OK all - thanks for all your comments and we generally get the picture of what is expected.

"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?"

I can sleep on a bed at home, so I am not going to pay that much for a hotel room.

I generally adhere with Arthur Frommer's guidelines:

Tipping In hotels, tip bellhops at least $1 per bag and tip the chamber staff $1 to $2 per day (more if you've left a disaster area for him or her to clean up). Tip the doorman or concierge only if he or she has provided you with some specific service (for example, calling a cab for you or obtaining difficult-to-get theater tickets). Tip the valet-parking attendant $1 every time you get your car.

In restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, tip service staff 15% to 20% of the check, tip bartenders 10% to 15%, tip checkroom attendants $1 per garment, and tip valet-parking attendants $1 per vehicle.

As for other service personnel, tip cab drivers 15% of the fare; tip skycaps at airports at least $1 per bag; and tip hairdressers and barbers 15% to 20%.

Those who feel better about themselves by tipping more should continue to do so.

happytrailstoyou is definitely off base here. I agree completely with LoveItaly's suggested numbers.

Oh, BTW happytrails...the price you could pay for something at a grocery store has nothing to do with the polite amount to tip someone for a service provided. You should tip a bartender or cocktail waitress at least $1.00 per drink. If you can't part with $5.00 for the bartender, stay home.

Sorry for the ensuing quarrel Jan! Please don't be scared to post other questions on this forum, and have a great trip!

<<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.>>

Sorry, MikeT, but it's not the same thing. Taxes are a government requirement. Tips are ALWAYS an option unless a set gratuity is posted on the menu.

However, I appreciate Janmart's concern to understand the customs of a travel destination and do the same when I travel. Although I tip 15-20 percent in day-to-day life in the US, when I travel to Italy only add the change or a small amount a restaurant bill. Since this is the custom in Italy, I don't feel like I'm being "cheap" or "selfish" in doing so.

Now let me ask. We're getting ready to head to New York the end of January. Here in south Florida we have no such thing as "coat checks", and I'm out of touch. Is it still a dollar for the person giving you your coat from a coat check -- like in a restaurant or theatre? It seems years since it's been that amount so maybe that's too cheap now?

I think $1 for that is fine, and will be much appreciated.

There are instances when a tip of $1-$2 for a drink is appropriate. For instance, when served a double martini in a swanky lounge.

However, if, at a dive, you don't give $5 to a bartender who takes the caps off of five bottles of beer, only a spendthrift would call you a tightwad.

Neo, I'm a "good tipper" and I generally go with $1 per coat .. AFTER I get the coat(s) back, not before.

(If it's 2 coats, I'll tip a $5 if that's all I have. I figure they need the extra dollar more than I do, right?)

Yikes, I didn't mean $1 per drink minimum ... I thought I was clear ... "15%, minimum of $1" ... that means 15% of tab, or a minimum of $1 if your tab is, say, $4 for example.

And yes, decent to good tips WILL get you a free drink with many/most bartenders.

Somebody seems to be sugges that Janmart should give bartenders $5 or stay home.

And, if I read right, somebody else wants Janmart to encourage bartenders to steal from their employers by over-tipping them.

I hope I read wrong.

Comps are perfectly acceptable at 99.9% of bars, and inventory management (POS) software has an entry for them. Rewarding good customers is not "stealing."

littlemarysunshine,

I think that some bar/restaurant owners allow a certain of comped drinks to their regulars at the bartenders discretion.

Of course they do! That's not stealing.

happytrailstoyou - perhaps by where you live that is considered okay behavior, but I go to bars all the time in my neighborhood and even at the bars frequented by old crotchety Polish guys who don't speak English tip the bartender a buck a drink, it is just standard that the bartender gets a buck a beer, even if it is Budweiser on special for $2. If you do otherwise, the bartender is probably not going to like you very much.

Now I can accept that there are different tipping practices around the world and perhaps even within the US, but every large city I've been to in the past couple of year (and that is 4 times to NYC, once to Boston and Seattle) the dollar a beer rule has been the standard. Additionally, a good buddy of mine bartends at a little pub two doors down from my house and I visit him often, and pretty much everyone who walks through the door to get a beer throws down an extra dollar. This is behavior I see repeated regularly (I often go and have a beer with him on Saturday afternoon).

I'm very curious about something. I'll preface this by saying I have no idea what my DH tips bartenders, but for those who tip a minimum of a dollar for pouring a drink, what then do you tip a maid who makes your bed, cleans your toilet, and tub/shower, mops and vacuums the floors and dusts the furniture, cleans the coffee pot if used and replenishes towels in your hotel room???

What most people seem to tip, if anything at all, is a dollar or two a day. Does this make any sense?

OO--Perhaps in your scenario one assumes the bartender (or persons offering table service in general)depends more on tips to supplement his or her income. While this may not be true, it may be the understanding of the general public. Also there is the personal contact invovled in one versus the other.

Anybody looking for sense in tipping is doomed to be disappointed! I don't get the $1 a beer rule--true, I don't drink beer, but in the bars I go to (very limited experience), someone puts a large bill out, from which the bartender periodically takes money, and then a tip is left upon leaving OR a tab is run, and presented at the end, and again the tip is left on the whole amount.

I tip the hotel maid $3 to $5 a day, depending on the service, and my available bills. I've increased to $2 or $3 for the car valet, but again, that just goes to show you how there is nothing sensible about tipping--when the standard tip is $1 for years and years, you have to DOUBLE it to increase it, but I think it's time for an increase for lots of these one dollar gratuities!

For the 3rd time, it's not $1 per beer. It's 15% of the tab or $1 MINIMUM.

For example, you order one beer for $4. Don't tip 15%, tip $1 (or 25%).