I think you made a nice friendly gesture, made them feel good, nothing wrong with that, imo...

As for tipping in general, I will tip delivery people if they do a good job with heavy goods. I definitely tip food delivery people, I've never encountered a built-in delivery charge though.

I drop coins for barristas also. I don't tip plumbers, electricians, carpenters,
any trade that commands a set high hourly fee, in my area their union is very solid.

When we built or renovated, I would tip certain people at the end of the project, like the tile setter who was there for 2 months installing the floor,
I know he works for my designer and is paid an hourly wage. I did not tip certain workers who have their own business.

This will be an interesting thread, there will be a variety of opinions.

This won't answer your question, but the funniest place I've seen a tip jar was at a serve yourself yogurt shop!

If delivery guys are pleasant and don't hack my woodwork, I want them to leave my home a bit happier than when they arrived. I believe a small token of gratitude, whether it is cash or a soda and some homemade cookies, will make them feel valued and perhaps the tiniest bit more optimistic about life. Then maybe they will go out into the world and be a bit kinder to the people in their lives, be it customers or family. I just like to think that my very small acts of human kindness may have a ripple effect in the world, so that's how I live my life and makes decisions about tipping.

As for tipping the plumber or, in my case, the appliance repair guy who visits us on a regular basis, that is more a matter of practicality. Yes, they are making the big bucks, relatively speaking. But I want, dare I say need, them to like me. Occasional and appropriate laying on of cash just makes sense to me. When the appliance guy comes for the stove but tweaks the dishwasher too, he gets a tip. This does not apply to single-operator business people....just the guys who work for a larger company, btw. The plumber, who works for himself, gets paid promptly, in cash, and gets referrals from us. That'll do.

I've seen this type of thread end up in all sorts of fights. Go figure.

As for my style of tipping, I do it exactly the way mitchdesj laid it out.

Whatever you decide about the various kinds of laborers, IMO, tipping pizza deliverers is a must .

The pizza place near me has a delivery charge. The owner does not give that to the delivery kid. The kid also has to use his own car and gas. The poor kid often doesn't get tipped because people assume the delivery fee is for the kid.

We just helped with a wedding and the tent people were very helpful trying different arrangements with the tents and chairs so we tipped them.

I have always tipped the pizza delivery person. Prairefox, thanks for your interpretation of the delivery charge. Just to show how naive I am, I always thought that the pizza delivery charge was to help offset the cost of gas for the delivery person, and that HE was reimbursed for use of his vehicle! So I ALWAYS tip the pizza delivery person.

I've never tipped plumbers, or appliance repair people. Both of these that we use are independent owner-operators, and I figured they are already charging enough in labor fees, ($50-70 per hour), to NOT have to tip them, too.

The stone turtles are cute, but to a grown man? I'd give the guy $20. I tip pizza delivery, I usually throw some change in the tip jar (esp. if I go to the place pretty often) and I give tips at Christmas to the guys who maintain my loft building.

Uh, I just want to see these stone turtles...

All the pizza places that I know of put the "delivery charge" on the bill and the owner keeps it. The driver never sees any of it.

Some pizza delivery guys are classified as "independent contractors" and work for tips only. Out of this they pay for their own gas and insurance and repairs for their vehicle, and of course put in hours and hours of their time.

http://tipthepizzaguy.com/

Apparently it is the same for skycaps with the "handling fee per bag". They don't get that fee for themselves.

If you ever see a coatcheck place with a locked box that says *TIPS* with a slot on top to drop in coins or bills.......guess who has the key..........the owner. Coatcheck workers often never see any of the tips that are dropped into the lockbox or only receive whatever pittance the owner decides to fling their way.

Most restaurants that add a gratuity to the bill never give it to the workers, and it is legal to do so.

And by the way tipping for a self serve buffet, or yogurt station is not as insane as presented. The workers have to come in early to set it up, and maintain it by refilling empty bowls and continually cleaning the mess that customers make and then take it down at the end of the night and thoroughly clean and disinfect everything. That is a lot of work for two bucks per hour.

People do not realize how much work waiters do BEFORE the place opens and after it closes. Vacuuming. Washing ashtrays. Putting flowers in vases. Making relish trays and salads and even cutting the desserts. Mixing salad dressing and condiments. Ironing table cloths and polishing silverware and glassware. Hauling stock from out of the basement. Folding napkins in those fancy fans. Filling ice bins. Grinding coffee beans. And in a lot of places......cleaning the bathrooms. There is a lot more work than just walking a couple of plates to the table and removing the dirty ones. There is no health insurance or paid vacations.

Owners make the waiters pay for mistakes out of their own pockets, and pay for customer walk-outs and things the customers break or steal. This is illegal of course but waiters know that if they do not comply they will be fired. Some places make the workers work half of their scheduled hours off the clock not even getting the measly two bucks per hour. Some times new servers are not papered for the first year and are working for tips only. This way the owner does not have to risk paying paying Unemployment Comp if the server does not "work out" or pay Workman's Comp if the server slips on the kitchen floor and breaks a leg and has a medical bill.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pizza Guy Tip

dilly - if you have first hand information such as that to which you link, you really should report the behavior to the Wage & Hour Board of the State you are in. It is illegal to force a worker to work for free. I have no idea where you reside, so I have no idea what "papered" means. However, legally speaking, should a person in the course of their employment suffer an injury in the State in which I live, that person is entitled to workers' compensation benefits. Workers' comp is not paid by the employer, it is paid through the State.

With regard to tipping, as a general rule, I generously tip the pizza delivery person, the wait staff at the restaurant, shampoo girl at the salon, (owner cuts me, I do not tip him, but I do see other customers that do), etc. Basically, I tip those workers who make less than the full minimum hourly wage set by the State. I do not tip the service people who repair the washing machine, etc. If the furniture delivery person/people have only taken a purchase I've made off of the truck and placed it in room where it belongs, I do not tip. If the delivery person has to do anything other than that, move or take another piece of furniture away, I do tip despite the fact that I have pre-paid removal of existing furniture when I purchased something new.

I'd like to see a pic of the gift as well. Very thoughtful of you if the item was admired.

Dilly, who makes $2 an hour ? minimum wage is $7.25 but I don't know what restaurant workers make, much less than that I guess, if they get tips.
I'm just curious how much.

so I didn't discuss tipping wait staff, but I always do, and usually most generously! As dilly pointed out, there's a lot of behind the scenes work that restaurant employees have to do and put up with that some people seem clueless about. I paid for my college education by waiting on table, and waited on table three years while in high school on weekends and summer break, so I know how hard it can be, at way less than minimum wage!

For a brilliant non-fiction description of grocery delivery boys (men!) in nyc, read Tracy Kidder's new book: Strength in What Remains. It will cost you because you'll be moved to tip more, but I for one will never forget Kidder's description of what a tough life it is to be at the bottom of the service industry. That includes waitresses, hotel housekeepers, pizza and food deliverers.

When I worked as a waitress 17 years ago, minimum wage was about $4.75 and I was making $1.75/hour. Basically I just worked for tips and when my "paycheck" came, it was more like bonus money.

In my state servers are NOT paid less than minimum wage. This is the case in a number of states.

Here is a link that might be useful: Minimum wage and tipped employees

Good to know about the pizza guy. I usually tip them because they're always friendly to our cats. Now I will definitely tip them.

I don't have a pic of the turtles...but I know they were appreciated.

So, ok, what about the person at Applebees who brings out my order that I've phoned in and picked up? Sort of like a glorified fast food server? Tip them? They package up the food that the chefs put in the boxes. They add the napkins and 'plasticware' and bring it out to you and take your $. Would you tip them?

I'm astounded at the wage chart posted; dilly was right, there are people who make 2$ approx an hour; tips can vary so much, must be hard to have a reliable income.

Yes, I tip the curb side carry out servers. I have a friend whose daughter used to do that at Applebees. She worked just as hard as the other servers, but rarely got tipped nearly as well.

mitchdesj, terriks beat me to posting the link to the .gov listing. Laws vary by state of course in regard to all minimum wage mandates of course. The $2.13/hr paid by the employer to the employee is only to ensure that the income taxes and FICA on the tips earned, get collected weekly. The employer calculates what eight percent of the sales that the employee rang up is and uses that as the tip amount the employee is said to have made after tipping out the busboy, bartender, hostess, captain, buffet attendant, wine steward, ect. and sometimes even the cooks too. (Waiters almost always have to do a "tip out" to the other employees or sometimes all tips are pooled and redistributed.)

By paying the $2.13 the employee gets a check say for 40 hours worked at $2.13/hr BUT the estimated amount of tips the employee is said to have earned is calculated, and the tax on it is figured. For instance if the employee rang up $100 in sales, they estimate that they made 8 Dollars in tips after "tipping out" fellow employees. The tax amount owed is deducted from the wage they get paid, usually leaving the employee with a check for a Nickle or Ten bucks or something like that. Sometimes the calculations end up with a negative amount and the employee has to cough up a few Bucks in order to receive their pay stub. For instance if the calculations say that the amount is negative and the employee has to come up with 81 cents they DO collect it. It is part of the withheld tax that goes to the government every week. Employers are responsible to send in withholding tax and FICA.

The "Eight Percent Law" has been in effect since 1981. It is a paperwork nightmare for employers.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/archives/2009/07/minimum_wage_in.php

Here is a link that might be useful: Tipped Employees Wages

Posted by work_in_progress_08: "Workers' comp is not paid by the employer, it is paid through the State."

Let me clarify...........The employers must pay the premiums for WC. If an employer pretends they only have 5 employees (or none at all claiming they and their spouse do all the work running the restaurant) they pay less then they would if they had 50 employees. WC varies state by state, so maybe some states do not require employers to carry Workmans Comp Insurance and pay the WC premiums?? I do not think this is so but I have never researched this thoroughly.

Here is a link that shows the WC laws state by state. I know that in my state an employer is required to carry Workman's Compensation Insurance. I did not click on all 50 states listed in the sidebar but all the ones I did click required it. I have heard that sometimes businesses move to another state due to lower WC premiums and stricter rules regarding paying out claims. Claims drive up the premiums employers pay.

One reason employers do not paper employees is not only to save money on the WC premiums paid but to to eliminate the possibility of an employee filing a claim and driving the rates up. An employee that does not "exist" cannot file a claim and thus drive up premiums.

Another reason employers do not paper employees is to not have to pay out Unemployment Compensation. You don't pay premiums on employees that don't "exist" right? An emplyee that does not exist does not get
"UC. Places that make employees work full time and only clock in on half of their days will never qualify for UC as a part time employee on paper.

Another trick employers use, is to force an employee to walk to the time clock and punch out at eight hours of work so they don't have to pay time and a half on the whopping $2.13/hr. The employee works the rest of their shift for no wage and just tips only, for the rest of their shift. The excuse is that you are "still making tips".

http://www.workerscompensationinsurance.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: WC state by state

My nephew is a musician, performing in bars and restaurants, not on street corners. Naturally, we tip him generously when we go see him play. My 2 yo niece is mesmerized by Nephew & his skills and loves to go up and drop tip money in his jar. Ten of us went to see him play at restaurant. Someone gave her money, she walked up, dropped it in the jar and then returned to the table and said "more tip money". She did this 10 times. And none of us could resist her, she was so cute. She was definitely his favorite cousin that day.

Now whenever we see musicians, on the street or in a restaurant, we say "that's somebody's nephew" and drop a buck or two into their jar.

Besides musicians, I tip the guys that pick up my donations to charity shops, the cleaning people, the handiman that was so helpful, and the flower delivery guy.

I haven't tipped my contractors but I have made them food treats and invited them to finished project parties where they meet potential new clients.

so I didn't discuss tipping wait staff, but I always do, and usually most generously! As dilly pointed out, there's a lot of behind the scenes work that restaurant employees have to do and put up with that some people seem clueless about. I paid for my college education by waiting on table, and waited on table three years while in high school on weekends and summer break, so I know how hard it can be, at way less than minimum wage!

May I rant?

;-)

My DH delivered pizzas not that long ago, and managed to last two whole weeks before handing in the shirt that Dominos so "kindly" gave him. He was told that if he wanted to wear a jacket during cold months (and who wouldn't, being in and out of a car all night long?), he couldn't wear his own but would have to buy -- paid for out of his own pocket, mind you -- an official Dominos jacket. And it wasn't cheap. Of course, he was also required to use his own vehicle, buy his own gas, and pay for parking out of his own pocket (he worked a downtown beat, where free parking is practically nonexistent). He was never clear on the procedures for reimbursement. His manager was never quite forthcoming on how to go about things like that.

The jacket-buying requirement was pretty much the breaking point for him, after several deliveries where he was tipped nothing to very little. If the pizza prep folks were running behind and his delivery thus thrown off schedule, some people were positively irate that he showed up on their doorstep bearing their dinner 15 minutes later than they expected. As though it was somehow his fault, they chose to "punish" him by not tipping one red cent. ("That'll teach that pizza delivery guy to be so slow" -- I guess that was their logic.) He delivered 10 pizzas to an office building that required him to pay for his own parking, carry his heavy load through security, and then when he arrived at the drop-off point, an employee at the office that had ordered the pizzas was standing there with her hand on her hip, wrist cocked to her face as though she were checking the time -- and she wasn't even wearing a watch. For his efforts, he received a 75 cent tip.

If you ever want to encounter some of the most hatefully impatient and dismissive people on the planet, do a stint as a pizza delivery person. For every kind and generous soul, there seem to be two who are nasty and for whatever reason, feel it's their place to look down on a person performing what they consider to be a worthless, menial task. It seems that too many people tranfer their feelings about the "lowliness" of the job to the person, and that's a lesson I hope I'll always carry with me ... and behave towards others accordingly.

OK -- sorry for that little somewhat unrelated-to-the-original-topic rant. Whenever the subject of pizza delivery folks comes up, I guess I get a bit defensive. ;-)

ah, auntjen, how horrible, I am dumbfounded as to how mean people can be; your anecdote is totally related to the topic, it gives us insight and comprehension. As for having to buy the jacket, I can imagine it was not cheap.

(Waiters almost always have to do a "tip out" to the other employees or sometimes all tips are pooled and redistributed.)

Back when I waited tables it really annoyed me to have to tip the cooks, because they were paid more AND got raises.

My husbands best friend has delivered Domino's ( Pizza Hut, and Papa John's too)pizza for years as a supplemental income and as a real job and everything auntjen said we have heard many times.
A lot of people are so unkind!

I tip waitstaff because the IRS makes them pay taxes on tips--even if they don't get the tips. And because it is a hard, messy job.

I tip at the beauty salon, but not when the owner cuts my hair.

I tip cab drivers, on the rare occasion I take a cab.

I tip the pizza guy at least $2 a pizza, or 15%, depending on the size of the order.

I tip chambermaids at hotels. I wouldn't want to be dealing with other people's dirty towels and sheets all day long.

I tip movers, because I have way too many books and they have to carry all those boxes. And because I tend to rent 2nd floor walk-ups. The movers who hauled Grandpa's library table up over the balcony and in through a window got tipped extra.

But I didn't tip the men who brought my new washer. They are paid at least minimum wage and I paid a delivery charge. They are paid by their employer to deliver and install these machines. I did offer them water and a snack.

It wouldn't occur to me to tip an electrician or plumber, especially someone who owns his/her own business. I thought the general rule was that you don't tip the owner?

I struggle with tipping. I understand people want more money. But tipping seems to have expanded so much in recent years. And it seems to be expected, rather than a bonus for an extra special job. If I have to start adding tips in everywhere, I'm not going to be able to afford much of anything.

Some of my tipping habits:

When I eat in a restaurant or get my hair cut, I tip 20%.

When I have something delivered, I usually tip $5-$10 per person (depending on what it is). I didn't tip when I had a piano delivered because I was paying a piano delivery place a lot for the service, and it was a very easy delivery (no stairs).

I tip the cat sitter about 15%.

I don't tip skilled workers (plumbers, electricians, the guys who installed the granite and tile in our kitchen) -- they don't seem to expect it.

A new one: The sandwich prep people in the deli in the building where I work put out a tip box a few months ago. They make each sandwich to order in front of the customer and wrap it up for takeout. I've been putting in 50 cents (for my $4 sandwich).

I don't give money to people begging on the street. It's not that I don't feel sorry for them, but I do not want to pull out money on the street, and I don't think it really helps them. I see the same people every day on my way to work, sometimes for years on end. Most of them look clean and well fed, so they are getting meals and other help somewhere, obviously.

btw, we NEVER have pizza delivered. We just don't eat stuff like that for meals. Occasionally we will call in an order for one and then go pick it up.

Here is one more. We went for DD's final dress fitting today and the seamstress was quite helpful and complimentary. She kept hanging about, I got the feeling it was for a tip. But we had already paid for the alterations when we went in for the fitting. Today was just to pick it up and ensure it fit ok.

I didn't tip her, because we paid the bridal store for the service. We didn't tip the gals who helped chose the gowns...should we have tipped the seamstress?

(BTW...DS & his GF were here for dinner and we ordered pizza...I increased the tip I usually give the delivery guy after reading these comments)

I haven't been here in a while, but am having a lazy day catching up...so I hope you don't mind my jumping in. :)

This is most interesting. We've always tipped at restaurants, etc. There have been 2, just 2 times, that we've left a rather skimpy tip. In each instance, in our opinions, the service was terrible. Otherwise, we always leave 20%.

I noticed a note recently on the Dominoes box that mentioned a delivery surcharge, but that it did not replace tipping. We live 1/2 mile from the Dominoes, so we pick ours up. Now we will never have it delivered, knowing there's another charge on top of the price and tip.

So my question is this: Do you automatically leave a good tip, even if the service is way below a standard expectation? Some of you said you always tip, but I'm wondering do you base it on the service or just tip b/c you know the person isn't making much money at this job?

Also, just last week, I got my haircut at the same place I've been going for a year now. The owner cuts my hair, but her staff washes and does a little mini head massage as part of the price. I've always tipped at the counter when I leave, b/c I'm not quite sure how else to do this. I don't feel as though I should tip both the washer and the stylist, so I leave 20% of my total at the front desk. I don't know who gets it though.

This past week though, the owner (who cut my hair) gave me the total, which was $5 more than it was 6 weeks ago. I mentioned that her prices went up and she said something about a more complicated hair cut. I got the same cut, just a fraction of an inch shorter than usual. Her sign said $25 (we live in a rural area...I know it's not expensive, but it's more the principle. We used to live outside of DC and in NYC, so I know $25 sounds like a bargain!). But still, the sign said $25. So she said, "Oh, 28". I paid it, not wanting to make a big deal. I just checked her website and it says "starting at 25", but I'm getting the same darn haircut I've always gotten for 25. And then I left her a $6 tip. She seemed surprised that I tipped her. (She doesn't usually check people out.) So then I thought, well maybe I am not supposed to be tipping, since she owns the place. But what about the washer? Sorry I'm jumping in here...any thoughts?

thanks!