Tipping in Key Largo???

[RyanT]

With respect to @FuAn post. It's a strange world...For the service industry in general, Europe and other places have a very different way of doing things. I'm used to tipping well for good restaurant service in the US, but I've gotten strange looks for trying to leave tips in Europe and elsewhere.

Regardless, for dives in the US, I shoot for at least $10/tank. The mates work really hard and don't get paid very well.

 

[luscioman]

In KL, most guides you hire through the shop are on their payroll but not always. All who guide in the Keys belong to the Drug Testing Consortium to prove that we're clean and they count us all as crew for the USCG, but we're not necessarily their employees, especially if we're guiding for another shop on the boat. There are several shops in Miami and even in the Keys that don't own boats. They put you on someone else's boat with their dive guides. While I get a few people asking me to guide them, I more often guide for other shops. The guy who gave me that bodacious tip was visiting Miami from NYC and had contracted the dives through South Beach on Ocean Divers.

What is the difference between a papa John's pizza delivery person and a dive master? The delivery man can feed his family of 4. So always tip the crew. I always tip $10 per tank unless there is horrible service. What people don't see is behind the scenes and the post dive boat cleaning and all the hard work that goes in before trip. I also recent took a SDI solo course and I tipped my instructor as well.

Pete, you are correct that South Beach Divers does not own a boat. When diving in Miami they will use the Deco Divers boat. When they use that boat they may use their own guides or sometimes ask Deco Divers to provide a guide depends on their classload.

 

[The Chairman]

What is the difference between a papa John's pizza delivery person and a dive master? The delivery man can feed his family of 4.

Yeah, the joke is the difference between a Pizza and an Instructor. Same punchline, though.

 

[noj3333]

As an independent guide, I very, very rarely get tipped.

So would you say it would be standard to not tip an independent guide who is 'self employed'? Bas Toll comes to mind, I booked several dives with him for this Fall in Bonaire and I couldn't imagine NOT tipping him... in addition to paying him his standard rate... Opinions Please...

 

[The Chairman]

So would you say it would be standard to not tip an independent guide who is 'self employed'?

Standard? No. Common? Yes. Some guides excel at pointing out critters as well as their need to be tipped. I love to show people a good time, but have a hard time asking for money. It's just not in me to do that.

 

[Doby45]

I would say as an independent guide you are more than likely getting paid out right more money than a run of the mill DM that is being provided by a shop. If you get your own personal DM on a trip it will cost you more than just putting $10 a tank in a jar that will cover the corporate DMs that go down with a group. Not that I am a scrooge by any means but if I want to go on a "tour" of Jug Hole and I hire @The Chairman to take me there and dive with me I am sure it would be north of $100 and in my mind that would cover his "tip" too.

 

[Wookie]

Standard? No. Common? Yes. Some guides excel at pointing out critters as well as their need to be tipped. I love to show people a good time, but have a hard time asking for money. It's just not in me to do that.

I would hire you as a guide, pay for your spot on the boat, ask you what it would cost to hire you, and ask if that included the tip as well. Because if I'm diving in Key Largo, I want someone who knows Key Largo, not some beach bum the dive shop found hanging out on their dock this morning looking for a job, and believe me, those people exist in Key Largo. And that's what I would pay you at the end of the day.

To me, a tip is the way to keep score. As I've said many times, we paid a living wage, and I would happily trade hundreds of dollars in tips for a trip report. But it's harder to get a trip report out of most folks then it is to get teeth from a hen.

And at the end of the day Mr. Chairman, I would pay you what you asked for, and I'd write a heck of a trip report. Because I do understand where repeat business comes from.

 

[Doby45]

And at the end of the day Mr. Chairman, I would pay you what you asked for, and I'd write a heck of a trip report. Because I do understand where repeat business comes from.

Exactly!

 

[The Chairman]

And at the end of the day Mr. Chairman, I would pay you what you asked for, and I'd write a heck of a trip report. Because I do understand where repeat business comes from.

Dayum... I'm blushing from such high praise. I certainly don't claim to be a better guide than most, so I would be afraid of disappointing you! I'm a far better instructor than a guide and I usually guide to help dive ops out in a pinch. I do love to do liveaboards and write about them, so if you're looking for someone to do that: LISTEN TO FRANK!

Again, thanks for the high praise and to @Doby45 as well.

if I want to go on a "tour" of Jug Hole and I hire @The Chairman

It wouldn't happen. If/when I guide, I will only do that where I have been. Having never been to Jug Hole, I'm not qualified to guide anyone there. I have ethics and money won't make me bend them. But hey, thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

[idocsteve]

I've been researching dive prices in the Keys this past week to prepare for an upcoming trip.

At the high end, it's $85 for two tanks. The best price I found was a package through Rainbow Reef, and through them the cost of a single tank dive is $35 based on their published pricing of $210 for a 3 2-tank dive package.

So a 20% tip would be $7 total per tank for the crew to split. I have no issue rounding up to $10 per dive trip but some of the numbers being thrown out on this thread (by people who work in the Keys), seem a bit high if you ask me.

Those who say "The poor service employees aren't making enough money in salary so they need the tips" are forgetting that the job we choose to work is usually a choice we make for ourselves, no one forced us to be there.

Also why should we subsidize the employers who keep the bulk of the profits of a business?