Tipping in the UK

[Iskra]

A question, when in the UK what is your personal policy regarding tippng? When do you tip? And when don't you?

I'm just trying to gauge a few opinions here

 

[birchesgreen]

I'm with Mr Pink

 

[Gloster]

Just make sure that there is nobody to take the registration number when you empty a load of rubbish out of a van in a farmer’s gateway.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Presume the OP is endeavouring to canvass our collective opinion as regards tips and gratuities for hairdressers, taxi drivers, restaurant staff, and the such like?

Certainly compulsory service charges added to your bill are somewhat sharp practice, IMHO.

 

[Iskra]

I'm with Mr Pink

And do you tip the driver?

Just make sure that there is nobody to take the registration number when you empty a load of rubbish out of a van in a farmer’s gateway.

Excellent advice, are you speaking from experience?

- - - - - - - -

However, I was of course referring to the practice of providing additional monetary renumeration to hospitality (and other) workers as an expression of one's gratitude...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Generally 10% ish where there's table service or on food delivery services. Generally nothing in other settings. I'd overall rather we went to service compris and paid people properly.

 

[Iskra]

Generally 10% ish where there's table service or on food delivery services. Generally nothing in other settings. I'd overall rather we went to service compris and paid people properly.

Thank you for answering the question!

 

[Ediswan]

I'd overall rather we went to service compris and paid people properly.

Agreed. Once had lunch at a very small rural French 'menu of the day' establishment. They were reluctant to keep even the (small) change. By chance, the menu of the day was 'roast beef', so we were asked to pass an opinion. (It was fine.)

 

[Red Onion]

I'm with Mr Pink

Great response! Cannot disagree!

 

[pdq]

Carrying less cash than ever before, it can be awkward to leave a tip sometimes, especially when the card machine isn't set up to ask if you want to add one.

 

[Cowley]

I tend to do 10% if I have a bit of decent interaction with the person serving me (likewise with taxi drivers).
Sometimes I do it with the card but I’ll always check that they’ll receive it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Carrying less cash than ever before, it can be awkward to leave a tip sometimes, especially when the card machine isn't set up to ask if you want to add one.

Yeah, it does surprise me how few places have the card machine set up to take a tip. On a number of occasions I've intended to give one but not had cash and so had no way to do so.

I guess you've got the option to just overpay, but then it might not be accounted as a tip and as such just go into general coffers rather than specifically to the staff.

 

[dk1]

Ten percent if you are happy but the general rule is ten percentage if you are not too. We are British & dislike offending anyone regardless.

 

[pdeaves]

The people who provide the service are usually far more than just the one person you meet (in the case of restaurants, the cook is as important as the server). I don't like the idea of 'tipping' as a) the price should cover paying the staff, and b) how do I know everyone gets the fair share?

It's an interesting experience trying to over-pay in a charity shop. i.e. "You want £5 for this? I think it's worth £10 and I want to support your charity."

 

[ChrisC]

When I stay in a hotel I usually only book for bed and breakfast. I don’t usually book for an evening meal as I prefer to eat out somewhere different. Occasionally, if I’m staying in a very rural area with few other options for eating, or sometimes in winter, I will book for bed, breakfast and evening meal. When the evening meal is included in the price of my hotel booking, and I’m dining in the hotel restaurant for a number of evenings, I never really know if I would be expected to leave a tip each evening. Usually I don't, but have if the service has been particularly good, left a tip on my final night.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ten percent if you are happy but the general rule is ten percentage if you are not too. We are British & dislike offending anyone regardless.

One rule I do have is that if you ask for one you don't get one even if I was previously intending to do so. This includes circling "service not included" on a bill or similar, as it's insulting to my intelligence to suggest I can't read it without.

 

[DarloRich]

A question, when in the UK what is your personal policy regarding tippng? When do you tip? And when don't you?

I tend to go when I have a car load however I think they like to be called household waste recycling centres these days. (Chortle chortle)

As for gratuities for waiters etc: I am tight. Unless someone does something exceptional I don't routinely tip. I may leave something if I know the person or they seem really young and keen but otherwise the service must be expectational for me to even consider a tip.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

The people who provide the service are usually far more than just the one person you meet (in the case of restaurants, the cook is as important as the server). I don't like the idea of 'tipping' as a) the price should cover paying the staff, and b) how do I know everyone gets the fair share?

Agree with that. I'm not huge on tipping unless I feel I've been provided with excellent service that surpasses my expectations.

Though to be honest, working as a bartender at a racecourse, the majority of the "tips" I receive are from punters who ask me to pick a horse for them and give me a cut of their winnings if it wins. Can either go one of two ways - let's not talk about the outcome when the horse comes last...!

 

[najaB]

A question, when in the UK what is your personal policy regarding tippng? When do you tip? And when don't you?

Pretty much only if it's a large group or if someone has gone above and beyond in some way.

 

[GusB]

I'll occasionally round up a taxi fare - for example, if the fare is something like £4.50, I'll just ask the driver to call it £5. There are have been plenty of occasions when they've rounded the fare down for me, so I'm more than happy to give something back.

I'm happy to tip bar and restaurant staff too, not that I eat out much these days. They don't have to have exceeded expectations, either - as long as my drink comes with a cheery smile. It's certainly not like in the US, where every drink is tipped, but I'll occasionally say "and one for yourself", usually at the end of the night.

I recall being slightly bemused when I worked in a bar and one particular customer kept leaving a pound coin on the bar as he took his drink away to the table. It was only when my boss explained that he was American that it suddenly made sense.

 

[najaB]

It's certainly not like in the US, where every drink is tipped, but I'll occasionally say "and one for yourself", usually at the end of the night

Something that I only found out a couple of years ago is that most US states have a lower minimum wage for workers in "tipped professions".

The employer can pay a lower hourly rate and make up the difference with tips. So tipping in the US doesn't necessarily get the employee anything extra.

 

[Trackman]

Yeah, it does surprise me how few places have the card machine set up to take a tip. On a number of occasions I've intended to give one but not had cash and so had no way to do so.

Bringing back a bad experience for me!
We went for a meal at an Italian restaurant, let's say I had several large glasses of red wine.
Time to pay the bill through card- the card machine is set up for tips on the first screen so punched in £70 or whatever the bill was ... thought it was the bill.. no it wasn't until I saw my bank statement. Lesson learned. It was a cracking night though!
--
Sometimes a group of us go out for a meal.
In London a lot of restaurants stick on about a 14% service charge, it's not compulsory so who has ever been been serving us we ask for a new bill (sans service charge) and ask if if the tips are pooled or go to waiter/waitress in question so we can tip the person who has attended to us.

 

[GusB]

Something that I only found out a couple of years ago is that most US states have a lower minimum wage for workers in "tipped professions".

The employer can pay a lower hourly rate and make up the difference with tips. So tipping in the US doesn't necessarily get the employee anything extra.

I was aware of the lower minimum wage for tipped workers, and it absolutely stinks as far as I'm concerned. I have heard some people argue that it incentivises staff to work harder and provide a better standard of service, but ultimately it lets the employer off the hook for paying poverty wages. There's also the issue that "good service" is entirely subjective and you can end up in the situation where a really good employee ends up with next to nothing in tips, not because they were awful at their job, but because they perhaps didn't tick the correct boxes in other ways.

 

[Cdd89]

In Mexico, where they are getting used to Chip & PIN, those serving you will ask you what percentage you would like to tip (rather than the more typical standard of handing over the device to the customer to enter the tip).

Mildly awkward in a restaurant; extremely awkward in a “sandwich kiosk” sort of scenario where I wasn’t planning on leaving a tip in the first place.

I'd overall rather we went to service compris and paid people properly.

In the US, seven states have eliminated the tip credit which is a scheme whereby wages can be lower than minimum wage by a specified about as long as tips received give a salary of at least minimum wage.

It is obviously a nonsense and should be got rid of; however in states where this has happened, the percentage tipped by customers does not reduce. Here is what the campaign in Washington DC says:

If this passes, can I stop tipping?
You could, but you should always tip for good service. In fact, after this passes you can feel better about tipping because you will know that your tip is not being used as a portion of the server’s base wage but will be a genuine gratuity. Customers are currently subsidizing tipped workers’ wages through their tips, and this initiative aims to end that unfair practice. In the 7 states without the tip credit, customers tip more, not less.

The baseline US gratuity is 15-20%. I would therefore be skeptical about the outcome you are anticipating.

 

[Railcar]

At a shoe shop, the assistant will bring a pair of shoes from the store room (the equivalent of a plate of food being brought from a kitchen). Do I tip in the shoe shop? No. I feel the same applies in a restaurant. Tipping is an unpleasant custom.

 

[ainsworth74]

A question, when in the UK what is your personal policy regarding tippng? When do you tip? And when don't you?

10% by default but if I'm especially pleased with the service then I might go higher. However I'm very quick to not tip at all if I'm not happy with something on the basis that as there is a minimum wage in the UK (even it isn't a living wage) so I don't feel the same level of guilt that you might in the US where not tipping means you're potentially actually properly harming someone's income that day. Effectively in the UK I consider it to be a bonus rather than a requirement but one that I'm happy to give as long as the service is fine.

 

[johnnychips]

I am very fortunate to have a group of work colleagues who, when we have a meal together, tend to put in what they think they should have paid, and perhaps a bit more. So we don’t have this, ‘I didn’t have any extra chips’ or ‘I only had the salad’ stuff, and this usually results in a generous tip. I have heard stories where this is not the case, usually ending in acrimony and spoiling the end of an otherwise good night.

 

[eoff]

I only tip restaurants (table service) and Taxis unless the driver had no clue where they were going.
Having said that, I don't get taxis so much as the local ones have priced themselves out of the market.
Have never tipped a hotel.
It is very common to be able to add a tip on the card payment machine and in many countries, no doubt because it can be a pain for people on expenses otherwise.
As for compulsary service charge (in a restaurant), you don't have to pay some or all of it if the service was not up to standard for the type of establishment involved.

 

[Simon11]

Does no one tip their barber? If its £18, I always round up.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Does no one tip their barber? If its £18, I always round up.

Yes I do too