Tipping on a LOB in Indonesia

[muzzon]

I agree. American influence has at least made people aware of the concept of tipping basically everywhere in the world. However, as I stated in my original post, I have seen first hand local people become offended by people tipping.

I can remember a particular instance in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was the first meal I had after arriving there and I admit, I didn't check online, so I just went with what I thought was the safe play and left a tip. The very young waitress looked pissed and went and got the owner (who I believe was her father) who came back and yelled at me. I learned my lesson to make sure to check first.

 

[matts1w]

Y'all can rest assured no one in Indonesia is going to be offended by your tip.

Depending on the "luxury level" of your operator, 50.000 to 100.000 idr per day is a fine tip for good service. Maybe one should tip more on the super high end boats? I have never been on one.

One thing one might consider about tipping in Indonesia is not so much the amount of tip, but where one leaves it. I bartended and worked dive boats in the US for many years, so out of habit I pay attention to the service industry no matter where I live. Like many people, I quickly believed tipping in Indonesia meant the money went into a pot that was divided at the end of the night/end of the trip, at Idul Fitri or Christmas, end of the month, etc.... That is almost always true in the dive industry, but not always.

Often, in bars and restaurants, the tip left for the waitress who busted her backside bringing your party drinks and food all night goes into the pocket of the owner or manager. This is even more true if you include the tip on your credit card. I always discretely give my server the tip, that way he/she can ensure the money gets to the community pot if it exists, or it stay where it deserves to be.

I have found this happens on some dive boats too- give the captain a tip and the crew gets zilch. That is why I appreciate crews that publicly explain how tipping works on that boat or resort. If not I tip my guide privately and the crew in front of each other in effort to keep things as above water as possible.

 

[Bali-Freak]

A driver in Bali, even one with a nice vehicle, may make what is considered by local standards a pretty good living even without tips.

Hmmm ... not sure I agree with this. One of the posters above mentioned he can "hire a van with driver for all day in Bali for $40." Based on current gasoline prices the driver needs to pay IDR 250-300,000 for the day ($20+ at current exchange rates). This leaves less than $20 profit per day.

From this the driver has to factor in:

1. The cost of buying the van (IDR 300-400 million these days)
2. The cost of days he has no customers but still has to feed his family, pay medical bills, pay school bills etc etc
2. The cost of maintaining / servicing the van
3. Cost of licences required to carry tourists and his personal driving licence
4. His lunch and drinks on the road if the tourist doesn't cover them
5. Cost of hiring freelance driver if he can't drive himself that day for some reason

The cost of #1 is massive (do the maths)

The cost of #2 is really significant too considering Bali has (at most) 6 busy tourist months each year.

Hope this input helps people when they are considering how much to tip their drivers.

 

[Dan]

Hmmm ... not sure I agree with this. One of the posters above mentioned he can "hire a van with driver for all day in Bali for $40." Based on current gasoline prices the driver needs to pay IDR 250-300,000 for the day ($20+ at current exchange rates). This leaves less than $20 profit per day.

From this the driver has to factor in:

1. The cost of buying the van (IDR 300-400 million these days)
2. The cost of days he has no customers but still has to feed his family, pay medical bills, pay school bills etc etc
2. The cost of maintaining / servicing the van
3. Cost of licences required to carry tourists and his personal driving licence
4. His lunch and drinks on the road if the tourist doesn't cover them
5. Cost of hiring freelance driver if he can't drive himself that day for some reason

The cost of #1 is massive (do the maths)

The cost of #2 is really significant too considering Bali has (at most) 6 busy tourist months each year.

Hope this input helps people when they are considering how much to tip their drivers.

I don't think he spent $20+ on gasoline. It's more like <$10. We probably drove about 3 hrs / day in average. Spent the rest of the time sightseeing or diving safari. See the itinerary that I posted in this trip report: Pulau Pef - Little Raja Ampat Trip Report

Let's say the average speed is about 40 miles/hr X 3hrs / 30 miles/gal (it's small van for 6 people) X $2/gal = $8. Bali is a small island with many attractions in short distance. We spent 1st day in Sanur, 2nd day in Tulamben, the 3rd day in Padang Bai, the 4th day in Ubud. 5th day back in Denpasar to fly out to Sorong.

 

[Ting Tong]

The proper way to tip is thus - tip based on the country you are visiting not based on where you come from. (You are no longer in the country you come from, you're in the country you are visiting, duh!)

Great! So with all that said what is the appropriate way to tip in Indonesia? Which is what the op is about. Do you know?

As a 12 year old child I saved saved all my money for one year (pocket money, paper round, etc) for a trip to Bali that my mother was going take me on. Obviously the flights and accommodation my mum paid for but I was expected to have my own "spending" money.

The accomodation was in Sanur, whereas all the pirate copies of tapes (showing my age)where in Kuta, which as a 12 year old and 15 year old brother, we wanted to be. The Bemo ride at that time from Sanur to Kuta was 10000 rupiah. Every morning it was always the same haggle the local Bemo drivers down from 100,000 to 10 or 12 thousand and go.

One morning it was different! The Bemo drivers where not willing to negotiate. It was 100,000!

The reason? An American had passed through and when the Bemo drivers asked for 100,000 he paid it. No negotiation, for him it was cheap. For a 12 year old not so much! What I learnt as a 12 year old is that some people can sweep through and totally **** a local economy. If I remember correctly I had to pay 25,000 to get to Kuta for the rest of the holiday.

mmmbelows is correct it is about the "local" economy not the economy you came from. If People from tipping economies (America for example) want to denigrate Australians, Europeans, Eastern Europeans for being poor tippers. I put it to you that you are the problem with your 10%, 15%, 20% preconceived ideas from your home country.

Flame suit on!

 

[Ting Tong]

Who says the driver is the owner of the van? Currently I am hiring 3 vans for work purposes, in Balikpapan, for business reasons. None of the drivers own the van.

They don't pay 1, 2, 2, 3, If I go to work I bring my lunch like the majority of the board, 5

 

[Luko]

In all fairness, I can't imagine that with American influence permeating every corner of the world today, there is any place left in which the recipient of a "tip" would find it offensive. Maybe. I dunno. If I leave a 15% tip on the table in, say, Belgium, where tipping is unheard of except by tourists, the waiter just thinks I'm another idiot American; he's not "offended.".

South Korea, Japan,and in the Southern Pacific Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and all the melanesian cultures where you may make a present beforehand (sometimes it will even be mandatory to bring the "custom present") but never do tip!... Otherwise they will be offended.... by an american idiot on top of that.

 

[mmmbelows]

If People from tipping economies (America for example) want to denigrate Australians, Europeans, Eastern Europeans for being poor tippers. I put it to you that you are the problem with your 10%, 15%, 20% preconceived ideas from your home country.

They should only be denigrated if they break the rule and try to tip as they do in their home country when they are in a country that the tipping culture is different. If they come to America and round up the check as the tip they are A-holes because that's not the tipping culture where they are visiting. They get no pass if they say "well, that's the way it is back home."

 

[WetPup]

They should only be denigrated if they break the rule and try to tip as they do in their home country when they are in a country that the tipping culture is different. If they come to America and round up the check as the tip they are A-holes because that's not the tipping culture where they are visiting. They get no pass if they say "well, that's the way it is back home."

I think you will find that most of us who are regular travellers do in fact tip in the US at the standard 20%, even when we get sub-standard service. We might gripe about it online afterwards if we had terrible service, but we still tip. Because we understand the way wages work there.

The main issue there is that most are not regular travellers, do not know the customary tipping rate, and simply round up (as they would do at home). It is rarely an anti-tipping philosophy, but most simply not understanding why tipping is necessary in the US in the first place, because at home the minimum wage is genuinely enough to live on given the local cost of living. It baffles people to find out (usually once they've returned home) to discover how poorly paid service staff are in the US and that they are expected to make up the difference in tips. Because at home, that would actually be illegal.

 

[mmmbelows]

The main issue there is that most are not regular travellers, do not know the customary tipping rate, and simply round up (as they would do at home).

I don't know how you qualify someone as regular or irregular travelers. If you're in a foreign country you are travelling, pretty much like you can't be a little bit pregnant. Show me a European 'not regular traveler' who finds himself in America who rounds up and you are showing me a cheap European traveler. European's aren't stupid they don't lack access to common instruments of knowledge like the internet or social media or even social contact with friends and family to understand that there are differences around the world. Questions can be asked, knowledge is available. Europeans coming to America have no excuses freeing them from learning the tipping culture in America, no more than myself traveling to Europe has an excuse freeing me from learning the tipping culture there. Just as it's up to me to understand coperto in and Italian restaurant in Italy, it's an Italian's duty to understand 20% gratuities in an American restaurant in the USA.