OT: Tipping question

[rugbysecondrow]

I have some furniture being delivered by a shipping company tomorrow. Shipping costs are $400, do you tip the driver? No assembly is involved, just delivery. What say you?

Thanks!

Paul

[Cat3roadracer]

A $20 bill will make his day.

[dustyrider]

Depending on the service and the vibe, I might offer up some type of portable lunch besides Mickey D's.
I suspect they would also appreciate cold hard cash, who doesn't?
Again this might be a dump and run in which case a smile and a handshake ought to do. Normally it's safe to just go with what you feel at the time.

[TheWolfsMouth]

Are they going to move the furniture into your house?

[PaMtbRider]

Just like anything involvng a tip it should be dependent on level of service and your satisfaction. If he says sign here and leaves the furniture on the front lawn, a smile and a handshake should do. As Dustyrider said, if the guy is helpful I would throw a few bucks his way.

[eddief]

no butt crack equals tip. butt crack showing...then run.

[zmudshark]

Tips, apart from food service (tip your waitperson), are for performance above and beyond. As a former truck driver, only tip if he does you a solid. He's getting paid to dump it on your driveway already.

You want it moved with his help and dolly? Give him what you would give a friend for helping you out. People always got to eat sometime, and enjoy a gatorade/water while working, and can always find something to spend cash on.

I think the general rule of thumb is don't be a jerk and treat people right.

PS- Never try to tip a cop. It could be misunderstood.

[rice rocket]

Lol. Do you speak from experience?

I tip almost everyone who does a personal service for me. Tow truck drivers, florists, dancers... Oh wait... About the only people that don't get tipped are my dental hygienist and doctor.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[Designatedbiker]

Lol. Do you speak from experience?

I tip almost everyone who does a personal service for me. Tow truck drivers, florists, dancers... Oh wait... About the only people that don't get tipped are my dental hygienist and doctor.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

+1, I figure Dentists and Doctors are already including their tip in what they charge me :D

[idragen]

Just like anything involvng a tip it should be dependent on level of service and your satisfaction. If he says sign here and leaves the furniture on the front lawn, a smile and a handshake should do. As Dustyrider said, if the guy is helpful I would throw a few bucks his way.

If he leaves my furniture on the front lawn I would not smile and definitely do more than a handshake!

[Llewellyn]

Coming from a place where tipping is not (usually) part of the economic process, I've found it incredibly annoying on the couple of occasions when I've visited the US, that almost everyone who provided some sort of service had their hand in your pocket for an extra bung just for doing their job :mad:

If the point of tipping is to give people a liveable wage, then just set their pay rates accordingly so that people don't have to stick their hand in your pocket any time you want something done. If someone goes well above and beyond the call, then maybe that deserves a bit of a bonus for their effort, but when they just do their job....forget it :no:

[rugbysecondrow]

Thanks all. Appreciate it. I am a fan of tipping when appropriate, but I also don't like stiffing folks who count on tips.

Thanks

Paul

[rice rocket]

Coming from a place where tipping is not (usually) part of the economic process, I've found it incredibly annoying on the couple of occasions when I've visited the US, that almost everyone who provided some sort of service had their hand in your pocket for an extra bung just for doing their job :mad:

If the point of tipping is to give people a liveable wage, then just set their pay rates accordingly so that people don't have to stick their hand in your pocket any time you want something done. If someone goes well above and beyond the call, then maybe that deserves a bit of a bonus for their effort, but when they just do their job....forget it :no:

Look at the flipside. If you had a mediocre dinner at a restaurant, would you rather pay $20 and tip low, or pay $25 and have no say about whether the meal was horrible or not?

[Louis]

Speaking of tipping - I remember when I first went to clipless pedals...

They should have come with a warning: "When coming to a stop always lean in the direction of your unclipped pedal."

[67-59]

Thanks all. Appreciate it. I am a fan of tipping when appropriate, but I also don't like stiffing folks who count on tips.

Thanks

Paul

I agree with you...but it never occurred to me that a delivery truck driver would be dependent on tips. I routinely tip waiters, coat check people, pizza delivery guys, cab drivers, etc. But a truck driver? I was under the impression that they made a pretty decent living, and rarely get tipped.

I say if he goes the extra mile and helps you get it inside and perhaps to the room, go ahead. But if he says "sign here" and leaves it, it'd never occur to me to tip....

[Ken Robb]

Coming from a place where tipping is not (usually) part of the economic process, I've found it incredibly annoying on the couple of occasions when I've visited the US, that almost everyone who provided some sort of service had their hand in your pocket for an extra bung just for doing their job :mad:

If the point of tipping is to give people a liveable wage, then just set their pay rates accordingly so that people don't have to stick their hand in your pocket any time you want something done. If someone goes well above and beyond the call, then maybe that deserves a bit of a bonus for their effort, but when they just do their job....forget it :no:

OK, we will get right on this. Is there anything else in our societal or economic traditions you would like us to change before your next visit? :)

[rphetteplace]

Having worked as a furniture mover in the distant past, yes the $20 hand shake is much appreciated.

[Marz]

OK, we will get right on this. Is there anything else in our societal or economic traditions you would like us to change before your next visit? :)

Very sarcastic.

Just pay people a living wage for the work they do. What's wrong with that?

[Llewellyn]

OK, we will get right on this. Is there anything else in our societal or economic traditions you would like us to change before your next visit? :)


Well, you can save yourself the effort as I have no plans to return. And before you burn me at the stake, I loved NYC when I was there but I'm afraid that I won't visit a country that insists on fingerprinting and photographing me before I can enter, especially when I come from a country that is supposed to enjoy a "special and unique relationship with the USA".

Apart from that, my wife suffers terrible vertigo / travel sickness and the trip would probably land her in hospital for at least a week, that's if it didn't kill her first. So it ain't gonna happen.

There's many great things about the US, but the greedy, endemic tipping for everything culture isn't one of them.

[Llewellyn]

Just pay people a living wage for the work they do. What's wrong with that?

Yep, isn't so hard to do

[shovelhd]

Having worked as a furniture mover in the distant past, yes the $20 hand shake is much appreciated.

I think moving and delivery are slightly different. I guess it depends on the situation. If the store offers in-home setup as part of the deal, then he's just doing his job. If not, then a tip is welcome. If the item is up a flight of stairs, definitely. If he could not deliver it without your help, definitely.

I recently completed a commercial move for the company I work for. It was a difficult move of heavy, expensive equipment, and I needed help installing some of it at the destination. They got a nice three figure tip.

[echelon_john]

$400 for delivery means it's either a long drive or a lot of furniture. Another $20 on top of that probably won't make or break you, and could help the $10/hr guy who's doing the loading and unloading.

I agree with the above that if he's perfunctory and just drops the stuff, then no tip. But if he's a nice guy and tries to accommodate where you want the stuff, etc. within reason, then no reason in my world not to throw him a $20.

I'll probably get somebody's panties in a bunch by saying this, but if it's toward the end of the day, I often offer delivery guys a six pack to keep them company for the ride home. Sometimes they refuse that, either because of company policy/AA or whatever, but on a hot summer day at 4:00 with a 2hr drive ahead of them, a cold six pack can be as welcome as $$.

Life is short. Make a friend.

[rugbysecondrow]

Well, you can save yourself the effort as I have no plans to return. And before you burn me at the stake, I loved NYC when I was there but I'm afraid that I won't visit a country that insists on fingerprinting and photographing me before I can enter, especially when I come from a country that is supposed to enjoy a "special and unique relationship with the USA".

Apart from that, my wife suffers terrible vertigo / travel sickness and the trip would probably land her in hospital for at least a week, that's if it didn't kill her first. So it ain't gonna happen.

There's many great things about the US, but the greedy, endemic tipping for everything culture isn't one of them.

It is clear you don't understand the States as it is not greedy people with their hand out but rather the generosity of a greater populace paying people for their work. I have had jobs where tips were important (waiter, busboy, paper boy)...it is generosity and not greed which drives it my friend.

I wanted to tip the guy, I didn't have to. I would never see him again, but it was right.

I gave him the cash I had, thank him for the work and he seemed grateful. Its all good. Win, Win Homey.

[kong79]

I thought this thread was going to be about cows. Sorry, western humor.

[Llewellyn]

It is clear you don't understand the States

True enough.......in so many ways :confused:

But my point stands.....pay people a decent liveable wage and they don't need to be sticking their hand in your pocket for doing their job.

[Marz]

Unique place, the USA.

The rich mercilessly skim billions while the lowest paid are at the mercy of these people to top up their 'wages' so they can eat.

Interesting mix of 1st and 3rd world.

And if you get sick, and you're poor (because of course, it's always your fault that you're poor) you're stuffed.

Civilised for some.

[Ken Robb]

Almost all of the people I tip are waiters/waitresses. When dining in the USA very few restaurants charge customers a service charge as is often done in other countries. I am very nice and polite to these folks. I want everyone at my table to have a good time including the servers. I almost always get exemplary service and my usual tip is 20-25% of the check. We enjoy wine so a typical meal for us in a nice restaurant is $100-120 plus 8% sales tax and $20-30 tip.

In my area restaurants also have to pay a minimum wage so a server in a nice restaurant can do quite well. These folks typically have worked their way up either as waiters in lower-priced cafes where tips are much lower or as bus persons setting and clearing tables to learn their craft. The best waiters in the best (expensive) restaurants make the most money after serving what is like an apprenticeship. This presumes that they do a really good job for their customers.

I really can't remember the last time I got sub-standard service in a nice restaurant but if/when that happens I start reducing the tip percentage to reflect reduced service. The tip system seems be pretty efficient in weeding out poor servers and keeping the real pros happy and well-paid. In some places I've had the same waiter for 30+ years.

Now when I have been abroad where a service charge is added to all bills the service I have received has not ALWAYS been wonderful (many times it was) but I still had to pay as though it had been. The incentive for a server to provide good service to someone obviously from another country who is unlikely to become a steady customer just isn't there when the service charge will be paid no matter what.

Apprentice carpenters here don't make as much as fully-qualified journeymen carpenters and rookie servers don't make as much as experienced professional waiters and that's "The American Way".

As an aside: I'm a bit amused that some restaurants have a policy that they add a "service charge" for groups of six or more. I guess this is to prevent sub-standard tipping when many folks are chipping in for "their share" of the bill but it usually results in a lower tip from my crowd than we would have otherwise provided.

So when I teased LLewellyn I used a smiley face which makes sarcasm turn to irony. I'm not crazy about standard service charges in European restaurants. I offended my Scottish cousin when I tried to tip the barman in his "local". He explained that it was "not done" but that it would be fine to buy the barman a drink. I wondered how long the guy could function if many customers bought him drinks but when I travel I operate under the "When in Rome" system even though I KNOW the rest of the world is WRONG! :) Note: another smiley face.

[tuxbailey]

I wish the waitress who worked in the restaurant at Champ Elysees when I ate there had depended on tips...

:banana::p :)

[godfrey1112000]

$20, but only $10 if he does not remove the old stuff, offer him a coke

I agree with you...but it never occurred to me that a delivery truck driver would be dependent on tips. I routinely tip waiters, coat check people, pizza delivery guys, cab drivers, etc. But a truck driver? I was under the impression that they made a pretty decent living, and rarely get tipped.

I say if he goes the extra mile and helps you get it inside and perhaps to the room, go ahead. But if he says "sign here" and leaves it, it'd never occur to me to tip....

[1centaur]

By definition, if the wage that somebody has freely contracted to accept to do something is not "livable" (an arbitrary term), then paying that person more to make it "livable" is above its value as determined by supply and demand. That is called mispricing, so any argument that mispricing is optimal must address the negatives that can flow from such mispricing. An obvious one is that fewer businesses will exist if they misprice their labor, so the option to get paid a "sub-livable" wage is removed completely and the economic pie is smaller while the welfare rolls are larger. A second negative is the societal reduction in incentive to try harder to get a job that has a "livable" wage, starting with effort in school and extending for a lifetime. That incentive is good for the pie and pays for a lot of stuff that everybody has come to expect. There is no magic that says that jobs must exist that pay everybody a "livable" wage in every economy at any point in history. It's better to have more businesses paying what they can afford then fewer businesses paying less in the aggregate.

As for tipping, when it is expected it does not provide incentive, and when it is not expected it does not provide incentive. Only when it's possible in the mind of the worker that it can be earned does it provide incentive. For tippers, they have to negotiate the balance between tipping an expected amount for average service and sending a signal to the non-expecters that they did something special and perhaps should build that into their possibility set going forward. Rarely is it clear to the tipper that the person being tipped is giving extra in hopes of getting a tip, since culturally that appearance of a hand out can be difficult to accomplish with dignity. I was once a waiter, and I just tried my hardest all the time because that's who I am (and one reason I am no longer a waiter) and the tip was the tip. Occasionally it was low, and I wondered what I could possibly have done wrong, and occasionally it was high, mostly because the tipper was a richer AND happier person with a generous spirit. As I moved on to earning more money, I remembered how I felt getting a 25% tip in a 15% world, and have tried to tip 20-25% when the service was decent to good because I wanted to be that rich and happy guy and knew what it would mean to the receiver. I suppose if I had mercilessly skimmed billions off the back of the working man it would be ironic to tip 25% and feel good about it, but I'm not much into irony...

[oldpotatoe]

Well, you can save yourself the effort as I have no plans to return. And before you burn me at the stake, I loved NYC when I was there but I'm afraid that I won't visit a country that insists on fingerprinting and photographing me before I can enter, especially when I come from a country that is supposed to enjoy a "special and unique relationship with the USA".

Apart from that, my wife suffers terrible vertigo / travel sickness and the trip would probably land her in hospital for at least a week, that's if it didn't kill her first. So it ain't gonna happen.

There's many great things about the US, but the greedy, endemic tipping for everything culture isn't one of them.

I agree and I live here.

BTW-I HAVE been to 'down under', Perth, and I loved the place. If it weren't so dern far away(read-$$ to fly there), I would go back. Very laid back, very confident, comfortable place. The US could learn a few things about slowing down, looking around and enjoying the day rather than be competitive all the time, including on this forum.

[Llewellyn]

I agree and I live here.

BTW-I HAVE been to 'down under', Perth, and I loved the place. If it weren't so dern far away(read-$$ to fly there), I would go back. Very laid back, very confident, comfortable place. The US could learn a few things about slowing down, looking around and enjoying the day rather than be competitive all the time, including on this forum.

Would love to ride with you if you ever make it back Peter. Alas, unfortunately I fear the Perth you visited has gone - today's version is very aggressive and competitive with a real "f*** you" attitude if you get in someone's way. I thinks it's all the money that has sloshing around from the mining boom :mad:

But the roads are good and even in winter the weather can be lovely for riding. Early morning rides in summer are good too :)