Tipping advice in USA?
 

Could you please tell us the accepted amounts to tip for things like taxis, carrying luggage into apartment, restaurants, and any other situation that you can think of? We are not used to tipping coming from Australia and we don't want to offend anyone by giving too little but also we need to watch our money, so if you could please give us a rough guide as to what to do. Thanks

taxis & restaurants ... 15-25%

bell service (porters) ... $2 or so per large suitcase, minimum of $5

bartenders ... 15%, minimum of $1

Enjoy!

Hello janmart, there is quite a difference in the customs regarding tipping between Australia and the US isn't there?

Restaurants..15% to 20% depending on the restaurant and the service.

Taxis..I tip about about 10% to 15%

Luggage..always a question. I tip about $1.00 per bag at hotels with usually an extra $1.00. Apartments, I don't know what you mean..sorry.

Hairdressers, I tip 15% to 20%. Probably you will not be using this service.

Doorman calling a taxi, $1.00 to $3.00 depending on how much effort and time they have to spend getting me a taxi.

Now I am predicating this on when I am in San Francisco. Where will you be staying?

Oh, I remember, you had the hotel you reserved cancelled on you in SF and needed to find other accomodations..so you will be in SF. So although perhaps others might suggest differently that is how I tip in SF.

At a bar for a glass of wine I tip the bartender about 10% by the way.

For the first time in my life (being a native here) I took a walking tour in SF with some friends from Southern California. We each tipped the guide $5.00.

Housekeeper at the hotel. In that I stay at the Villa Florence and have the choice of having the bed linens changed each day or not due to conservation thinking (I don't have the bed linens changed daily) I leave $2.00 per day for housekeeping on the bed pillow. If I have the bed linens changed I leave $3.00.

Do have a wonderful time in San Francisco, all of you Australians that visit SF seem to and I certainly hope you do!!

LoveItaly has it right on, mate. G'day. ((*))

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the taxi driver isn't going to be carrying your luggage into your apartment, and unless there's a doorman, you will be doing this yourself. The taxi driver will help you load and unload the trunk, but once your luggage is deposited on the curb, you're on your own. If you mean hotel, then you'll have a bellhop to help you, but your post says "apartment".

Unfortunately, many Americans tip at these rates even when service is inept, rude, or arrogant.

I, for one, would not tip a bartender $1 for serving me an $8.50 class of wine poured from a bottle I can buy in the supermarket for $6.99. Nor, when I have carried two bags all over the world, would I tip a bellman $4 for putting them on a cart he pushes from the curb to the reception desk.

Please don't be badgered into throwing your money around like a drunk Auzzie. Tip what you would tip at home and play stupid.

Happytrails - then why don't you just stay home and drink your wine? You have the option of not using the bellman's services, at least.

Thanks for the advice. I would never have known.

Maybe you know how much I should tip when I order a $500 bottle of wine. Would that be $100, or would $75 be enough?

Since you asked, 10% is considered perfectly acceptable by many etiquette experts.

happytrailstoyou - it is generally customary to tip $1 per drink whether the drink was a $9 Martini or a $2 beer. Or at least that is how it is done in most of the bars by my house (in the US).

One more thing to hate about bars.

I usually go to bars only at happy hour where I order food and drink and tip the usual 15%-20% depending on the service (which is always good in Seattle at Palomino but not necessarily at Harborside).

Thanks for the advice and the entertainment!! Would you also know if tours to Alcatraz and other tours be operating on Xmas Day & day after Xmas?

Vittrad, so if you have 5 $2 beers = $10. You would tip $5 = 50%? How much effort would it take for him to draw that beer -- 30 seconds each? ((b))

Please don't listen to happytrailstoyou. Would you not obey American traffic laws and "just play dumb" when stopped for speeding?

I think many people have a lot of nerve telling OTHERS what they should tip because they are cheap.

Nobody likes or respects a tightwad. I certainly don't. Those people usually don't have many friends.

It is only money, honey.

Budman -if I drank 5 $2 beers, I'd tip $5, or a dollar a beer. If I can afford to go drink at a bar, I can give the person behind it a dollar a drink.

"Please don't be badgered into throwing your money around like a drunk Auzzie. Tip what you would tip at home and play stupid."

Wow, a nasty stereotype and bad advice all rolled into one sentence.

Pay no attention happytrails.

If you can't afford to tip properly, you can't afford to travel.

But I guess some selfish tightwads don't care if they're rude.

Perhaps the international stereotype about Americans is true.

Ditto what Vittrad said. Although I wish I could find a bar that only charged $2 a beer! I've also find that good tipping = free round.

Suggesting people not tip when they come to the U.S. is like suggesting people from the U.S. shouldn't pay the VAT or other taxes when we travel abroad.

"We don't pay those in our country, so I will just act dumb and not pay them here."

I agree that leaving a dollar for bartender is a MINIMUM. When someone suggests he doesn't and the reply is rolled into a comment about how much cheaper the bottle of wine would be buying it at a store, it is clear the poster doesn't have a clue about what tips are.

Since when does what you pay for something at a self-serve store have anything in the world to do with what you tip for service in a place where you choose to go and have service?