Who to tip and how much
Most people know how much to tip the wait staff at a restaurant but unless you find yourself gratuitously leaving gratuities everywhere you go you may not know how much of a tip is the custom for other services. Thanks to Coupon Sherpa's Tips on Tipping for 63 Services you'll wonder no more. The list includes any category you can think of including tipping practices at restaurants, the hair salon, a spa, for transportation, for delivery service, at the hotel or casino, when traveling, holiday tipping and many more.Since the list is so comprehensive, and varied, we decided to highlight our favorite tipping tips form Coupon Sherpa. Odds are you didn't know how much to tip these professions.
- Take-Out Food – 10% when you pay. Make sure you tip based on the entire check if you use restaurant coupons.
- Long-term Parking Shuttle Driver - $1 to $2 per bag, if the driver assists you with your bags.
- Massage Therapists - 10% to 20% per massage.
- Furniture Delivery - $5 per large item delivered. You may want to tip more if the delivery requires a lot of set up.
- Housekeeping Staff – $1 to $5, depending on the hotel's quality and extra services provided. Tip daily as staff varies and put the cash in a sealed enveloped indicating it's for housekeeping.
- Blackjack Dealers - $5 chip per gambling session (higher at high limit tables). Also, you can set up a side bet for the dealer as a tip, usually at the minimum betting level.
- Salmon Fishing Guides - 15% is the average for independent fishing guides, but not less than 10%.
- Disc Jockeys - $5 for requests. $20 to $50 for employers.
- Tattoo Artists – 10% to 20%, depending on the difficulty and amount of work performed.
- Piercing Technicians – 10%
- Tow Truck Operators – $3 to $5 per car towed, even if it's covered by AAA
- Dog Groomers - $10
- Museum Guides - $1 per tour participant.
- Pizza Delivery – $2 to $5 depending on the distance the delivery person had to drive. If you use pizza coupons, make sure you tip based on the total price of the check. Check first to make sure a small tip was not already included in the total price, but make sure this isn't a "service fee" not shared with drivers.
- Sherpas – Tip one Yak for making it up the mountain and an additional Yak every time the sherpa has to save you from falling off the mountain.
Based on the full list of tipping etiquette it's pretty likely that I have stiffed or under-tipped for many services over the years. I can only hope I haven't been confused for Mr. Pink when it comes to leaving a tip for good service. Thankfully, there's one professional I never forget to tip, and neither should you, your barber. How do these tipping tips fit your tipping style?
