Tipping?

[scuba_divo]

I'm planning a multi-day trip to Thailand. Does anybody know what the expectations are re tipping for day trips on a boat in Thailand? Also, I'll be doing a refresher and my AOW. Does tipping just apply to day trips, or to training days, too? I would assume Instructors and DMs actually get paid for instructional work. Is that correct?

 

[xmass-Eve]

I see your point, but I will say this: we all encounter quite a few minimum wage workers in our daily lives, but dive professionals is one group that I never ever looked at and thought "you poor son of a gun, you have to suffer through this every day?!"

I left Indonesia with lesser money than I started with, even as working as a top instructor... The cool thing is that you can dive every day and my job was a paid hobby, but... I invested my savings to able to stay and work there. And don't think you can save for retirement...

Also, there is a difference between working as a DM/instructor and being a holiday diver. We do lots more than what you think. Last year I did 10-12h/day with only 1 day of a week. I love being an instructor and have been for 8 years, but it's not as "great" as what you think... There is so much more that we do than the dive alone...

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I think it could be argued that this is part of the issue with DMs getting underpaid so egregiously. That operations are allowed to underpay them to such a degree because people are willing to, in essence, DM for free or close to, so locals are put in a situation where they have no ability to negotiate higher ‘liveable’ salaries.

Again, likely an extremely controversial statement and I expect vilification, and it could be complete bull, but i’d Be keen to find out ‘at least’ what a liveable wage would be for DMs and what the impact really would be on businesses/costs to dive etc. If DMs were paid a fair wage to invest in it as a career.. I have no idea as to the economics and would like to be educated on it, but i’ll always have an issue with any operation who feels ‘you should tip our employees so they can survive because we don’t want to pay them properly’

 

[Kharon]

And many are cheap. There's a lot of money that goes into organizing a dive. When a customer's averaging 700 THB a tank, only 100-200 going to the DM might not seem fair, but then there's the boat, its fuel, captain, boatmaster, mechanics, gear amortization and mx, dive center land, building and hardware amortization and mx, gas fills themselves.

My perspective is that if you take the number of divers and multiply that by the charge for the dives it comes to a pretty substantial sum for 4 hours or so of use even with the tank handling & filling, boat cleaning, etc.. I really doubt that a dive operation anywhere is using dives as a "loss leader" or even running anywhere close to "on the edge". If it weren't profitable they wouldn't do it.

You missed the point of the thread. Bonaire is known for its unlimited shore diving and its free nitrox. Charging for nitrox was, for many of us, a significant change in standard practice and worth noting.

Life is change and $20/week significant. Eh, not so much. Gas prices there have gone up to where you'll be spending more than $20 more just driving around over a week than you did last year.

Yes, its just 20 dollars but that is this year. What will happen next year and the next. Eventually could mean the difference between a trip to Bonaire and a trip to...say Cozumel. No, I don’t blame them for wanting to cover cost but it is an unfortunate shift in policy.

And you would expect them to do what? Eat the cost? And for how long? Why should non-nitrox divers continue to subsidize nitrox divers? I think it's about time nitrox users paid their own way. And do you really expect prices to remain the same forever? What about the rise in flight fares and all the other costs associated with travel? Those are far more substantial than a lousy $20/week.

And do you really expect prices to remain the same forever?And that brings to to the cause for the change, higher electrical fees. Bad for all and sure to lead to higher costs island wide. Not good incentive for tourist dollars. I half to wonder what brought on the increase.[/QUOTE]

Maybe power companies, who have fuel cost increases, should just eat the loss? Come on. Get real and quit whining.

 

[uncfnp]

My perspective is that if you take the number of divers and multiply that by the charge for the dives it comes to a pretty substantial sum for 4 hours or so of use even with the tank handling & filling, boat cleaning, etc.. I really doubt that a dive operation anywhere is using dives as a "loss leader" or even running anywhere close to "on the edge". If it weren't profitable they wouldn't do it.



Life is change and $20/week significant. Eh, not so much. Gas prices there have gone up to where you'll be spending more than $20 more just driving around over a week than you did last year.



And you would expect them to do what? Eat the cost? And for how long? Why should non-nitrox divers continue to subsidize nitrox divers? I think it's about time nitrox users paid their own way. And do you really expect prices to remain the same forever? What about the rise in flight fares and all the other costs associated with travel? Those are far more substantial than a lousy $20/week.

And do you really expect prices to remain the same forever?And that brings to to the cause for the change, higher electrical fees. Bad for all and sure to lead to higher costs island wide. Not good incentive for tourist dollars. I half to wonder what brought on the increase.

Maybe power companies, who have fuel cost increases, should just eat the loss? Come on. Get real and quit whining.

Kharon. Its not whining but acknowledging and examining the situation. Unfortunately I have to consider total cost of a trip when I decide where and when to travel. No, 20 dollars will not make or break a trip. But when the underlying economics that spurred the change make themselves felt throughout the island, the total cost of the trip may eventually effect my choice of travel dollars. Of course the same can be said of any travel destination.

No, I don’t expect the operators to eat their cost. I am sure they do to some extent. All businesses do. But eventually they must be passed along to their customers. Its a tough decision for any business when and how they will do this.

Again, it is not the 20 dollars but the implications for the future of the island economics that is significant. I still wonder what spurred the electrical rate increase.

 

[Kharon]

... I still wonder what spurred the electrical rate increase.

As per WEB Bonaire - "Rise of production prices and fuel costs, combined with a rapidly growing demand, make a tariff increase necessary."

 

[xmass-Eve]

I'm planning a multi-day trip to Thailand. Does anybody know what the expectations are re tipping for day trips on a boat in Thailand? Also, I'll be doing a refresher and my AOW. Does tipping just apply to day trips, or to training days, too? I would assume Instructors and DMs actually get paid for instructional work. Is that correct?

Of course the Instructors get paid, but in Thailand it's as close to nothing because of the heavy competition between shops... Whatever you tip them, they'll be incredibly happy...

 

[scuba_divo]

Of course the Instructors get paid, but in Thailand it's as close to nothing because of the heavy competition between shops... Whatever you tip them, they'll be incredibly happy...

OK. Thanks.

 

[Centrals]

I'm planning a multi-day trip to Thailand. Does anybody know what the expectations are re tipping for day trips on a boat in Thailand? Also, I'll be doing a refresher and my AOW. Does tipping just apply to day trips, or to training days, too? I would assume Instructors and DMs actually get paid for instructional work. Is that correct?

I never tipped my school teacher or Univ prof. I never tipped my rec and tec instructor.
I never like the idea of tipping in the restaurant because it is the DUTY for the waiter/waitress/cook etc etc to serve me. I do have to pay the bill at the end. And I do not care how little they earn because it is none of my business. If they are NOT happy with the wages there is one option available.
You can argue about tipping the crew and DM on day boat as well. There is NO right or wrong there. I have seen divers not tipping while others tipped generously.
B100.00 each to the crew and the dm per day if they are doing a good job.

I don't think "tipping" is common in Korea. Not even the waiter/waitress expect to be tipped if my memory is correct.

There is no such thing as under-tipped.

 

[scuba_divo]

There is no such thing as under-tipped.

Also a good point.