Tipping guidelines

[Mark IV]

But for less than a dozen dives in my life, I was a tipp-ee, rather than tipp-er, so I have a different perspective than most. On every boat/trip I've ever worked, not me or anyone i worked with cared one iota whether we got pesos or dollars, or if it was wet or dry. Just hand over that fat cash, bro!!
Also, as mentioned above, always tip daily, because crew members can get screwed out of their share for numerous reasons.
Another point, I recommend handing money to all crew seperately, or at the very least, make SURE the rest of the crew sees you handing it to the captain or DM, and even then, tell someone how much it was. It was quite common for whomever was given the cash, to stick it in his pocket and never mention it, if he could get away with it.
It was also very common for captains or shop owners to bless themselves with a larger cut than everybody else.
Also, any time some tourist said, "oh, 'll take care of you guys at end of the trip", that always got a discreet eyeroll and a knowing look between the crew, because what this almost always means is the guy is gonna cheap-out on us, maybe hand us a whole, big, giant $20 bill, after a week of waiting for him to arrive (late) to the pier, then lugging around extra weight that he always insisted he didn't need (but did), and sharing air with him at the safety stops, because his flailing, air-hogging, out-of-shape, self couldn't dive his way out of a wet paper bag !! And then he wants to give each crewman/DM a miserable $2 a day ?!!!!?
WHEW !!! Good times !!

 

[Dogbowl]

But for less than a dozen dives in my life, I was a tipp-ee, rather than tipp-er, so I have a different perspective than most. On every boat/trip I've ever worked, not me or anyone i worked with cared one iota whether we got pesos or dollars, or if it was wet or dry. Just hand over that fat cash, bro!!
Also, as mentioned above, always tip daily, because crew members can get screwed out of their share for numerous reasons.
Another point, I recommend handing money to all crew seperately, or at the very least, make SURE the rest of the crew sees you handing it to the captain or DM, and even then, tell someone how much it was. It was quite common for whomever was given the cash, to stick it in his pocket and never mention it, if he could get away with it.
It was also very common for captains or shop owners to bless themselves with a larger cut than everybody else.
Also, any time some tourist said, "oh, 'll take care of you guys at end of the trip", that always got a discreet eyeroll and a knowing look between the crew, because what this almost always means is the guy is gonna cheap-out on us, maybe hand us a whole, big, giant $20 bill, after a week of waiting for him to arrive (late) to the pier, then lugging around extra weight that he always insisted he didn't need (but did), and sharing air with him at the safety stops, because his flailing, air-hogging, out-of-shape, self couldn't dive his way out of a wet paper bag !! And then he wants to give each crewman/DM a miserable $2 a day ?!!!!?
WHEW !!! Good times !!

I’ve always felt a little awkward giving the tip to the DM, and hoping that he will split it appropriately with the captain and tank/gear handlers. I don’t ever know if that’s done fairly, or if the shop has some agreement how that’s to be done so everybody gets a fair share. But for me to go chase down everyone who needs to be tipped after a trip is quite a hassle. The DM and captain are easier to track down, but those that work behind the scenes is not so easy. My shop does tell me that if I tip the DM, he’ll split it with the rest of the crew. I guess I’ll just go with that until someone advises me there’s a better way.

 

[GreyhoundsAreFast]

It was also very common for captains or shop owners to bless themselves with a larger cut than everybody else.

Why would they do that? Not like they had to pay for a boat, or gas, or insurance. /s

 

[ReefHound]

Also, as mentioned above, always tip daily, because crew members can get screwed out of their share for numerous reasons.
Another point, I recommend handing money to all crew seperately, or at the very least, make SURE the rest of the crew sees you handing it to the captain or DM, and even then, tell someone how much it was. It was quite common for whomever was given the cash, to stick it in his pocket and never mention it, if he could get away with it.

It probably happens but man don't that suck - for pax and crew - when the crew cannot trust each other. I'd think you might get away with it now and then but one would notice if tips seemed to be "light" when working with someone in particular. Any crew member caught cheating should be summarily fired and blacklisted. The shops could test them now and then with a mystery customer and marked bills but then we have a whole other "trust" issue.

 

[MMM]

There's one DM I have dived with who rolls up all the tips he receives and slides them under his watch strap. One day I asked him why. He said it is so that it is transparent to the rest of the crew what he has received and can then be shared. He said it happens often enough where someone gives a tip intended for the whole crew and that crew member simply slides it into his pocket.

And recently, I heard of crew complaining that someone stiffed them - someone who is a regular customer and who normally tips after each dive and it was mentioned to the owner. So the owner called the customer to see if he had changed his normal practice and who said "of course I tipped, just like I do every time". The contract DM had kept the whole crew tip for himself. So I imagine the crew will make sure that word gets around.

I don't know the best solution but the example above the of DM who rolls each tip so that it is visible under his watch strap seems pretty good to me. It's also a good reminder to other newb divers on the boat who may not be clued into tipping practices. Since I dislike carrying much money with me, my preference is to give the tip at the end of my trip to the owner to divide among the crew but that is only practical when it is the same crew day in and day out.

 

[Mrs. B]

I like to tip before the trip so I can be the last pick up in the morning

 

[JamesBon92007]

Lemmesee... the minimum wage in Mexico is about 80 pesos a day, or around $4 US. If a dive op has six divers and each tips $5 per tank for a two-tank dive, that's $60 or fifteen times the minimum wage. That might not seem like much to Americans but when you consider you can rent an apartment on Cozumel for about $200/month (and that's if you don't know someone) and dinner at a nice restaurant is about $10 ( a year ago it was about $7.50) and the same meal might cost $40 in the US. In Puerto Vallarta it costs 7.5 pesos to ride the local bus, and about 50 pesos to take a fairly long trip. So if most things cost 1/4 as much (at least in California) then that's roughly equal to tipping $240 for six divers. If someone works only the usual US number of working days then it's comparable to over $62,000 per year, adjusting for the differences in economies. And some of the dive ops apparently get a wage too, or at least a percentage. Before you attack me I'd just like to say that these numbers are based upon my personal experiences and observations and I don't have any hard, cold data to support my statements I simply think that $5/tank is fair. I tip much more generously if I get exceptional service and I always tip 15-20% in restaurants and not the 10% that seems to be standard. If you look up cost-of-living comparisons online you might find that my estimates are actually a bit low.

 

[Mark IV]

I’ve always felt a little awkward giving the tip to the DM, and hoping that he will split it appropriately with the captain and tank/gear handlers. I don’t ever know if that’s done fairly, or if the shop has some agreement how that’s to be done so everybody gets a fair share. But for me to go chase down everyone who needs to be tipped after a trip is quite a hassle. The DM and captain are easier to track down, but those that work behind the scenes is not so easy. My shop does tell me that if I tip the DM, he’ll split it with the rest of the crew. I guess I’ll just go with that until someone advises me there’s a better way.

Unfortunately, the bodega kid that cleans and stores the gear,and humps it down to the boat, etc, is pretty much **** outa luck, I've never known them to be in for a cut of the boat tips, that was always exclusively for the whole gang crewing the boat (captain, DM, and deckhand, if there was one).
When i was on-board as an instructor with students, I helped like I was regular crew but never took any part of the boat's tips (and because of that, I could get away with making a joking but shameless plea for tips for the crew, which they always greatly appreciated....and was kind of cathartic for me, as well ).
But if i was divemastering the trip (like the night dives I did more frequently) then I was definitely part of the tip-loop.
But anyway, my point was that if you can't tip them seperately, you at least should be conscious of not quickly handing a wad of bills to just one guy, assuming it'll be equitably spread around, without making sure the others saw it, or at least know about it.

 

[JamesBon92007]

You’re right and I was being an a$$.
I feel bad for crew in Hawaii where everything is so expensive. A nice $20-$40 tip barely buys them a dinner out.

It was my very clear understanding (though not necessarily a fact) the the DMs on the Big Island worked only for tips and did not receive any other compensation from the dive op. The reason for this, as it was explained to me, is because for every dive boat that needs two or three DMs there may be 10-15 standing on the dock hoping to be chosen. Somehow it seems like the DMs in Mexico are much better off.

 

[Mr. Manfrenjensenden]

Here's one US resident who wishes (unrealistically, of course) that the whole tipping thing would just go away. I think it would be great if all the businesses whose employees now depend on tips to eke out a living would just outlaw the practice, raise their prices commensurately, and pay their employees a living wage. It's not gonna happen, of course.

A handful of restaurants in the US have tried this, and generally found it doesn't work so well. At least some have gone back to the old system. Cultural norms are tough to break.

From a slightly different angle, I also know that there are some restaurants here in the greater Boston area where they feel they can't raise prices because it would cost them business, so they tack on a mandatory surcharge (as a percentage of the food ordered) that goes solely to non-tipped employees. The question in those cases was not compensation for tipped employees, but for low-paid non-tipped folks like kitchen staff, dishwashers, etc. Raising prices in a highly competitive industry and not seeing some negative price elasticity of demand is unusual.