Tipping in General

[GnJ.in.MX]

Tipping in a restaurant is not a problem. We just do the same as in Canada/USA.
However, what about tipping your water delivery guy for example. Or the propane delivery guy. Or if you call on a gardener or maid come by to help occasionally. Should you just work out an agreed upon rate, or should you tip on top?
Thanks.

[joaquinx]

30 kg tank of gas is around 300 pesos and I tip 5 pesos. The water deliver guy gets 2 to 3 pesos for a calafon of 22 pesos.

[Hound Dog]

Originally Posted by GnJ.in.MX

Tipping in a restaurant is not a problem. We just do the same as in Canada/USA.
However, what about tipping your water delivery guy for example. Or the propane delivery guy. Or if you call on a gardener or maid come by to help occasionally. Should you just work out an agreed upon rate, or should you tip on top?
Thanks.

I can´t speak of tipping customs in Canada but a restaurant tip for good service in the U.S. or France is 15%. In France 15% is typically automatically added to the bill and no additional tip is expected. In Mexico in certain tourist oriented area the tip may also be added to the check but never more than 10%. Always check to see if the tip has been added to the check before tipping in a restaurant catering to tourists. In the U.S., perhaps 20% for really outstanding service on occasion. In Mexico, 10% is a generous tip, 15% unusual and almost certainly indicating a foreign customer. 20% unheard of and likely to brand the tipper as naive or a sucker.

Gas station attendants should not be tipped unless they perform an extra service such as cleaning the windshield, checking the tires or checking and/or adding motor oil but watch the tires and oil bits as the motorist may be vulnerable to some tricks of the trade. Tips for extra service should be no more than, say, $5 Pesos normally speaking.

Household employees should never be tipped but should be compensated reasonably for duties requested beyond their normal duties for which previously agreed compensation has been proferred.

We always tip propane gas delivery guys because that puts us on a priority list when we really need gas. Same with water delivery guys if they carry those heavy garrafones to that part of one's property where they are easily utilized. No more than $5 Pesos for either for each delivery except at Christmas time when these guys wish you a merry Christmas which implies a request for a much larger tip in keeping with the seasonal spirit.

Garbage men and post office personnel expect a shared Christmas gift in an envelope but otherwise no tip except maybe for postal delivery guys for occasional important package deliveries. For package deliveries we always generously tip delivery guys for courier services such as DHL, UPS and FedEx since we really depend on them down here where the post office is not reliable. Maybe $10 Pesos is about right.

We always tip the guys who watch our car in super store parking lots maybe $3 to $5 Pesos. If we pay a street car wash guy to wash our car while we shop or attend business, we pay him or her the pre-agreed price but never tip on top of that agreed compensation.

[elchante]

Having worked in tipped positions in the US for many years, i am apparently [according to my friends] pretty generous with gratuities here in Mexico.

Every week I give my water delivery man $20MX for a $16MX garrafone which he brings into the house and installs in my garrafone holder. Yesterday the pilot light went out on my water heater and I couldn't get it lit,, so I asked him if he would help me. It took him just a few minutes and for doing that, I gave him $10MX more.

At Pemex, if the attendant does more than just fill my tank [i.e. puts air in my tires or washes my windshield], i tip the attendant.

i have a once a week gardener whom i pay a set rate, but if he does something special for me, like washing my truck, i pay him more.

and don't forget the bagboys and girls at the larger grocery stores. they are usually working ONLY for tips. i normally tip them between 5 and 10 pesos, depending on the amount of work required to bag my groceries. and i do the same with the kids who help me put the groceries in my pickup. i can certainly do that myself, but i know the kids can use the money and 5 or 10 pesos is not gonna impact my pocketbook.

[monica40]

See, the problem with the expat population tipping "generously", especially for the grocery baggers and kids who put bags in cars - IF every NOB person tips that way, how much do you think they (kids) bring home at the end of the day? Now that you have finished that calculation, try calculating how much their father brings home at the end of the day?? Leave your guilt NOB and tip according to the area you are in.

[scubakevin]

Well I personally don't think it has anything to do with the Expat Population, it is about tipping with your head and not with your heart. Restaurants in my section of Mexico City we tip 15% we are a mixed couple who typically go out only with other friends who are Mexican or Spanish Speaking, I don't have any "american" friends although we have some friends here from Netherlands, Germany and France, everyone else we do anything with or have contact with are from Mexico, South America or Spain.

It doesn't matter really where I am but I tip 15% if the service was good, if the service was normal or under what I expect as a customer 10%. If there is a problem with the food I talk to the manager, if its the waiter I tell him when leaving the tip that it reflects the lack of service or attention I received.

I tip the Valet Parking, when I am driving, when my driver takes us to meetings or eat he stays with the car and awaits instructions from us. (frequently in our area the valet may take 30 minutes to bring the car so I prefer to give our driver the day off and have him attend us at night), I don't tip my driver, I pay him a salary from my company.

I tip at the gas stations when added value, I don't tip at all if the gas station has pay bathrooms.

I tip $10 pesos to the bag boys / girls at the supermarkets and sometimes more when the person is Tercer Edad how do you say that in English when over 65 years old?

I tip the water guy but I don't know where you get water or what kind for 19 pesos for a garrafon we pay 34 pesos each and my guy usually has to lug 4 up to the second floor. 5 pesos is what I usually give him.

Our doorman gets a tip for holidays or something special, other wise the maintenance that I pay covers his job. I do tip him when he helps my wife get the cars out of the garage when she is driving alone.

I tip hair stylist as well.

We don't tip Taxi Drivers EVER. More often than not we have reported drivers to the taxi Union or Secretary of Tourism for illegal practices.

We don't give money to beggers.

We don't tip the people who serve ice cream or crap like that with their little tip box.

Never tipped the gardener. anything special I we agreed to the rate before he started.

Only tip the garbage men when I need something.


Having lived in and had my office in Manhattan for many years before moving to Mexico I can tell you that I haven't changed my tipping habits. My wife and I believe that what you give you get back 10 times over as long as you give with your heart and with pleasure. It has worked for us and we believe we will keep doing it. My wife sometimes is more generous than I even being Mexican, but 2 people who are grateful for what we have been given and continue to receive.

For Monica I don't care how much the people take home in tips, we had a waiter who worked or us who took home $200 or $300 dollars on a good night. He deserved it and we were glad to see him happy. The bottom line is if you do the math $5 pesos tip per person X 50 people is $250 pesos or $19 dollars american, double that even $38 dollars for a days work? Next are you going to tell me that the minimum wage is $5.89 pesos per day and so they are doing real well? Start thinking about how much it costs to get to work for tips, combi, metro, bus whatever, add to that something to eat maybe but the bottom line is can you live on $38 dollars a day? $500 pesos?

Here every time I go to Superama or Chedraui or Soriana I see Mexicans who are upper middle and upper class who shop with Chauffeur and one of the Maids and they still tip 10 pesos. Makes me feel good that the kids aren't on the street begging or stealing or selling gum on the corner, I like that they are in a stable structured place where they can earn money.

I mean comon if 5 pesos or 10 pesos is gonna break ya...

[scubakevin]

Sorry, maybe I rambled and forgot but what the hell does NOB mean? Are you saying NOOB?

[AlanMexicali]

Originally Posted by scubakevin

Sorry, maybe I rambled and forgot but what the hell does NOB mean? Are you saying NOOB?

NOB. North Of the Border = US and Canada

In Mexico on the border it is called Le Otra Lado = The Other Side [of the border]

[TundraGreen]

I am ambivalent about tipping kids. I never give money to kids begging on the street. I do tip kids that are bagging in grocery stores but I am not sure it is a good idea. Giving money to kids encourages their parents to keep them out of school and working. And it ensures that they will never get an education that might provide a better life for them in the long run than the few pesos they make working as kids. DIF (Desarrollo Integral de Familia, the Mexican family service agency) runs ad campaigns about not giving money to children for this very reason.

[scubakevin]

JAJAJ thanks Alan,

I think it is important to remember maybe not here in this Forum but in Mexico where I have lived in the last 17 years and done projects there are many more immigrants than Americans and Canadians while as a whole they may make up the largest percentage of the immigrants in Mexico.

In the community here in Mexico City my area there is a small population of NOB's while there are many South Americans, French, GERMAN, (largest jewish community in Mexico) and Netherlands. I know there are Brits and Pols and I could go on.

I read a comment above about tipping 15% in France and yes, in France you might still find some restaurants that don't include the "service" in the bill but it is quite rare, in UK you do not tip unless the waiter came and did a striptease for you on the table or maybe was doing you some special favors.

I forgot about tipping the Caddie, the guy who walks my golf bag to the club house or after a round if not the caddie the guy who cleans my clubs. For example if I have to walk to the club house and the parking lot guy grabs my bag and carries it I give him 20 pesos and at the end he takes them back to my car, never failed me. 50 pesos for cleaning shoes and clubs and 100 pesos to the caddie for 18 holes who might walk the entire course while I ride.

This also depends on where you play, like in NOB you go to a public course and you wouldn't slip anybody a tip at a public course unless they did you a solid somewhere. But at Pebble Beach you tip the Valet, and all the rest like I mentioned only bigger. Valet maybe $2 US, Caddie a $20 and the Guy who cleans your clubs and shoes after $10 to $20 US. At the club house in Mexico I have tiped a $100 or $200 to get my foursome out first, they know me now and when I arrive even if there are groups waiting to tee off we go ahead of them.

Tipping is as much about POWER sometimes as it is about giving. When we go to a restaurant that is packed and I know the manager or owner or even just the hostess, we usually don't wait long if at all. The longest thing we have waited for in Mexico is our car from the Valet because they are not affiliated with the restaurant and are licensed here by the city. There are hundreds of them in our area so unless you have the luck of tipping someone good going in and he is still there when you come out you will wait up to 40 minutes for them to find your car and get it too you.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.