If you’re like most Americans, you’ve stiffed a hardworking professional—perhaps without even realizing it. And that’s particularly true around the holidays when we tend to attend parties and travel more—both of which require us to tip people we might not normally come into contact with. Most Americans might not have known to tip housekeeping: While most know they’re expected to tip restaurant staff (87% of people say they typically feel obligated to leave a gratuity); hairstylists (69%); bartenders (62%); taxi, car or limo drivers (60%); valets (54%); and bellhops (52%), according to a survey released by coupon site, they aren’t quite as sure about many other working people. “In almost every class or program we offer, questions about tipping are always asked,” says Pamela Eyring, t. “People ask when to tip, who to tip and how much to tip.” And when it comes to tipping, they often guess wrongly: Just 38% of Americans say they typically feel obligated to tip a delivery person who brings them something like furniture or appliances and 35% say this about a spa treatment provider, the survey revealed. But you should tip both: $5 to $10 per person to someone delivering furniture or large items to your home (and $20 per person if the delivery is huge or there are lots of stairs) even if there is a delivery fee, and 10% to 15% of the pretax bill for someone who gives you a spa treatment,. Here are a 10 workers you might not think to tip, but probably should.
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( This is an update to a story originally published in September 2014.). Hair stylist’s assistant As holiday party invitations pile up, many women head to their hairdresser for a new do—but they may be making mistakes in the tipping department. It’s standard to tip your stylist about 20%, —and most people know to do this. But many people forget to tip their stylist’s assistant—the person who washes or blow dries their hair or assists the stylist with other tasks. Tip amount: Masini recommends $5. Hoffman says that if multiple people work on you—one shampoos and one blow dries, for example, you should give them each a few dollars.
Hotel concierge While you don’t have to tip the hotel concierge if you just make a simple request, like ask for information on the nearest restaurant, you should tip her if you make a more complicated request like ask her to secure restaurant reservations or tickets to the theater, says Hoffman. Tip amount: Jodi Smith, the owner of Marblehead Mass.-based Mannersmith Etiquette Coaching, says that you should tip between about $5 and $10 and sometimes more, depending on how complicated your request is. Pool attendants and other hotel staff While you likely know to tip the valet and bellman—and now the hotel concierge—there are a few other hotel staffers who regularly get stiffed.
One is the pool attendant. Hoffman says that if the attendant just gives you a towel, no tip is needed, but if he does anything extra like set up your umbrella or blow up inflatable toys, you should give him a tip. You should also tip staffers who bring items up to your room, she adds.
Tip amount: In both cases, $1 to $3 is appropriate, says Hoffman. However, some experts - - say that giving $1 is only very rarely appropriate. Gym staff While you likely don’t need to tip your personal trainer (a holiday gift is fine), you may want to consider tipping helpful gym staff, says Eyring. So if someone repeatedly goes out of his or her way to bring you water, get you towels or show you how to use the machines, a tip might be in order, she says.
“After working out for a while there—week after week—you might write a thank-you note and enclose some money,” she says. Tip amount: She says the amount depends on how helpful the person was, but after a month $10 to $25 is likely sufficient. Hotel housekeeping While most people do know to tip hotel housekeeping, they often do it wrong—thus depriving the cleaning people of much-needed cash.
You should be tipping hotel housekeeping daily, not just upon your departure, because the staff who first cleaned your room might not be there on your last day and thus won’t get that money, says Smith. Tip amount: $1 to $2 a day per person staying in your room, says Smith.
So if you and your husband were staying in the hotel for three nights, you would tip around $10.
I’m not planning on tipping the driver who has my car right now He was hours late picking it up, and I had to call to find out why. He hasn’t called me today (delivery day) with any sort of time window. I’m assuming he’s somewhere on the east coast, but I have no real idea where he is. I know the car was loaded on the truck because the dealership called and told me it was on the truck. I’ve had communication issues with this company all week, and almost flew out to get the car myself because I got so frustrated. I realize, however, that it’s not the driver’s fault, and I was prepared to tip him generously. He doesn’t seem to be any better then the people he drives for.
If the driver had called today to let me know where he was and intruduce himself, that would be a different story – I have the cash on hand for a decent tip. However, that hasn’t happened. Therefore No tip. And the company will get an excoriating review online after my car is safely in my driveway.
Hello Beth, I totally understand your sentiment. When I was a driver, I used to always call the customer when I got close to arriving and on the day I arrived to be sure they’d still be available.
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Not sure why this driver hasn’t called you but some drivers just don’t think to do it. They’re not told to or taught to. They feel like their job is to just driver and deliver the vehicle safely. Unfortunately if they knew just how far a quick call would go, they could grow their business tremendously.
But that’s a convo for a different day. Also it’s worth mentioning that whether the dealership found the carrier on their own or through a broker, they too are responsible for keeping you in the loop. Unfortunately when dealers move cars, they don’t do that. They have “millions of other things to do and it ultimately becomes your problem.” Rolling my eyes politely. Now if they used a broker, then the broker should’ve at least sent you an email to say the driver was on schedule.
I hope everything works out for you and again, whether you tip or not is totally up to you. Thanks for sharing your story! Stay awesome.
Thank you for the article. I tipped my transporter today for his exceptional service. He hit all 5 points, even going the extra mile. Called to confirm when he reached the city, then 30 minutes out, upon arrival at my location he unloaded & inspected, then gave me a call once he was done. No need to observe him unstrap tie-downs from the trailer bed. Poor guy also had to move his truck halfway into the unloading process so folks could access their parked car. Great customer service comes with a slightly higher price tag but also provides peace of mind.