked as one when he was in college. He made *exceptional* amounts of money at that job.)
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One night at a motel in Steamboat Springs, CO, we had a pizza delivered, didn’t tip the guy, and he keyed our car (okay, we assumed he did it–discovered it shortly after he left). We always tip our pizza delivery people now, even when our car is safely stowed away in the garage.
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Ok…so are you paying the pizza delivery boy because you realized it’s a tipped position…or are you paying for protection? When exactly did the mob take over pizza delivery?
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Ummmm, if I think the pizza delivery person keyed my car, I would be talking to the manager of the joint (see if there have been other complaints), not rewarding them for vandalism. Sooner or later they’re going to key the wrong car. I know people (thankfully I’m no longer close friends with them) that would be more than happy to key their eyeballs out. Just sayin’.
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For hotel maids I normally give $5 a day. Furniture movers get about $10 each, but if I’m moving a whole apartment, as opposed to having something delivered, it would be more like $100 total.
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Absolutely tip hotel cleaning staff. They work very hard for you, cleaning up your messes, and they are paid at very low levels. And if you tip them you get better service too. See my 3 points about tipping hotel housekeeping staff in an earlier response.
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I understand that in the US you must be used to it, but I find the whole tipping thing really difficult. I live in Australia so we basically never tip. I might round up a cab or restaurant fare but would never feel obliged to.
How are people in the USA meant to know how much to tip (without reading this article?!) and when? It seems like the expectation for different industries and geographical areas changes quite a bit, and also that it’s quite a big social faux-pas to tip incorrectly. I’ve been the USA and always feel really nervous when in a bar or something and I’m not sure what I’m meant to do. I dont want to offend or short-change anyone, but also dont want to pay more for a service than I should have to.
And are all Americans really good at working out percentages, or does everyone get their calculator out when finalising the bill? Sure, 10% or 20% should be easy to work out, but 18%? Not sure I could work that out off the top of my head. And it seems that people do notice whether it’s 18% or 20% that has been left.
What if you dont have enough change in your wallet?
I think it’s great that servers have the incentive to provide good service, but it seems like such a lot to think about just to pay a bill!
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Me too! Tipping was a pain when I lived in Arizona. I wish they’d just pay people an acceptable wage and be done with it. The sales tax is extra thing was annoying too!
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I think I’ve got the rest of the tipping down, but I have no idea how to give a holiday tip to our paper delivery person. They always put a holiday card in our paper in December, but there’s no address in there, and I’ve never even seen this person! How do I track them down to give them $15? This is a real question, BTW, not a rhetorical one.
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Hi Trina, I’d recommend calling the paper company, letting them know you’d really like to show your appreciation to your delivery person, and asking them if they have suggestions for how.
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I have always wondered about tipping grocery carry out. When you shop at a commessary on a military installation, all the baggers and carry-out work for tips only. I was never sure how much to give them, and since a lot of time tips are around 10% so if I bought $200 in groceries, I tipped $20. One day, I did this and the young lady I gave it to got really excited and asked if I was sure this was what I wanted to tip of course I gave it to her, but ever since I am always unsure about how much to tip anyone. Thank you so much for this article.
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Every time I see an article like this it floors me that it’s recommended to tip all these people.
What always ESPECIALLY gets me is the holiday tip. The logistics of most of them just seem nearly impossible.
Let’s take a look the garbage collector. He drives a trunk with a claw on the side. You obviously can’t put the tip in the can (will get thrown away) or on top (won’t be seen, especially in the darkness of winter), so how are you supposed to get it to him?
I guess I understand people like the babysitter, nanny or housekeeper. However, I also feel that if you think they need a holiday bonus (when no one else gets them) then you should be paying them more in the first place.
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All of this discussion has reminded me that back when I waited tables in college, we were required to report 8% of our total sales as “tips” on our time sheet when we clocked out. This is so it would get reported on our W-2′s as taxable income. (I know, I know, you’re “supposed” to claim it all, but that was all the feds would raise an eyebrow at in those days.)
If we had not actually made 8% in tips, we had to claim all of it. If the total of wage + tips per hour did not reach federal minimum wage (at the time, around $4.25/hour), then the employer was required to make it up. Of course, if the customer paid with a credit card, 100% of the tips were claimed automatically via the POS system, and we didn’t have to factor that in. I stopped waiting tables in the mid 90′s so I have no idea what the norm is now…
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@Megan E.
I really liked your comment. It’s blunt but it clears up a lot of wishy washy questions. Thanks!
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I don’t think I HAVE to tip if the service was not up to par with my expectations and it WAS the server’s fault.
I have dined at a place where it was not busy at all and the wait staff seemed more interested in conversations amongst each other, talking about their plans for the weekend, rather than filling my water glass or gasp! cleaning off the sticky residue from the table. Their lack of attention (even screwed up my food order), coupled with ignorance resulted in a ‘keep the change’ tip, which was less than one dollar. And no, I have not been back there since. I did fill out the customer survey on the receipt and no one got back to me.
I also believe in tipping well if the service was incredible. If the service staff was attentive and helpful, I do tip well! Sometimes, I have even asked to speak to a manager. While this freaks the server out, having worked in the service industry, I know what a compliment can mean to the manager.
I have worked in the service sector for over ten years. Good service is rewarded. Bad service is not. I am not entitled to any extra benefits (such as tips) – I work for them. I knew that going into the role and I do what I do to go above and beyond the call of duty.
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That looks about right for tipping a waiter, 15-20%… with the caveat that if the bill is small ($10 or less), I will usually tip a higher percentage and leave at least $3 for their time…
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I feel as if some of these are extreme for the average person yet very helpful information depending on the lifestyle.
20% is my standard for dining out especially in metropolitian areas where the COL is higher. I’ve even tipped close to 25% at places where I’m a regular or if the service was particularly exceptional.
I can’t get too carried away though because I simply don’t have the money to let myself carry away… so for most of these, I just do it on my own.
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We work part-time as janitors for a law office and an accounting office, both successful businesses. They’ve never given us a holiday tip, not in 10 years. I don’t think too highly of them (to put it mildly), but we keep working diligently anyway.
P.S. to lawyers and accountants – don’t leave confidential information about your clients lying around… YOUR janitors might not be as ethical as we are.
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Why is the money we give a postal carrier or the cleaning crew considered a tip, but notice no one has talked about the expected gift to a teacher at Christmas? I wonder if it is because we consider the latter more professional of a position. We tip those who are lower on the social ladder and give gifts to those who are “equal” to us.
I’m not saying teachers don’t deserve a thoughtful gift at the holidays or at the end of the school year, but I do find the distinction interesting. Currently I’m moving from giving Christmas gifts to workers at my kids’ Parent’s Day Out program to giving tokens to my son’s preschool teacher.
I’m already thinking about it, and I realize that with the daycare workers, I was more inclined to just give money or a gift card to a grocery store. But to the teacher with a child development degree who is presumably making more money, I lean towards giving a very different kind of gift. It’s not a bonus but a token of regard for the work they do.
Anyway, interesting distinction in my mind.
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I would be interested to read an article on how tipping can co-exist with a GRS/frugal mentality. I find so many of these categories mind-boggling that people actually tip for. I guess we each have to make our own code and live by it as far as who is deserving of a tip and who is not. I certainly have, and most of the services on the list I either do not use because of expected tip or I just don’t do it and don’t care what they think. I often get take-out from restaurants because I don’t want to tip the server. After reading this I will consider adding something in the future. I also wonder if high-tippers are the same people giving money on the street? Not that they are the same thing at all, but is it a similar mentality – that you want to be regarded as generous by the people surrounding you? This dovetails with the politeness article a few days ago.
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I mostly cook at home, but hubby and I have two sets of tip rules when we go out to eat. At dinner we tend to start at 15% and go up or down from there. We rarely go to the so called casual dinning chains, and we go out to eat about twice a year, so a 20 or 30 % tip for a special dinner is anticipated and part of the budget for the night. We have certainly left less, but our plan says we will pay for the service we get. When we go out to breakfast(only on vacation) we actually start at 20%. This is not the champagne brunch, but the coffee and eggs diner food. The waiter/waitress does just as much work (how many times did they refill that coffee), but the plates tend to be less. Wage rules don’t take this into account, but I do when I tally up the tip.
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I think tipping has gotten out of hand. Don’t get me wrong – when I go into a sit-down restaurant, I tip. I go in expecting to tip 15% (more if the service is exceptional), and if I end up tipping less it is because I have been disappointed in the service. I’ll tip a cab driver, pizza delivery guy or bartender. I have no problem with what I consider “normal” tips.
However I am not going to tip a housekeeper at a hotel. I am paying for someone to clean the room as part of what I am paying for the room. I am not going to pay a tip a furniture delivery guy since I am paying to have my things delivered.
I am not going to give special “tips” for the holidays, though I love giving gifts to those I have a personal relationship with (I would assume that maid and nanny would be included under that).
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Finally someone who agrees with me about hotel housekeepers/furniture delivery, etc. I also feel this way at take out places, if they deliver I’ll tip, if I’m picking up, no tip. I am already paying the hotel for the service, why should I pay for it a second time in a tip, it is the hotel’s responsibility to make sure housekeeping is properly compensated for their level of effort and rewarding/punishing better/worse service. I also generally only have housekeeping clean 1-2x/week and that is basically a change the towels and make the bed sort of thing. If I make a big mess, then I will tip because cleaning that is above and beyond their normal job. (Also, they need to stop moving my toothbrush when they clean the bathroom. I mean really, I put that in my mouth, I don’t want someone I don’t know touching it.)
As far as restaurants, I look at it as the price goes to the restaurant to pay for the food/atmosphere and the tip goes to the server to cover the service. My standard is 20% but I usually stick to the 15-25% range. Although I would love to live somewhere that tips are all included in the menu price.
Only once have I not left a tip at a sit down restaurant. But lets be honest, when its a restaurant that you need reservations to get in, a certain level of service/attentiveness is expected, especially when the place isn’t full like that night. Waiting 15min after being seated for the server to show up, 10min to come back with the drinks (beer and wine, not like they had to use the blender or anything), having emply glasses sitting on the table for more than 15min trying to get their attention for a refill, another 15min from finishing the food to get their attention for a dessert menu, then almost half an hour between between bringing dessert to showing up with the check. And all the while paying extra attention to the table right next to us but never even looking over to see if we needed anything. That level of service completely ruined what was meant to be a nice night out at a fancy restaurant and deserves no tip.
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I tip the gas station attendant whenever they take the time to clean my windows. I feel like they have done something additional they did not have to do.
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Where in the world are there still gas station attendants versus just the cashier? I haven’t seen one of those in probably 20 years.
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travel
why not transit drivers ..they can help save you money by giving you bus travel info that will save money on a cab.
Also tell you how to get to common tourist places and what to see there.
The bus route in front of you hotel the driver can help you find a drug, grocery and 7-11 stores.
they are a great source of information for the city you are visiting
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You should tip anyone who you believe has provided you with good service. I even once had such a horrible experience with a waiter that I left a dollar on the table. However, I tipped the manager because he was very apologetic for my servers poor service, refilled my drinks, and brought out my food-essentially did the servers job. I also asked him to give a tip to the cook for my because my food was delicious. I very often tip the cooks, whether it is cash or buying them a drink. I understand that servers dont make as much money per hour as other jobs, but I don’t believe they work as hard as others. I have worked both front of house and back of house and know that back of house is MUCH more difficult. I also know that on a busy night I’d make over 200$ FOH as opposed to 80$ BOH. Good service deserves a good tip (20-25%) average service and average tip (12-18%) and poor service a poor tip (0-10%). I do believe you should tip anyone you deal with who is exceptionally helpful, whether it is customary or not.
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