Odd slant on tipping question

TheWorstPlayer · #1 06-08-2007, 12:51 PM

OK, I had people deliver appliances for my new condo today (brag). It is hot outside and they had to move three heavy appliances up to my place on the third floor. We have no elevator. There were two of them. They spent about an hour and a half moving the stuff up and installing it. They were nice guys and we were chatting the whole time (I'm a very friendly/chatty guy).

I wasn't sure that I was supposed to tip them, but I assumed that I should. My first thought was to tip them a hundo to split since there was no elevator and it was very hard work moving the stuff up the steps. However, I haven't had any appliances (or anything really) delivered before, so I thought my intuition might be way outta whack. So I called my fiancee and asked her what she thought and she said that she thought 5-10 dollars total was good since they were being paid to move heavy stuff so I shouldn't really need to pay them twice. That's their job after all.

So, in the end, I felt like 5-10 was definitely too low so I tipped them $20 total ($10 each). Basically as soon as I handed them the money, I felt really bad like it was too little, but they had already said thank you and were getting in their car to leave. As they were getting in the car and I was walking away I heard one say to the other (clearly not for me to hear) "Well, that's gonna go really far." in a sarcastic tone implying that I had tipped too little.

What should I have done? Is there anything I can do at this point?

nuSFwck · #2 06-08-2007, 12:57 PM

Probably nothing you can do now, but I think you should have greased them at least $100. After they got all the stuff up the stairs, did you offer them a glass of water or something else to drink?

turnipmonster · #3 06-08-2007, 01:17 PM

nothing you can do, but my standard is to tip these guys 10 apiece if it's an easy delivery (10 minutes), 20 if it takes a little longer (like hooking up gas to oven), and 40 bucks apiece for a big job (only time I did this was for granite installers).

TheWorstPlayer · #4 06-08-2007, 01:19 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Probably nothing you can do now, but I think you should have greased them at least $100. After they got all the stuff up the stairs, did you offer them a glass of water or something else to drink?

[/ QUOTE ]
Considering the water is off and my fridge is coming this afternoon that would have been hard to do. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I did put the AC on full blast, though!

TheWorstPlayer · #5 06-08-2007, 01:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
nothing you can do, but my standard is to tip these guys 10 apiece if it's an easy delivery (10 minutes), 20 if it takes a little longer (like hooking up gas to oven), and 40 bucks apiece for a big job (only time I did this was for granite installers).

[/ QUOTE ]
Out of guilt, I tipped the three dudes who delivered my heavy furniture later in the day $40 each...

turnipmonster · #6 06-08-2007, 01:24 PM

fwiw, I tend to really tip guys that do a thorough job. the guys that delivered our fridge hooked it up, leveled it and showed me it was perfectly level, and asked me if I had questions etc. I tend to tip guys like that a lot more than ppl who just bring it to the door.

xxThe_Lebowskixx · #7 06-08-2007, 01:42 PM

maybe someone on here can write a book about tipping.

danzasmack · #8 06-08-2007, 02:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
nothing you can do, but my standard is to tip these guys 10 apiece if it's an easy delivery (10 minutes), 20 if it takes a little longer (like hooking up gas to oven), and 40 bucks apiece for a big job (only time I did this was for granite installers).

[/ QUOTE ]
Out of guilt, I tipped the three dudes who delivered my heavy furniture later in the day $40 each...

[/ QUOTE ]

dunno since it's a walkup but i tipped the guy who moved in furniture to my old place. I recently had stuff delivered, pulled out a 20 to tip the guy and he said thanks and just left me standing there with the $ in my hand.

Did you pay for the delivery? These guys should shut up if they expect you to tip more. At times like this i think of -pretty much every person i went to school with, how broke they are, and how they would never tip in that spot.

I think $20 is fine if you paid for delivery.

Sometimes I ask the person like "should i tip the delivery guy? what is customary?" you can tell by their reaction (shocked/have a reply read).

Mingdu · #9 06-08-2007, 02:14 PM

I don't tip because society says I have to. All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I'll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job.

NoahSD · #10 06-08-2007, 02:28 PM

Am I the only one who thinks this whole tipping thing has gotten pretty ridiculous? In most situations, it doesn't seem to be at all about giving someone a bonus for doing their job better than expected--it seems like it's just a way for the tipper to alleviate some guilt. It just seems like a really silly way for money to move around.

(Disclaimer: I don't practice what I preach. I tend to be a pretty big tipper, especially for a 20 year-old, but mainly just because I have a lot of guilt.)