Sure, we all know the custom: Tip the cabbie, the waitress, the barber. And we generally agree on the math: 15 percent, once standard, is now pushing 20 percent.
But what about people who perform services in our homes: The plumber and the window washers? The movers who haul a sofa up two flights of stairs, or the kid who brings us a pizza? And what about carpenters and painters who can begin to feel like family during big remodeling projects?
Ask a dozen people whom they tip and why, and you’re likely to get a dozen different answers. Some routinely give extra cash to anyone who helps them out; some never do. (In the way that opposites attract, they are occasionally married to each other.)
The “rules” for tipping for household services appear totally arbitrary. Particularly this time of year – think fall planting, interior sprucing-up and pre-holiday deliveries – generosity can add up fast.
“Call me old-fashioned, but I always tip the people who come to my house to perform a service,” says Lilly Tijerina, an information security specialist in Virginia. “I believe that most of the people that do the service type of jobs are not highly compensated, so I always give them a tip. I just had some furniture delivered and I tipped both of the delivery men. I had the windows washed earlier this year by a crew of three – the owner and two guys. It came to $350. I tipped the two workers $20 each, not the owner.”
An opposing point of view:
“No, I do not tip those who mow my lawn, clean my gutters, wash my windows, deliver furniture, fix the furnace, renovate the kitchen, upgrade the wiring, et cetera,” says Cyndy Gilbert of Adelphi, Md., a management analyst at the federal Office of Personnel Management. “If so, I’d be dead broke from all the tipping.”
Plumbers and electricians, she reasons, “charge out-of-this-world prices for their services, their travel time, and at such rates I’m sure they’ve already included a hefty tip for themselves anyway.”
Perhaps we will find clarity among those working closely in the home service industry? No such luck.
“Typically, plumbers don’t get tipped, but painters do. There is no rhyme or reason for it,” says Angie Hicks, who runs Angie’s List, a nationwide series of local rating guides for an array of domestic services. “One thing to keep in mind is if they’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty and provided exceptional service: If they came out in the middle of the night if your toilet were overflowing.”
For lawn-care crews on contract, Hicks suggests “maybe something at the end of the summer, $20 to $50 or the price of one mowing. And don’t forget about the little things,” such as a glass of lemonade.
Sarah Smock, marketing director for Merry Maids, the nation’s largest residential housecleaning service, says relatively few clients tip during the year; 17 percent regularly give their weekly or twice-monthly cleaners an extra $5 to $10 each per visit, although “there is more tipping at the holidays.”
Ann Brown, former Consumer Product Safety Commission chairman, has her own system. She tipped a carpet cleaner who “came quickly, worked well and had a really great attitude,” and she always gives the man who brings Chinese or Indian food $10 because “I am sure he doesn’t get paid that much.”
Her electrician just gets a cup of coffee – “he’s a professional and I think it would be demeaning” to tip him, and the crews that maintain her lawn and pool don’t get gratuities because they work on contract.
The best all-around tippers are often those who rely on the kindness of others.
“I tip all the time,” says bartender Madeline DeLisle, who lives in Washington. “Plumbers, the TV installer, movers – $25 for each person on the crew. I give $5 or $10 for a food delivery order. If mail is left at the front desk and someone on the building staff brings it to my door, I tip for that. I don’t know anything about technical stuff, so if the maintenance man helps me by changing a washer or a fuse, I tip for that, too.”
Oh, yes, and she always gives to the building’s staff holiday fund.
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