I really wish we’d just pay people a living wage and get away from tipping. It’s really refreshing going to a country where tipping is not the norm and people provide good service because it is their job and they take pride in it while still supporting themselves and a family.
I tip hotel housekeeping $5 each day. I usually am staying alone and I am very neat and tidy. I don’t eat in the room or use the coffee pot or create extra work for them. I might be their easiest guest!
How much do you tip at a buffet where the only thing the waitstaff does is remove dirty plates?
At buffets we usually tip 10%.
@jmnva06 …are you a man?
Tipping in the US has gotten out of control. I tip the pizza/food delivery person, waitstaff at restaurants, hair stylist and nail tech, valet, movers (if they go above and beyond), lawn guy (because he prices too low and does a great job), Lyft drivers, hotel housekeeping (if they go above and beyond). That’s pretty much it. I index tried to give a furniture delivery guy a tip because he did me a big favor in addition to the delivery, but he refused, and said he doesn’t accept tips. I hate fast food and fast casual places with tip jars. Tip jars are everywhere. It’s annoying. They do nothing to earn it.
We’ve had several tipping threads here on CC. As I mentioned on previous ones, DH tips the hotel cleaning staff nicely on the first day of his stay. He thinks that gets him better service for the rest of the stay (I wonder if its the same crew the whole time, but who knows).
I used to go to a hairdresser who had several people do things (one gave a hand massage, one did color, one washed hair and one cut/dried hair. It cost a fortune to tip everyone. Tipping is supposed to be for good service, but when, after 15 years at this hair stylist, I received several instances of bad service, I left a big tip and never returned.
I never used to tip at line up at counter and order places and never realized others did. I thought people might through in their extra coins in the tip jar but not really tip. Then my DD worked at a local bakery/deli type place and she hustle all day. Making sandwiches, light cooking (of hot sandwiches), slicing and bagging breads, making smoothies and fancy coffee drinks all for a pittance of pay. It was a small family owned place so they kept staff to a bare minimum but customers wanted in and out and FAST service. I then realized that many people tipped, and tipped IMO generously. It made my DDs day and they added up to a big % of her earnings, especially with her pay so low.
She was always so pleasantly surprised at the person who would get a simple order and throw a dollar to two into the jar with a thank you. She was also surprised at those who would pile on special requests, changes, ask for extras, tell her they were in a rush, and then not leave anything. She would come home and tell about racing to get 12 hot sandwiches together and out for pick up at the same time, all correctly made and specially numbered/labeled for distribution, with all of the extras - only to have the person coming to pick up leave no tip. She also bristled when they would work to put together large party platters all the extra work of getting large trays together with individual containers of all the extras requested and then someone picking up $100+ orders and not leaving a tip. Door Dash and other food delivery services were hurting her tips as well. Those drivers would not leave anything but she was still doing all of the work to make, label, pack, etc…
Like I said, I never used to tip and feel like the small business owner could have been paying her more for her hard work. But, I also now see that it makes a difference and that she worked so much harder than her waitress/server friends for not much more in base pay (and a LOT less after they were tipped out). She left that job as a result. Tough for small business owners to pay more or they may go under.
My D worked at a counter/pickup place too. She worked very hard when she was there, mostly making those huge party or work orders. She made minimum wage, not reduced waitstaff rate. She didn’t expect tips, nor did the establishment put out a tip jar. Rightfully so IMO.
An extra dollar to someone making $7.25/hour does make a difference to them. Several years ago, I was checking out at a Wal-mart and chatted with the clerk, to learn we both had young relatives getting confirmed that Sunday at the same church. She explained to me that she couldn’t attend as Wal-Mart paid an extra dollar per hour on Sundays. So for 8 dollars, she missed the event. It has haunted me since that I didnt think fast enough to hand her 10 dollars and tell her to attend if she wished.
I have read quite a few places that you should NOT feel obligated to put money in tip jars, so I don’t.
While not disagreeing, many people who say such things are also the same people who create an uproar when restaurants raise their menu prices to accommodate increased labor costs. As an example, minimum wage for wait staff in MA is $4.95. The minimum wage for non-tipped employees is $12.75. Owners would not just absorb the difference.
I tip very few people with any regularity. I tip on a restaurant bill when I am served by wait-staff, I tip the woman who cuts and colors my hair (but not the one who washes it, if it isn’t the same person), I tip the driver in a taxi, I usually give a dollar to the parking lot attendant who brings my car, and on occasion I leave a tip in a hotel room for housekeeping or I give money to the bellhop who carried my bags (they need to have done something special).
Related question - Do you take into account the age of the person working when tipping at places with tip jars? In roycroftmom’s example - it’s much different to me when an adult is working a low paying job (and probably has 2 or 3 to support a family) than when it’s a teen earning pocket money. At my D’s place of employment, the only person over the age of 20 was the owner. The rest were HS and college students (and the college students got scheduling preferences and more hours than the HS kids).
Goingskiing makes a good point too about raising prices. There is a huge difference in minimum wage depending on location. It will be $13/hr this year in my neck of the woods with an increase to $15 coming soon. Most places are already paying $15/hr. A basic to go sandwich is $11 (no sides/no drinks) at a popular chain. The same sandwich, without sides/drinks at the same chain, was $6 where I used to live, where minimum wage was $8.25.
When my DD waitressed briefly, the people who tipped best were the ones who had such jobs themselves at some point in their lives. Level of affluence was not a reliable predictor, but level of empathy was.
There are only a few places where I regularly let the valets park my car, as I know they are familiar with how to drive it. But often the car is just parked a few feet away, and when leaving often they just hand me back my card key and I get it myself. But I still end up tipping them a dollar or 2. We refer to it as car ransom. They take your car and you pay to get it back 
I tip waitstaff, hairdresser & his shampoo/color person, food delivery people, some other delivery people (depending on how much I was already charged for delivery, how difficult the job was & how well they did it), and usually hotel housekeeping.
I don’t appreciate fast-casual restaurants that ask for a tip on their IPad, or places that think they’re doing you a favor by computing the tip for you. They always compute it on the full amount, including sales tax. I don’t tip on tax.
I go regularly to happy hour with a group of 5 or 6 before an activity we participate in. We are all agreed that the wait staff is working just as hard at happy hour as any other time but get paid less (because the check total is lower.) So we all tip at least 30% and usually more.
In South Africa, there will be multiple men at gas stations, directing you to a particular pump. They expect to be tipped. Men also stand on streets and when you pull into a parking space, they also expect to be tipped. You’re afraid not to, because your car might be damaged if you don’t.
My D20 is a part-time hostess at a Mexican restaurant and frequently gets tips on takeout orders. She appreciates the extra cash but I never tip on take out.
I used to be a restaurant server in college so I now always tip 18-20% on a meal.
When business traveling, I tip the maids about $3 a day and when with family $5.
Always tip Uber/Lyft/taxi drivers about 10% of fare.
We have a weekly gardener and housekeeper that we tip once a year during the holidays. Normally equivalent to one week’s pay.