The Low Down On Holiday Tipping
December 21, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving, Spending and Saving
The season of Christmas brings generosity out in us that we may not have throughout the rest of the year. We usually tip based on a certain percentage like 10% to 20% to various people who work off of tips. But, something about the holidays makes uf throw out the rule book of tipping, and we even find ourselves wanting to tip those who might not usually think about tipping.
Check out this article on MSN Money for everything you need to know about tipping on the holidays.
Personally, I think that we should be more generous tips on the holidays, but you shouldn’t feel obligated to tip more. Go with your heart and instinct about how and who you want to tip. The article points out that you shouldn’t tip those that might be offended by it or those that would never expect to get a tip. A good example of this is your child’s teacher. They might feel uncomfortable taking cash from a parent. However, I do think it’s a nice gesture to tip your postal worker or garbage man. They perform a great service and get little recognition. If you didn’t want to give them a cash tip, you could always buy some gift cards to a restaurant and hand those out to people who might feel weird getting a cash tip.
Show your appreciation to those in the service industry, but make sure you aren’t crazy about it. Tip within your means, but give generously this holiday season.
I rarely tip below 20% So around the holidays I go as high as 30%
I don’t tip the garbage collector or the postal carrier, but I do tip my hairdresser. My rule is I tip extra at the holdiays (in addition to the regular tips) if I am a client. So, I give my hairdresser a holiday card with cash equal to the price of a regular service – about $100. I used to do the same with my nail tech, but since I moved, I go to a place where whoever is open does my nails – I am not a regular client of one tech. So I didn’t give an extra tip.