Tipping Technicians

[Scuba_Noob]

Is there any type of etiquette for tipping technicians who work on your dive gear? Is it expected? Do you do it, and if so, when?

They're getting paid a wage/salary to do the job already and the job usually costs you money already. But sometimes technicians do a bunch of stuff for free or go above and beyond.

[TMHeimer]

I have never heard of it. I know our technician but rarely see him-just pick up stuff & pay for it. I've seen quite a few customers pick up repaired gear and no mentions of a tip. Can any repair technicians enlighten us on how they are paid--shop employees, on commision? Is it better pay than instructors? Than DMs?

[reefduffer]

Is there any type of etiquette for tipping technicians who work on your dive gear? Is it expected? Do you do it, and if so, when?

They're getting paid a wage/salary to do the job already and the job usually costs you money already. But sometimes technicians do a bunch of stuff for free or go above and beyond.

My approach to this, for anything more than trivial, is to bring in a box of donuts or bakery sweets for the tech staff when I pick up my gear. With a suggestion to share them around with the sales staff, etc., and I do bring enough for that. It finesses the tip etiquette question while still leaving smiles on faces, and with nobody feeling like the wrong guy got tipped etc. I'm sure they might prefer cash, but as your question implies, that can be awkward. And they remember my name. Just my 2 cents.

[Jim Lapenta]

Yellow cake with buttercream frosting works with me!

[BabyDuck]

i sleep with mine, but that's just me...

[RonFrank]

DM's/instructors get tipped in lieu of getting a reasonable wage. Instructors generally get paid depending on the job. For example instructors are paid $30 per student for the classroom portion and the same for the checkout portion. DM's get zip at least in Denver. They are usually in training so they are paying!

Technicians get paid a wage but I have no clue if its reasonable. IMO the whole tip thing is kinda wacked and I would like to see everyone getting paid rather than relying on customers generosity as many suck when it comes to tipping. I tip wait staff and DM's on a boat, that's enuff. I honestly do not know how the tipping thing got started with restaurant staff or DM's but let's not start it for other jobs.

[fisheater]

i sleep with mine, but that's just me...

You hope!


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[Scuba_Noob]

Mandatory tips are kind of whack (just pay them a better base wage, especially in restaurants), but sometimes if someone goes above and beyond, I feel some sort of motivation to give back to them.

At my LDS, I have a pretty good and friendly relationship with the technician. I see him there all the time, and he helps me whenever I need it. I always got the impression from this forum to generously tip DMs/Instructors/dive trip operators and support your LDS, so I guess I just generalized this support to the technicians as well.

I guess donuts or something non-monetary is a reasonable compromise.

[Randy43068]

He's getting screwed!
:D


i sleep with mine, but that's just me...

[BabyDuck]

well, yes, fish, i *do* hope! ;)

well, yes, randy... :D hey, wait, was that an insult?

[Cap335]

It depends on the situation, if you come in late friday and he gets it ready for a sat dive its worth a tip.
If you bring it in and they put it in the normal line he should be charging enough to cover his/her time

Randy

[TMHeimer]

Mandatory tips are kind of whack (just pay them a better base wage, especially in restaurants), but sometimes if someone goes above and beyond, I feel some sort of motivation to give back to them.

At my LDS, I have a pretty good and friendly relationship with the technician. I see him there all the time, and he helps me whenever I need it. I always got the impression from this forum to generously tip DMs/Instructors/dive trip operators and support your LDS, so I guess I just generalized this support to the technicians as well.

I guess donuts or something non-monetary is a reasonable compromise.

Yeah, donuts or buying him a beer seems good, since he seems to go the extra mile. But as RonFrank said, instructors and especially DMs are tipped (regularly, but not in all locales) because of the low wages. And because some DMs actually work WITHOUT pay (another debate). So you'd really have to know what the technician makes to put it in perspective. You don't tip the auto mechanic regardless of how helpful he is.

[Paladin]

Hmm. Can you tip yourself? I do all the work on my gear.

[cbm32]

Isn't "mandatory tipping" an oxymoron? I do tip at times but I dont follow any "rules" about it. Of course I am one of those guys that just isnt real concerned with being politically correct too.

I tip who and how much I feel inspired to tip. When I provide a service I almost NEVER accept a tip, but I have been known to let someone buy me a meal now and then.

[tac747]

The whole tip jar thing is getting out of control, IMHO. I have noticed they are showing up at a tire store and a couple of retail stores , one being a furniture store. Next thing you know they will be at the bank and the grocery store. I tip wait staff and DM's but draw the line at my mechanics or the guy who rings up my purchase at 7-11

[Pullmyfinger]

I'd occasionally drop off a couple of cases of beer. The fill guy also serviced my regs.
I make it a point to know what people drink, I keep notes on that sort of thing in my Blackberry.

-Mitch

[RTee]

well, yes, fish, i *do* hope! ;)

well, yes, randy... :D hey, wait, was that an insult?

Not if he grins afterward...lol

---------- Post added ----------

My tip consists of normally hugging the good looking girl behind the counter when I go to pick up whatever stuff I have got there. Makes my day and hers as well.

[DivemasterDennis]

So here's the bottom line. Tipping a technician who works on your equipment is not expected or required. I know that from listening to Car Talk, Dan and Ray, on NPR. But they also endorse the baked goods reward system for techs, whether they work on your scuba gear or your car. Other non-cash "thank you's" such as beer are appropriate, but a kiss or other flesh-on-flesh contact may not be appropriate to every occasion. Use your best judgment (and a little restraint) there. As far as a cash tip for a rush job that let's you enjoy a prepaid expensive dive trip- express you appreciation with a cash tip if you wish. You will not be turned down. For tipping boat crew and DM's see The Scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette, co-authored by yours truly.
Divemaster Dennis

[TMHeimer]

I'd occasionally drop off a couple of cases of beer. The fill guy also serviced my regs.
I make it a point to know what people drink, I keep notes on that sort of thing in my Blackberry.

-Mitch

Good unless in Canada when 2 cases of 24 beer runs about $100 give or take.

[RTee]

Good unless in Canada when 2 cases of 24 beer runs about $100 give or take.

Yepper, that makes an awful lot of sense...56.92 for reg service and a tip of 100.00 in beers. Thinking about it, it is quite an incentive to learn doing it yourself just save money on beer

[Pullmyfinger]

Good unless in Canada when 2 cases of 24 beer runs about $100 give or take.

Wow! seriously? That's one of the saddest things I've heard. :-)

-Mitch

[Deefstes]

The whole tip jar thing is getting out of control, IMHO. I have noticed they are showing up at a tire store and a couple of retail stores , one being a furniture store. Next thing you know they will be at the bank and the grocery store. I tip wait staff and DM's but draw the line at my mechanics or the guy who rings up my purchase at 7-11

Well said. I recently returned from a a visit to the States and, once again, I was just gobsmacked by the multitude of hidden costs and the obsession with tipping. It seems every man and his dog "deserves" a tip for doing exactly what his employer pays him to do.

[DA Aquamaster]

I've never been tipped, at least that I know of, as I am usually never around when the regs is picked up and paid for.

I've always worked for 50% of the shop's labor charge - so if the shop got $25 per stage, I was paid $12.50. That's been the case with 4 separate shops over the years.

On some regs, like a Mk 2 R190 with a R190 octo, it's a great deal as those regs can be serviced very quickly - in about an hour, cleaning replacing all the annual service parts and then bench testing without cutting any corners. On a more involved first and second stage, and/or one with issues, it can be a lot less of a deal. A regulator that is difficult or time consuming to disassemble, assemble and/or adjust can take twice that long. If it also has fittings that tend to stick together, it will take even longer and if you add in an inordinate amount of corrosion or dirt requiring extra cleaning, you end up with maybe 3 times the base time in the reg. I charge extra for the exceptionally corroded, dirty and abused regs, but again I lose half of that charge back to the shop (that in this case did nothing) so I mostly eat the extra time and just accept that it's the payback for the easy to service regs and that over time it all averages out.

A potential problem with that system however is that it can place the technician in a position of making less money per hour on the most challenging regs, and if he or she does not take a big picture view of things, the temptation to cut corners becomes large.

In some areas however I suspect the tech is just paid an hourly wage. I recently moved and I suspect thats the case where I now live, as they have a large supply of local college students with diving interests who would be willing to work for a low hourly wage, just to be in the business. Given the labor charges are similar, the shop will make a killing even on a dirty/corroded reg. The good news is that the hourly tech has no real incentive to hurry and if it takes all day to clean and service a difficult reg, he or she just makes more money on that reg. The downside is that it's low paid work that does not attract an individual with a high level of training or experience.

That's really the rub. If you pay your tech(s) 50% of the labor you'll attract more experienced techs, but it's still just going to be a part time job so you have to work around that. The alternatives are 1) the low paid hourly tech who will generally be new to the business and generally eager but inexperienced and won't stay all that long, or 2) a shop owner/manager/employee who does reg servicing as a sideline. That can work ok if they are given blocks of time to just service regs, but if they have to do it in between customers, quality suffers and inevitably regs go out the door with "extra" parts mysteriously lying on the bench.

Personally, I'd prefer to see reg servicing move away from the local dive shop, as too many shops do an inadequate job of servicing and in general the charges tend to be high as the shop has to use it as a revenue source to stay in business due to the high overhead in a LDS. If a tech were independent and did not have to maintain the general inventory and overhead of a full service dive shop, the charge to the customers could be 1/2 of the current rate (the 50% they get now), and an on-line/mail-in business format would allow enough business to have the tech support him self or herself full time. The end result would be better quality service at about 2/3rds the current service costs. But that's not going to happen under the current model, so techs tend to be tied to the shops as the shops have access to the parts.

[couv]

Hmm. Can you tip yourself? I do all the work on my gear.

I guess you'll have to sleep alone. :-)