Oh yeah - I'm going there: Tipping!
Most people can agree that tipping has gotten out of hand in this country. Tip jars are everywhere and it is in this season that more and more hands are thrust in your face or you receive more "meaningful glances" that indicate "Hey you! Tightwad! Fork it over!".
So how do you get through the season staying within your budget without appearing to be Ebenezer Scrooge, especially when it is supposed to be the season of generosity? Check out this list (scroll down to "Christmas Tipping Etiquette") to see how quickly you could blow your Christmas budget on tips before you even buy the first gift for your children.
The first thing to do is to understand that guides like these seem to always be written for the wealthy. Seriously - do YOU have a regular gardener, personal trainer, massage therapist or a cleaning service? Do you have the kind of relationship with your UPS carrier that you would buy him a present if it wasn't written on websites and in magazines that you were "supposed" to give him one?
A $25-100 gift card for my children's teacher? Are you kidding me? Don't get me wrong - I love every teacher that my children have had and I do give them gifts at Christmas...but the idea of "tipping" a teacher? Unless my children are attending the ExpensiveSchoolForTheFilthyRichWhereTeachersArePaidNothing, I can't imagine "tipping" a teacher.
As for the rest of the list - I find it infuriating. Somewhere out there people MUST be tipping like that to the point where it is put in guides like these. And those of us who see guides like this as ridiculous are considered "misers".
It's not miserly to refuse to be guilted in to Christmas tipping. It's frugal. Miserly = bad. Frugal = good.
So who will I tip at Christmas? The teachers get a gift (not a tip). The mailman will probably get a Wawa gift card (but only because he has been my carrier for 10 years and I see him at church as well). When I got my hair cut the other day I gave a "double tip". If we go out to dinner between now & Christmas, I might up the tip to 25-30% for great service.
But that's it.
With most people cutting way back on Christmas this year, I don't think I'll be alone in this.
How are you handling the pressure to tip at Christmas?
Celia
I do not believe in tipping people for services they are being paid a regular wage for like delivering the mail or teaching. I tip waiters and hairstylists extra if I go there on a holiday. I worked in a restaurant for years and I firmly believe in tipping well for good service, but that is it. I tip 30% at restaurants for average to good service and 35% for excellent service. Poor service gets 20%.
There is no way I am tipping a mailman or a teacher that I am already paying for through my taxes. Pizza deliver person- yes. In bad weather- extra. Lawn service people I would already be paying a wage to? No way.
celia
Celias last blog post..CD 10 oink oink
Sheri
I have been a teacher for 12 years, and I have to say I've never been "tipped". I have been given gift cards before, but for maybe $10 to a book store, or for movies. $25-$100 is quite excessive.
Rebecca
Wow, I agree with you. Some of those tip people/amounts are way out of line! Here's what I do at Christmas for many of the people they say to tip -
After Christmas, I hit the sales and pick up decorative Christmas plates. Depending on where you go, you can sometimes get ceramic plates for as low as .10 - particularly if you live near outlet centers like I do. I save those plates and then the following year when we do our annual baking/candy making, we make up plates for people. Each plate gets maybe one and a half dozen assorted cookies plus homemade candy. Cover with coloured plastic wrap, decorate with a few Christmas stickers and a bow. Everyone loves cookies! We also try to deliver these gifts early on in December, before everyone else gives cookies, so your recipient is happy to get it.
My mom is in charge of about 20 people at her office, and last year we managed to do Christmas gifts for every person for TOTAL less than $20. Here's how:
(This will make presents for 20 people)
-buy felt sheets at .20/ea (or less if on sale) in green, red, and white. (need 1 white, 3 red and 4 green) (Total $1.60)
-make mini stockings out of felt (can get 3/felt sheet and use a strip of white at the top. You can sew them together (our method) or use fabric glue. If you don't want to use felt, you can use paper, but we thought the felt looked a little more posh.
-use glitter glue to put their name on the white part of stocking (if you craft, you already have this, otherwise you can get a pack of assorted glitter glue/fabric paint at the Dollar Store)
-buy 1-2 bags of pretzel rods (Dollar Store), a container of round sprinkles ($1-2 usually or had on hand from cookie baking), clear plastic spoons (Dollar Store), and 2 bags each of white chocolate chips and milk or dark chocolate chips ($5 total or less if coupons or not using name brands), and either celophane candy bags (usually $1 for 20 at the dollar store) or regular plastic bags. (You'll need 2 packs), and some festive ribbon (usually on-hand, or again, dollar store)
-line a cookie sheet with wax paper and pick out 20 full pretzel rods. Melt 1 cup of milk chocolate and dip 1/4-1/2 of the rod into the chocolate. Place rod on wax paper and sprinkle with sprinkles, turning the rod so sprinkles get on both sides. Repeat with 20 rods in white chocolate.
-line a second cookie sheet with wax paper. Melt milk chocolate. Take plastic spoon and dip into chocolate so entire bowl gets covered with chocolate. Allow to set. Melt white chocolate and either drizzle over the top of the spoon, or dip just the tip of the spoon bowl into the white chocolate.
-wait for it to cool.
-take one milk pretzel rod and one white pretzel rod and pair them together in a celophane bag. Tie off with ribbon. take one chocolate spoon, put in a bag, and tie off with ribbon (you can get two spoons done from one bag if you cut off the corners and cover just the chocolate bowl with it). Put one pack of rods, and one spoon in each stocking. We also had a huge assortment of candy laying around (we stockpile it when there are sales/coupons), so we tossed a few Hershey Kisses, minatures, and hard candies into each stocking along with a candy cane (usually $1/12 or so at Dollar Stores and Wal-Mart)
Everyone loved it, and I think we spent total about $15 on supplies for everyone...we had leftover chocolate, pretzels, and spoons so we made up some more and used them as decorations on presents for family members.
I went on a cruise this past January, and tipping was a big issue on our message board. We were on a charter cruise, and gratuity was included for most things. Carnival charges $50 up front that they split to the different people based on their tip rates, and if you want to adjust anything (give someone more/less), you go to the pursar desk and make the adjustment. The only people we made sure we tipped were the bag porters (So our bags didn't land in the ocean!) and our room steward. Each of us gave him $20 at the start of the cruise (there were 4 of us in the room) in addition to the $5/day Carnival allots to him through the tip charge. We had the BEST service in our room even over some of the people who had suites, because of that tip. Loads of extra freebies showed up in our room, we didn't get charged for him opening bottles of wine for us, he left us multiple towel animals in one day, etc.
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Stacey
I go back and forth with tipping the mailman or not. It is his job to deliver the mail and he does get paid for it. Since we have the same mailman I won't feel as bad not tipping him since I know you'll be giving him something.
And teachers - I was shocked when my daughter started preschool and the other moms asked if I wanted to go in on a gift card. Tip a preschool teacher? She was only in class 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. I don't mind giving $5 toward the gift card, but I won't give anymore than that. My daughter can make a card and something small to give.
Heidi @ GGIP
Yes I think those guidelines are made up for the very rich. I can see the guidelines about who CAN ACCEPT tips, though.
I'm with you on the giving a gift (gift card) for a teacher and I might actually tip the mailperson this year since they actually do take a lot of care in bringing the mail or packages up to the door and stuff.
The UPS truck drives 50 miles an hour down my road (speed limit 25). There is NO WAY I would consider tipping them.
Heidi @ GGIPs last blog post..This and That
Jen
I don't tip many but I do tip the mailman ($5.00 Wawa card) and I do give a gift to the teachers. This year I picked up many restaurant.com gifts and will be giving them to the teachers. I picked up many certificates for great area restaurants and they were VERY inexpensive but will make a great gift.
Cathy
I don't really tip anyone, but I do give my kids grade school teachers a $25 gift card. Those teachers are sooo underpaid and under appreciated. I'd give them more if I had it! They do a WONDERFUL job teaching my kids and making my children feel valued.
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Joan
I am apparently on the other side of the fence here, but as a worker in the service industry, I feel that a tip is a nice bonus from those clients whom I service regularly year-round. I work through rain and sleet and snow and hot humid weather. I get abuse from people all year round, as clients can be rude, demanding, and just plain mean. A small tip would be appreciated for putting up with people, and bending over backward to meet their needs, on a regular basis.
Gary the Mailman
Celia, not one dime of your taxes goes toward paying your letter carrier saleries. The Postal Service is an independent agency of the federal gov't, meaning all saleries are paid from postal generated products, i.e. stamp sales.
Mindi
Thanks to everyone for your comments (and suggestions).
Tipping can be a hot topic....I wonder if it was so controversial BEFORE tip jars started appearing everywhere (they are so annoying).
The funny thing - I really don't mind tipping the people that we have always been "supposed" to tip....waiters, hairdressers, etc. Ans I have always given gifts to many of the service workers with whom I have regular contact. Rebecca - I buy cookie tins at WalMart, Target or AC Moore every January and get them for about $.10 each and then bake enough cookies to fill about 20 tins and pass them out to neighbors, the people at the bank, etc.
Joan - everyone LIKES getting a tip and I certainly understand that you people in the service industry deal with some horrible people (I worked retail many years ago and my husband is in retail management). However, I am not one of the "abusers" or one who calls for special treatment (even with my coupons - since I always follow the rules when it comes to coupons). I try to make up for those other rude customers by not being a difficult customer myself and NEVER raising my voice and keeping a smile on my face. And on the rare occasions that a worker/manager bends over backwards for me, I am the first one on the phone to their bosses to offer praise!
Gary - thanks for pointing that out. The USPS is a self-sustaining govt. agency and not funded by taxpayers (any more than the employees at Best Buy are paid through tax dollars. They are paid from the products sold)
Bob
The "suggested" tipping amounts really are for the well-to-do. I have to say, if you can afford the type of luxury and living situations that offer extra services the average person is not privy to, you can afford to tip during the holidays, but that should also go along with the quality of service (i.e., extra great service should be recognized).
Over the last several years, I've been getting a note with tip suggestions for my newspaper deliverer. I have been reluctant to tip due to missed deliveries, or lack of attention paid to the delivery (i.e., not double bagging on heavy rain days). It made me think of consequences people would face when they don't perform basic responsibilities at work. Tips, representative of year end bonuses, if you will, would ideally be based on merit and not expected regardless of performance.
Stella Smith
WHY SHOULD WE TIP POOL CLEANERS, HAIRDRESSERS, PEST CONTROL, DOG GROOMERS ETC.. WE ARE THEIR CUSTOMERS!WE GIVE THEM BUSINESS ALL YEAR...SHOULDN'T THEY BE THE ONES GIVING US A GIFT????
Mary Warwick
If I know the person and their situation, I usually tip them. I always tip my son's bus driver so he stops and waits when we're running late! I mean there's a benefit to tipping, you know?
I don't tip our mailman at home because he's single and makes a living wage. I tip the mailman at work because he's married with three teenagers. Perhaps it's not fair but that's how I roll.
Kristine
I came in search of what to tip and got sucked in... as a teacher in an urban school I wish my students and their families DID NOT give me a gift! If people wish to give, how about things we can use in the classroom that we (teachers) would normally have to buy like boxes of tissues, cleaning supplies, or dry erase markers. I spend a lot of money on my students because I don't want them to do without. Any gift I get I accept gratefully, and don't consider a "tip". But please - no more mugs!!!