apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

here's a tip:

If you are getting help from family to do these tasks (especially moving and renos), supply a good lunch and make sure there is plenty of coffee in the morning.
:)

i'm sorry but do we really have to pay AND tip? what if they end up not doing a good job? what if they break things or two days later the pipes burst? i have to say i dont believe in tipping for every little thing you hire someone to do. even restaurant tipping is out of hand- the standard has gone from 10-15% to 18-20%- now dont get me wrong i understand that is how most servers make their money, i was one, but i dont like feeling obligated to tip if i wasnt satisfied with the service. I tip when i get my nails done and yet every time they chip by the next day or i find they didnt cover the whole nail.


the point i'm trying to make is that most movers and handy men get paid by the company you are paying, why do i need to tip? if its an individual i can see that, but most places are "brand" name companies.


i'm done now.

To be honest, I would never tip any of these folks. Perhaps that's because it's not expected where I live (West Coast of British Columbia). If it was expected, I'd find a way to do the work myself to avoid paying more.

if it occurs to you to wonder if you should tip, you probably should . . .

I'm usually not sure if I should tip the rental car people -- the one where they pick you up. Then when I have to leave my car for service and the dealership gives me a ride home and then picks me up when my car is ready. I hadn't tipped in the past because that was part of the 'speel' they used when selling the car. Should I be tipping?

If someone does a good job with delivery, please tip. They are paid close to minimum wage and are doing physical labor. Physical labor is the lowest paid work in this country, and we [meaning the country at large, perhaps not you as a reader] treat the people who mop our floors, pick our produce, and pack our boxed and bagged goods like an invisible class.

Cases in point:

Tip: Crate and Barrel delivery guy carried my table base and glass top up a flight of stairs outside, into my house, up another 3 steps, and helped me unpack the box to confirm nothing was broken. He helped me carry the glass top 10 feet to where it would eventually be lifted up to the table base. He was friendly, helpful, and clearly a hardworking guy. I gave him $10.

NO tip: Greyhound Express offers delivery from the station to your home via taxicab (this was the way I had two chairs shipped for a purchase on ebay). The guy took the chairs out of the van-style cab, dropped them in my driveway, and hopped back in his van. I, a 40-year old, 5'2" woman had to carry each 3 x 3, 30 pound box up those same stairs into my home. This is not a pity party -- I'm healthy, active, and carried the boxes without issue. The point is that he didn't say anthing except "sign this" with minimal courtesy. He did not even give me a second glance, let alone offer to help me get the boxes up the stairs. I did not give him a tip, though I had made a point of getting $10 in cash (who carries cash these days?) ready to give him. I'll let you imagine the expletive I used to describe his basic charactger.

PS

Vicky, I don't think you need to tip the Enterprise car rental folk ("we'll even pick you up") unless you feel that they were especially helpful and courteous. $5 to be on time, polite, help you with bags/whathaveyou, prompt paperwork, etc. If they're simply acting as a shuttle service, then no tip necessary. E.g., the local Saturn dealership offers a shuttle to and fro down-town offices, and they have a "no tips allowed" policy.

PS again

Oneformybaby, it's the people who are not working for themselves, but contracted by the big name retailers, who deserve tipping. Same thing at a salon when you get your hair done -- they're renting (contracting) a stall from the salon and their hourly is reduced because they have to pay for the stall rental. I don't tip my petsitter because she works for herself. Nor do I tip the landscape designer who helped me with my planning (she pocketed the whole fee); nor do I top the guy who built my deck or the other guy who installed my patio (again, they did the labor and I contracted with them, no middle man involved).

But the guy who gets *maybe* $10/hr for hauling heavy stuff up stairs and has to deal with traffic, weather, crabby people, dogs, and stairs, I definintely tip. Granted, I didn't tip the first time -- and I was mortified to realize later that I would have, if I'd not been so excited by the item I'd received. But that doesn't mean I can't reconsider given circumstances.

If people were paid a reasonable wage we wouldn't be having this debate. I don't tip if service is poor even if I know the wages are low.

my mother always told me to tip 10% of the item cost for furniture delivery. glad to know i've been overtipping all this time!

I felt really awful when I first moved to New York and didn't tip the first few delivery guys who brought stuff ... it made total sense to me once I learned to do it, but in every other city I've lived in I'd never seen it done, so I didn't know. I thought this was just me, but all my friends who've moved here from other (smaller) places have said "you're supposed to tip delivery guys???" in embarrassment. I rarely tip man-with-a-van guys, though ... it's their own van/business, if they wanted more, they should charge more. Oh, and I agree about Greyhound home delivery. They are worthless. And RUDE to boot. I won't even waste the space here to type out a long account of my aunt's nightmare attempts to get a table delivered from them.

What drives me nuts in NYC is salons ... there are SO MANY PEOPLE who work in them ... I end up having 5 people touch my hair by the time I'm done. This annoys the crap out of me, because I'm tired of having to tip 4 or 5 or 6 people on one visit. I miss the midwest where at best you have two - the stylist and the shampoo person.

By the way, I preferred living in Europe where the tip was always included in stuff, so you didn't have to stress over how much to tip and whether or not it was a situation where tipping was expected.

For me, tipping people who work in fields such as the above for doing a great job...nonsense. My "tip" is I'll hire them again in the future and/or recommend them to others. The whole idea of tipping everyone for everything that you're already paying them for has gotten out of hand.

I had an awkward moment with a moving company here in Brooklyn. I paid $1250 to move out of a one bedroom apartment. I packed the majority and left a few things for them to box up, they also wrapped all my furniture. The packing materials cost an extra $350, bringing the total expense to $1600. I also helped them while they were packing up my stuff. I bought them lunch and provided them with drinks. It took them about 4 hours to complete the move. There were 3 movers and one driver outside. They were transporting my stuff to their storage facility nearby. When they were through I signed the receipt and handed them a $150 tip. The head mover turned to me counted out the tip and then typed out a new tip amount on his calculator. He then informed me that they are normally tipped 15% and that I owed him an additional $90. I was mortified, embarrassed and put on the spot so I handed over an additional $80, all I had left in my wallet. I was besides myself when they left, and so pissed off, especially when I calculated that he was also including the cost of the materials into his calculations.
My husband happened to be working when the move occurred so maybe they took advantage of me when they saw a woman alone. My husband called the moving company owner who he had been dealing with and explained what happened. He apologized and gave us money off of our storage fee.
I am a server in a restaurant so I know what it is like to work for tips. I usually consider myself an over tipper. I did not believe that I had under tipped these guys. I am still not sure how much to tip movers. I will be moving again next month and I guess I will be tipping 15% (but not on materials!)

i am always confused about what to do at a salon as well. when i first started going to my hairdresser, she worked in a large salon and i tipped her normally. two years ago she opened her own salon, and i never know how to proceed. usually i leave her a (pretty generous) tip in the little envelope, assuming she'll split it accordingly with the shampoo girl, the (million) assistants who clip my hair up, apply the color, etc, since she is the owner. THEN, I was talking to my mother who seemed appalled that i didn't tip each one individually.

i, too, love europe where everything is included! pay for my meal, leave a few pieces of change on the table and done!

PS:
normally i'm a generous tipper when it comes to food service...i realize those people are making, what, $2.50 an hour?, essentially working for tips. of course, i usually base my tip on the service. what irks me are places where the gratuity is included for large groups. i've been in the situation so many times where the waitstaff KNOWS they're getting the 18% anyway so they don't even try, and aren't even pleasant.

I agree with most posters here that tipping people that work for themselves is unnecessary. What i disagree with is the assumption that if someone's doing a hard job, we should tip them (movers, delivery guys, etc). Supposedly they're making minimum wage to move heavy boxes and we should tip them to compensate -- i say no way! If they were making that little to do that much work, they'd quit and go work at McDonald's for the same money. Obviously they're making enough to make it worthwhile for them. Tip only if you think the service is above and beyond.

Which takes me to my next point -- i refuse to tip for mere competence. As a poster noted above "I don't think you need to tip the Enterprise car rental folk unless you feel that they were especially helpful and courteous. $5 to be on time, polite, help you with bags/whathaveyou, prompt paperwork, etc." I'm sorry, is being on time, polite and prompt "especially helpful"??? To me that's the basic expectation, not going above and beyond! I think we've all gotten so used to incompetence that we're thrilled when someone actually does their job. Don't even get me started on contractors, plumbers, and electricians who apparently don't even have the time to call you back and take your money anymore.

Oh no! I had a bed delivered yesterday, and the delivery guys had to carry the pieces up two flights of stairs and put the bed together for me, and I didn't tip. I had no idea you're supposed to tip furniture delivery people. Now I feel bad. There was an awkward moment before they left when they were just standing there looking at me, and now I know why.

On the salon issue, I think that the owner should refuse tips or tell you that they will divide the tip among the staff. Technically, you don't need to tip owners, but I always feel obligated to do so.

Jeezus Jooly. You couldn't figure that out on the spot? When they go "above and beyond", tip generously.

I'm happy to tip delivery men. If they're handsome I usually can't get my wallet out quick enough!

Don't worry Jooly, it was a mistake of ignorance and not of meanness. It took me a while to figure out tipping for hair cuts. (I let my hair grow out for about 10 years because I kept getting terrible haircuts.) I was under tipping, then managed to over tip a bit for the worst hair cut in the world. (from the owner) I finally have regular hairstylist and salon.

I didn't tip the guys in the midwest to deliver the king mattress, I bought way back when. They were very nervous when I asked if they would take it upstairs when they delivered it.
I thought they would drop it on the curb. I was thrilled that they carried it upstairs for me and that I did not have to carry it upstairs by myself. They thought that I wanted them to carry it up 6 flights or something. Anyhow, one of the guys groaned and moaned the whole time. I did pay extra for the delivery.