Tipping?

[mwalsh787]

Great thread!

In my experience, tipping can be an area-based cultural thing (i.e.-in some areas it is not done) and it can also be a person-based cultural thing (i.e.-some folks who believe that it is not thier responsibility, but rather, the employer's responsibility). I don't know that there are "rights and wrongs" here, but there are certainly preferences and personal choices. I choose to tip well for good service and I also tip if the service wasn't great, just a bit less.

As someone who has worked in the service industry, I know what a good tip feels like from the inside. I also know what it means to make a living on nothing but tips. I think we can argue over whose responsibility it should be to renumerate people, and that is a good discussion to have in the abstract. However, I am also aware of the reality of earning so little that tips become the life-blood of your income. Although I no longer make my living this way (and I don't miss it either), I still remember what it was like and what a tip meant to me.

For these reasons, I try to tip $10 per tank as a base and more if the service was excellent. When tipping for great service, I make a point to tell the person I am tipping what they did that I appreciated. I think that this helps to reinforce the tip and provide encouragement. Again, this is something that I appreciated in my work-for-tips days. I will also go out of my way to let the employer know if someone in his or her operation did a particularly good job. These "extra" things often take no more than a minute or two, but I think that they help to encourage good service and provide some good karma all around

Good luck and good diving to you!

Mike

 

[2 Big 2 Fail]

As far as a boat goes I tip the DM $10 per tank.

As for the Instructor I do not. I think $400+ for the cert is enough.

It was our instructor, in fact, who pointed out before the DM arrived (DM sat the classroom sessions, as well as in-water) that the DM got only tips. That was nice, since new divers were unlikely to know that. So we tipped the DM and took them both to lunch, twice. (They definitely earned their lunch. The instructor did an extra pool session to work out an accommodation for my wife's disability, with no extra charge over the $250 per head.)

I wonder and have never asked. When, say, a basic OW is set up by a dive shop, and rental is included, how is the money typically distributed among instructor, shop, and certifying agency? I'm talking about an instructor doing this part time, as ours was, his full time day gig being unrelated to diving.

 

[DennisS]

I typically only tip $5 for a 2-tank trip. Then again, I don't want/need/expect much from the DM or deckhand and generally try to keep to myself and wrangle all my own gear. Mostly I just want the captain to give me a good drop on the reef, but the tip ain't for the captain. However, for exceptional service, I will shell out $10.

$5-10 is my usual, I'm giving them a tip, I'm not paying the boat crew salary. Their salary is negotiated between the DM and their employer.

 

[seaducer]

$5-10 is my usual, I'm giving them a tip, I'm not paying the boat crew salary. Their salary is negotiated between the DM and their employer.

THAT is the problem with tipping, in many cases you are paying their salary, and many times things outside the control of worker influences the tip they receive.

People tend to tip based on their total experience, but in a restaurant a crappy cook or a busy night or somebody called out sick, the experience is not always that great, but those things are not your waitresses fault, yet she gets stiffed with a crappy tip and $2 an hour from the owner, who always gets theirs.

On most boats I do not ask, nor except much assistance from the crew other than the ride out and back, and that should be covered by my charter fee (it is not my fault if the operator sets the charter fee too low to cover all their expenses and turn a profit).

I tip, and often it is $10 a tank, because I know the crew is getting little money other than those tips, and it is not their fault that I am in this seat not needing help when it could be someone else who would gladly tip for the services they provide.

In jersey it is different, the DM ties into and out of the wreck, everyone on the boat needs them to do that, but the tropical boats, most experienced divers don't need the DMs to assist them, and lets face it, the experienced divers are by definition diving the most.

I say lets charge a rate that is fair to everyone and leave it at that. This way I don't take my anger out on the DM crew via a bad tip when superstitious Captain Ahab chucks my banana overboard

 

[yelldawg]

I wonder and have never asked. When, say, a basic OW is set up by a dive shop, and rental is included, how is the money typically distributed among instructor, shop, and certifying agency? I'm talking about an instructor doing this part time, as ours was, his full time day gig being unrelated to diving.

Great question- one that I've often wondered. My LDS has a sign up to remind customers that tips are not necessary but appreciated.

How much of the charge is typically passed along to the certifying organization? Do you tip your LDS instructors when taking classes?

 

[seaducer]

I don't think I have ever tipped an instructor, in fact never considered it as teaching is one industry where tipping is not the norm, so it never crossed my mind.

I have paid for meals though, but that was more a friend to friend thing as opposed to a instructor/student relationship.

I don't think your average instructor makes much from teaching, rather the perks come from the shop, gear at cost, free space on charters and that sort of thing. I know DMs in class make little to nothing at all, maybe the boat fee is paid if they are lucky.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

True, tips can be a good motivator for the people who are working for them. I personally have never had a negative experience on a dive boat because of rude staff, on the contrary at times I have spoken up and put unruly customers in their place because the crew was being too nice about things.

At restaurants though, I think tipping has become so common that no one thinks about what it is supposed to mean anymore. The fact that most wait staff gets paid next to nothing makes you want to tip even for poor service, this is their income and everyone is entitled to a bad day...right?

I still don't see any reason to treat boat crews / DM's with less respect than a restaurant worker. The all get paid poorly, nothing I can do about that.

I still saying "thank you" for a job well done in the appropriate way for the local is the right thing to do. In the US tipping is part of that, along with a smile and a sincere thanks. If they have a bad day and take it out on me, then I skip it.

 

[divermike1011]

Tipping... not just a city in China.

Being relatively new to the dive industry I don't get paid a whole lot of money. The going rate out here for DMs is a free boat ride and all the air you can breathe. Going rate for instructors is around 85.00 a day.

I can tell you that on most days diving I rarely see people getting tips. Somedays and some people tend to do very well, but for the most part a tip out here is a rarity. I suspect that this is a combination of it people being unaware tipping is part of the dive experience and the fact that most of our clientele are out here on vacation and thus there is little incentive to form a long lasting relationship with a particular dive operation.

All that being said, tips are appreciated, but I don't even think about them when I'm working with people. My goals are a: making sure everyone is safe, and b: making sure people have the best time I can give them whilst making sure they stay safe. I do this because I like helping people enjoy SCUBA, and because if I don't ensure that they are safe and have a good time they are unlikely to rebook with us and thus I am unlikely to get even the day rate to take people diving.

I am getting into this business because I love to dive, and I'm aware of the partly compensation.

What I don't think some of the above posters who think we should just charge more are aware of is that we charge as much as market will bear. If we could charge people 1000 a dive we would, but we can't. Those of us at the bottom of the totem pole probably wouldn't get paid a whole lot more even if the owners did get more money. So tip or don't tip, but if you're diving in the US at least recognize that your DM or instructor has about as much control over what the shop charges as your server in a restaurant does and gets paid equally poorly.

Michael

 

[falcon125]

I tipped my DM instructor $40 for the 4 dive OW certification dives. But he really made it fun and did the requirements efficently then stayed down and showed me some cool stuff.

In Cozumel We tipped $20 a boat trip which came out to $5 a tank, $10 a tank for the night dive.

I thought that was good for Mexico where the living expenses are lower.

We also tipped the guy at the check in shack $20 for 5 days.

Our hotel was all inclusive food drinks & tips included, But I tipped waiters & bartenders that made us smile.