tipping valet parkers

[bobbyi]

The greatest day of my employment at Microsoft was when they added free valet parking (we weren't even allowed to tip).

[jbrent33]

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I hate valet parking. I can't stand having to let some dumb punk drive my car. Really steams me. Usually, tip = 0.

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Let me start by saying the above is a good way to wait a long time for your car, I hope it's not raining.

I feel I am well qualified to answer the op's question.

I worked as valet during college, then started my own company when I got out. I snagged several of the choice accounts from my crooked employer. I ran this busines for 4 years before selling to a large company from Atlanta. Every day I parked cars along side my employees, so I would put the number of cars I parked in excess of 100K.

5$ is a good tip. If everybody gave 5, as an earlier poster noted, valets would all make 6 figures. I never give less than 5 even when I'm in my pick-up truck.

A good measure of how to tip is the level of service you are given.
If the valet sees you exit the bar/rest. and runs and grabs your car before you get to the valet stand, you got good service.
If you have a nice ride and it is sitting right in front of the establishment, you got good service.

If either of the above happens and you hand him a couple of bucks be prepared to wait on your car like everybody else.

Although I don't think it deserves an ask me about thread, I'm happy to answer any question about the car-parking business. Fire away

Also: Michael Jordan = baller Steve Spurrier = cheapskate

[toostoney]

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it's costing the driver around $1 or $2 to get to your house. That delivery fee the place takes? The drivers might see half of that if they're lucky.

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Really? If the place charges $1.50 for delivery, and it costs the driver $1 or $2 to get to my house, do they really only get half of that? Lame.

Is there some personal experience in the house to confirm this?
-Sam

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When I worked at Papa Johns 2 years ago the delivery charge was $1.50, and the drivers got 35 cents of it. When gas prices started to get insane they raised the charge to 1.75 and gave the drivers 50 cents. People giving [censored] tips because of the delivery charge flat out sucks for drivers.

[dukemagic]

I'm currently a valet at a high-end hotel in Southern California, and have been for 2 years (summer and winter breaks). Where I work, $2-3 dollars is the average, but a lot of that comes from the $5 tips balancing out the stiffs. If you got average service, I'd tip 2-3. If the guy clearly hurried to get your car, or it was parked closer to you, etc, tip 5.

If you want to ensure that you get out as quickly as possible, tip 10-20 on the way in and the valets will remember you, keep your car close, and hopefully bring it up when they see you walk out the door. If you tip 20+, you can even ask that they keep it on the drive/next to the door/etc so that you get out very quickly.

I can't promise that this works in Vegas, obv, but for most places it should be fairly accurate.

Regarding how much valets make, my job is at a very nice hotel, and I only make about 15-16 / hour. A lot of that is because we pool our tips (I don't like it, but given the layout/characteristics of our hotel, it's necessary to pool). I'd probably make 20/hour (or maybe a little more) if we didn't pool. That's clearly less than 100k per year. At my job, because the parking lot is so big and the hotel so busy, we can really only pull ~8 cars / hour at most. Parking the cars takes time too and we generally don't get tipped for that. Pulling 20 cars an hour would not happen at my hotel. Perhaps at a restaurant where the lot is smaller and it takes less time to do everything, it might be possible, but keep that in mind.

edited for grammar/spelling

[firstyearclay]

duke: what hotel (if you mind me asking)?

[dukemagic]

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duke: what hotel (if you mind me asking)?

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The Hyatt Regency Resort in Huntington Beach... it's a beachfront resort that has valet-only parking.

[firstyearclay]

ahhh. I have alot of friends in San Diego who worked/working at Hotels. That is why I asked. thx. HNY!

[dchz]

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OP: Dude you live in Waco. Nice settings have the same hillbillies as anywhere else, they just happen to have stack in a ranch or oil.

At any rate, I think the mentioned $3in/$3out is probably pretty good, especially if it's the same guy.

/lived in Temple, TX ~30 miles South of Waco

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i go to school in waco, my parents live in plano, tx, there are plenty of nice places around here


also compliments to all posters, i'd never expect so many replies but you guys gave me good insight... thanks

i'd prob end up tipping 5, just because i'm nice, but if they piss me off i'm not afraid to stiff them

[dukemagic]

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i'd prob end up tipping 5, just because i'm nice, but if they piss me off i'm not afraid to stiff them

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This is exactly what I would do in your situation. I don't get valet very often (I'm young and don't go many places that have it) but when I do park valet, I tip 5 unless the valet is absolutely inept or rude. I've been stiffed way too many times when it's not my fault (that the guy waited so long) to not tip 5 when I wait 2 minutes longer than I think I should or whatever.

[El Diablo]

Warik,

"That doesn't matter. Where does the valet go to park your car? A big parking lot."

I repeat: "You anti-valet folks must all live in places filled with big parking lots."