Tipping in Australia and New Zealand

[Yillup]

Would I be correct in assuming that everyone who against tipping would also refuse to accept performance bonuses, Christmas Bonuses, and gifts from clients, customers or employers?

 

Just wondering exactly what this has to do with tipping? An employer rewarding an employee is completely different to a customer supplementing the wages of a person in a service industry job. One has the employer showing their dedication to their staff by rewarding them, the other has the employer expecting customers to make up the shortfall as they only think their employee is worth $4 an hour...

 

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[jannandjohn]

I think to an American that would be small. From their perspective they have to live off it. I still do not fully understand their way of life myself but it is clear to me the small tip jars on counters where people drop small change should not be confused with the major system they have in America.

My staff being given 25-30% of the cost as a tip( without expecting it) is actually more than they expect in the US..

cabbies and hairdressers , waiters etc, over there in the US expect ( and demand..thats our difference) 15- 20% on top of their costings.

 

 

Suggested tips for the USA

$1-5 for skycaps, bellhops, doormen, and parking valets, $1 per coat for coatroom attendants, $2-5 per night for housekeeper, $5-10 for concierge (only if they arranged tickets or reservations), $1-3 per bag for grocery loaders.

For waiters at sit-down restaurants, bartenders, barbers/hairdressers/attendants at beauty salons, taxi drivers, tour guides, and food delivery folks, the tip should be calculated as a percentage of your total bill as follows

10% usually means you are very unhappy,

15% usually means all was ok,

20% for excellent,

25% for outstanding.

15% and over is considered "normal".

 

And here is the rest of the world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_(gratuity)

[The_Big_M]

As far as having the fare rounded down in my favour all I can say is if your a nice person then nice things happen to you.

 

You also get nice things happen to you if you're a pensioner, or look like you're poor or need it.

[Sparky74]

My staff being given 25-30% of the cost as a tip( without expecting it) is actually more than they expect in the US..

cabbies and hairdressers , waiters etc, over there in the US expect ( and demand..thats our difference) 15- 20% on top of their costings.

 

 

Suggested tips for the USA

$1-5 for skycaps, bellhops, doormen, and parking valets, $1 per coat for coatroom attendants, $2-5 per night for housekeeper, $5-10 for concierge (only if they arranged tickets or reservations), $1-3 per bag for grocery loaders.

For waiters at sit-down restaurants, bartenders, barbers/hairdressers/attendants at beauty salons, taxi drivers, tour guides, and food delivery folks, the tip should be calculated as a percentage of your total bill as follows

10% usually means you are very unhappy,

15% usually means all was ok,

20% for excellent,

25% for outstanding.

15% and over is considered "normal".

 

And here is the rest of the world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_(gratuity)

 

Thanks. This is helpful.

 

 

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[avalon007]

My staff being given 25-30% of the cost as a tip( without expecting it) is actually more than they expect in the US..

cabbies and hairdressers , waiters etc, over there in the US expect ( and demand..thats our difference) 15- 20% on top of their costings.

 

 

Suggested tips for the USA

$1-5 for skycaps, bellhops, doormen, and parking valets, $1 per coat for coatroom attendants, $2-5 per night for housekeeper, $5-10 for concierge (only if they arranged tickets or reservations), $1-3 per bag for grocery loaders.

For waiters at sit-down restaurants, bartenders, barbers/hairdressers/attendants at beauty salons, taxi drivers, tour guides, and food delivery folks, the tip should be calculated as a percentage of your total bill as follows

10% usually means you are very unhappy,

15% usually means all was ok,

20% for excellent,

25% for outstanding.

15% and over is considered "normal".

 

And here is the rest of the world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_(gratuity)

 

 

Wow, you could make a fortune just loading groceries into cars at up to $3 per bag!!!

 

We average at least 15 bags+ per shop, even at $2 a bag that's $30 & times that by even 10 shoppers a day that's $300 per day!

 

Like to see how much I would have to pay the guy that loads my alpaca feed into the car - they are 3 bags each weighing around 30kg. :eek:

 

Lucky I live in Australia!!:D

[2910car]

Thanks so much for your help. That certainly makes prices in Australia seem more reasonable.

 

I would love it if they did that in the US. Just charge a proper price and pay the employees enough to live on. I never understood why some industries get tipped and not others. I worked all my life and my customers never gave me anything - not even at Christmas.

[icat2000]

I have caught literally hundreds of cabs in Australia, Asia, NZ & USA over the years. Never have I had a driver round down the fare. And I often roundup or otherwise leave a tip.

 

Never tipped a barber though - guess i'm afraid of being punched in the face :eek: ***!

I caught a cab back from the airport to home in April and the cabbie rounded the fare down. I guess he didn't have the change for my cash. It was only like 60 cents.

[Yillup]

When I lived in Sydney with no car, I often had the fare rounded down in a taxi. If the bill was $40.60 it would very often be rounded to just $40. Up to a dollar or even 2. Once I started paying by card though, it was exact amounts.

 

Like I said before, tipping in Australia seems to be more about convenience - not wanting to have to deal with large amounts of coins and change. :)

 

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[Sutho]

In my opinion too many naïve Australians are confusing "keep the small change" or "I'm not bothered with change" with tips. If these people were to actually travel to America they would get the shock of their lives and soon realise that tipping in America is more than just "small change" which some here see as an inconvenience.

[fishtaco]

You know its funny people mention taxi drivers, they seem to always round down the bill for me in my favour. Same thing happened in New Zealand when I was there on Celebrity Solstice in Wellington. All the taxi drivers rounded down the bill.

 

I would not dare tip a hairdresser in Australia, you are likely to get a fist in the face if you do!! There is no way anyone can walk into a mens hairdresser in the suburbs in Australia and start throwing around cash and expect to walk out unscathed.

 

Not sure I understand this post?

 

Barbers and Hairdressers in Australia are tipped by customers as commonly as Taxi,s and wait staff are?

 

I have never had my hair cut without leaving a tip:confused:

 

I have many friends in the hair dressing business and they are all tipped regularly and always have been.

 

In many Salons hairdressers/Barbers sometimes only rent a chair from the main business and a tip is always handed to the person who cut your hair not the owner.

 

Also a Taxi driver will round down the fare so you dont take all their change! Give them a note they have rounded down too and then a tip on.

[jannandjohn]

In my opinion too many naïve Australians are confusing "keep the small change" or "I'm not bothered with change" with tips. If these people were to actually travel to America they would get the shock of their lives and soon realise that tipping in America is more than just "small change" which some here see as an inconvenience.

 

In most instances in the US, Tipping is usually about percentages of the bill that is given...but, it can be hard to know exactly how much to give others without over or under tipping.

Eg..if we get a hotel shuttle to pick us from LAX and take us to our hotel, if the guy gets our bags and loads them in the rack we give him $5, but we have seen on many occasions that most people give him nothing..even Americans.

We always leave 3 bucks on our bed for the maid everyday...

how much do you leave Sutho?

We know that gratuities are actually part of the wage , did you know that many cruise ship workers earn only 17cents a day from the cruise-line?

They depend on their tips for their wage, but the trouble is that most Aussies think its just extra money.

We always give our Steward $100 and our Butler $250 on top of the gratuities we get charged by the cruise-line for the "compulsory" tips.

How much do you tip, Sutho.?

[jannandjohn]

Not sure I understand this post?

 

Barbers and Hairdressers in Australia are tipped by customers as commonly as Taxi,s and wait staff are?

 

I have never had my hair cut without leaving a tip:confused:

 

I have many friends in the hair dressing business and they are all tipped regularly and always have been.

 

In many Salons hairdressers/Barbers sometimes only rent a chair from the main business and a tip is always handed to the person who cut your hair not the owner.

 

Also a Taxi driver will round down the fare so you dont take all their change! Give them a note they have rounded down too and then a tip on.

 

Exactly!! As we are both in our family, hairdresser/barber and cab driver, we know what goes on..

The old Actor George Burns was quoted as saying..

 

“Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair”. George F. Burns quotes (American comedian 1896-1996).

[cassamanda]

 

 

Suggested tips for the USA

$1-5 for skycaps, bellhops, doormen, and parking valets, $1 per coat for coatroom attendants, $2-5 per night for housekeeper, $5-10 for concierge (only if they arranged tickets or reservations), $1-3 per bag for grocery loaders.

For waiters at sit-down restaurants, bartenders, barbers/hairdressers/attendants at beauty salons, taxi drivers, tour guides, and food delivery folks, the tip should be calculated as a percentage of your total bill as follows

10% usually means you are very unhappy,

15% usually means all was ok,

20% for excellent,

25% for outstanding.

15% and over is considered "normal".

 

And here is the rest of the world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_(gratuity)

 

There are some things where paying 20% would I am sure be just over the top. Such as helicopter pilots on a $600 flight would be $120:eek: We gave our pilot $30 and he was most appreciative.

Other times you feel you are not tipping enough. The van ride from Airport to hotel with VIP in Hono was only $12. We gave the driver $5 but that was mainly to cover our 2bags.

Our drinks waiter at a bar we frequented got $1 for every drink delivered then we added the suggested bar tab tip at the end as well. We had no sideways looks etc at any time. I wonder though if certain states are more forgiving of us Aussie tourists.

[Sutho]

Not sure I understand this post?

 

Barbers and Hairdressers in Australia are tipped by customers as commonly as Taxi,s and wait staff are?

 

I have never had my hair cut without leaving a tip:confused:

 

I have many friends in the hair dressing business and they are all tipped regularly and always have been.

 

In many Salons hairdressers/Barbers sometimes only rent a chair from the main business and a tip is always handed to the person who cut your hair not the owner.

 

Also a Taxi driver will round down the fare so you dont take all their change! Give them a note they have rounded down too and then a tip on.

 

Perhaps you are living in a parallel universe. This is certainly not the Australia I know and live in.

[fishtaco]

There are some things where paying 20% would I am sure be just over the top. Such as helicopter pilots on a $600 flight would be $120:eek: We gave our pilot $30 and he was most appreciative.

Other times you feel you are not tipping enough. The van ride from Airport to hotel with VIP in Hono was only $12. We gave the driver $5 but that was mainly to cover our 2bags.

Our drinks waiter at a bar we frequented got $1 for every drink delivered then we added the suggested bar tab tip at the end as well. We had no sideways looks etc at any time. I wonder though if certain states are more forgiving of us Aussie tourists.

 

They are "Tuned In" to Australians and the fact they do not always tip correctly as they are with Europeans.

 

You can envisage one waitress pushing out another from the kitchen area to serve the "Visitors" because they heard the accent while walking past with the coffee refill lol

 

I got talking to a Bathroom attendant in a US night club who insisted on brushing me down and slapping my face with aftershave each visit!

 

He was paid no wages supplied his own uniform and bought all the expensive aftershaves himself, he said all nationalities tipped very well as soon as they had had a few drinks and the more they drink the more they use the bathroom:D

[fishtaco]

Perhaps you are living in a parallel universe. This is certainly not the Australia I know and live in.

 

I doubt it! Although from Perth I lived and worked in Sydney and the haircuts were nice and cheap compared to Perth but I never once see the fists flying when I paid with a tip included unless of course they tried to Knock me out with their smile and appreciation at the till:confused:

 

Then again I dont usually have my hair cut on "Cheap Tuesdays" or other Concession days? perhaps thats when the fists fly most:D:D:D

[jannandjohn]

I dont usually have my hair cut on "Cheap Tuesdays" or other Concession days? perhaps thats when the fists fly most:D:D:D

I has fists flying in my shop one day about 20 yrs ago.

between two "punchy" guys fighting over who was next..haha:)

they were both over 60, it was soooo funny.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Perhaps you are living in a parallel universe. This is certainly not the Australia I know and live in.

 

 

Gosh...Where have you been living?

I can remember the first time I visited Sydney . Friends took me to a restaurant where the waiters lined up to pay the Maitre de to work there as they made an excellent living just from the tips.

Tipping is alive and well downunder , and if you go out a bit more you could see it for yourself.

Try being a tourist in your own town and see how you get treated if dont offer a tip.

 

 

[Sutho]

Gosh...Where have you been living?

I can remember the first time I visited Sydney . Friends took me to a restaurant where the waiters lined up to pay the Maitre de to work there as they made an excellent living just from the tips.

Tipping is alive and well downunder , and if you go out a bit more you could see it for yourself.

Try being a tourist in your own town and see how you get treated if dont offer a tip.

 

 

 

I do tour in my own country. Never encountered tipping once. I wont do it in this country and never have and never will. Its not just cruising I do. I often stay at 5 stay Sydney hotels before a cruise. Quay Grand Suites, Sheraton on the Park, Wesitn, Stamford Plaza. Have stayed at Grand Hyatt in Melbourne before a cruise. All 5 star. Dined there as well. Not once was tipping mentioned or expected.

[KandBthecruisers]

We have to agree with all the people who have said no tipping exists in Australia. To the couple in Queensland you are completely wrong. No man ever tips his barber these days. My husband can confirm this. You must be really mean and nasty people to be taking money off pensioners who have their hair done. That reeks of mafia tactics to us. TO the fishtaco - you don't sound like you are living in Australia to me. Perhaps you were not born here, I do not know but tipping is most unwelcome in this country.

[Aussieflyer]

We have to agree with all the people who have said no tipping exists in Australia. To the couple in Queensland you are completely wrong. No man ever tips his barber these days. My husband can confirm this. You must be really mean and nasty people to be taking money off pensioners who have their hair done. That reeks of mafia tactics to us. TO the fishtaco - you don't sound like you are living in Australia to me. Perhaps you were not born here, I do not know but tipping is most unwelcome in this country.

 

I must disagree with your comments, which I also find to be somewhat personal to others on this board (for that you can read 'offensive' if you like).

Tipping is certainly not most unwelcome in this country. Whilst many (including Sutho) choose not to tip at all and that is their choice, there are I would think many more people who do add money to restaurant bills, add to the tips jar and tip a cabbie. It is not as entrenched as in some other places but it certainly occurs. IMO rounding up or adding change to a tip jar, not just adding a %age to the bill, is still a tip - it is money paid on top of the bill to the worker or service provider.

[bazzaw]

 

I worked in an environment where we prided ourselves on going above and beyond the minimum required

 

Today, this would mean that you get to keep your job. Doing "just your job" means having no job.

 

Many people do above and beyond -- how about Firefighters or the SAS in Afghanistan? Should they get a tip ?

 

Barry

[Sutho]

I must disagree with your comments, which I also find to be somewhat personal to others on this board (for that you can read 'offensive' if you like).

Tipping is certainly not most unwelcome in this country. Whilst many (including Sutho) choose not to tip at all and that is their choice, there are I would think many more people who do add money to restaurant bills, add to the tips jar and tip a cabbie. It is not as entrenched as in some other places but it certainly occurs. IMO rounding up or adding change to a tip jar, not just adding a %age to the bill, is still a tip - it is money paid on top of the bill to the worker or service provider.

 

I cant see why a restaurant worker in Australia should get the "special treatment" They are on a decent wage. Better wage than cleaners. They have it good. Probably better than uni students on checkouts and shelf fillers.

 

To me that is just a symbol of snobbery by placing yourself on a threshold above them by splashing around money to boost your own ego rather that to reward.

[jannandjohn]

We have to agree with all the people who have said no tipping exists in Australia. To the couple in Queensland you are completely wrong. No man ever tips his barber these days. My husband can confirm this. You must be really mean and nasty people to be taking money off pensioners who have their hair done. That reeks of mafia tactics to us. .

 

So in one sentence you are calling me a liar because I said my staff get tips for cutting hair, and in the next breath you are saying we are using mafia tactics to get these tips?

OMG..I cant wait to tell the old boys and girls that love leaving "their girl" a tip .

I must ask them if they have ever felt threatened..( I must add that these same clients have been coming for 25 yrs..WE must be doing something right..young boys who came in their school pants, now bring their children to us)

Pity your service workers, I bet you get your "pound of flesh" , you sound very mean spirited.

I give the girls at the Coffee club $2 for making 2 simple coffees...they work hard, and stand all day like us.

[bazzaw]

Confession time.

 

I am now a corrupted person. I am not completely sure when it happened , when I became infected - it kind of crept up on me and before I knew it I was in its' grips.

 

Before I started cruising in 2007, I had never tipped anyone anywhere in my life. I was vaguely aware of its existence in the USA - and after our baggage was misdirected after a flight to Oklahoma from Dallas, Texas in 2000, I did wonder whether it had to do with the fact that I had not "tipped" a baggage porter at the airport. But I just thought they were doing their job - just as the ones here at home do. Although I do confess that I did see the badge on the porters' breast - which said "I WORK FOR TIPS"

 

But after 2007, when I first accepted that I MUST tip on board my very first cruise, now after 13 cruises, it has become ingrained and unfortunately, I am embarrassed to say, I find it difficult sometimes here at home to control myself. Although, when we returned from a World Cruise in 2010 during which the infection/corruption had raged within us for several months, a young man at the port in Brisbane offered to help us with our many bags. He obviously took pity on the sight of an old man and his wife struggling with 1 trolley and 10 assorted size bags. I was very grateful for the assistance and offered him some money. He embarrassed me -- but he brought me back to my senses and quenched the fire of corruption with me, made me grateful to be an Aussie. . He refused the money and said: "No Thanks -- that is my job" . But, once infected, it is a difficult affliction to shake. Like many addictions, it is so easy to justify to yourself. We ate out twice yesterday - once at a steakhouse for lunch and in the evening at a local Chinese joint. I couldn't stand it - I had to ask our companions to pay the bill and I would reimburse my half to them. You see - I am also now a coward. This is what overseas travel has done to me :(

 

Barry