Tipping question

[drk5036]

Just seconding @deepsea21 . As far as I know the guide is going to get the same base trip rate whether it is a private guide or a group guide. If you don’t tip him/her as a private guide he/she will be earning less for being your private guide than being a group guide getting a share of the tips. Don’t expect them to be happy. In theory you should tip enough so that they are indifferent about whether they a group or private guide.

There are many reasons for not tipping or tipping less. Some acceptable (forgot my money / ran short on cash / didn't know the local custom) some less so (you're just a jerk). But if the attitude of the employee changes based on whether they've got a tip or not, they suck, to be frank. Do your job. If I forgot or ran short on cash, I'll make it up next time...but if you suddenly change your attitude because I didn't slip you some slush money, you're the jerk now.

It's topics like these that make me grateful for living in Japan, where people take PRIDE in the job that they do and the customer service they provide, without the requirement of bribery.

 

[Altamira]

I tip a little differently than @Scubadog. I always tip in cash, but publicly at the end of the dive to hopefully encourage other divers to crack open their wallet and let the moths out. Most of the divers I see are likely not on SB, and if they tip at all, it is often just a couple of dollars for a two tank dive where the crew is working their butts off for four hours or more.

 

[ReefHound]

10-15 dollars per tank, per person? If everyone was tipping that way, I'd quit my job as a professor and become a DM. The salary would be higher if you're doing 3-4 dives a day!

I'd always heard $5-10 per tank was good. Welcome to tip inflation. Remember when a good tip for a waiter was 15%? Then they started telling us that the proper tip is 20% And some have been trying to say 25%. Things cost more, they say. But a percentage based tip ensures that tips increase proportional to costs. If the cost of your meal doubles, the amount of your tip doubles.

 

[Blackcrusader]

There are many reasons for not tipping or tipping less. Some acceptable (forgot my money / ran short on cash / didn't know the local custom) some less so (you're just a jerk). But if the attitude of the employee changes based on whether they've got a tip or not, they suck, to be frank. Do your job. If I forgot or ran short on cash, I'll make it up next time...but if you suddenly change your attitude because I didn't slip you some slush money, you're the jerk now.

It's topics like these that make me grateful for living in Japan, where people take PRIDE in the job that they do and the customer service they provide, without the requirement of bribery.

Same in Taiwan and Australia. Last year I went on a dive trip to Green Island. The diving was OK nothing special but I had bought a new BCD and wanted some time with it in the water. I emailed my cert to the dive op and told them when my last dive was which was about 6 months before that. When I got to the dive center I stayed in their rooms. We had our own rack to setup our dive gear and I was setting mine up the evening before diving the next morning. I saw a nice Shearwater Perdix laying next to my gear so I picked it up. The DM came along and she is like damn where is my DC. I said I had it really don't leave it lying around it's too tempting to steal it. Her reply was she mainly deals with OW and AOW divers who don't know what a Perdix is. I replied well I do. She saw mine had my own picture when starting up and asked how could she setup hers like that.

Now she is a PADI DM. She has a nice DC but actually didn't know much about her Perdix. I showed here what version I was using taught her is could show CLEAR and added time after completing the safety stop. She didn't know about that feature. So we had a good chat for around an hour as I explained the difference from REC to TEC settings and what they are used for. Like Surf GF and GF99. She was a quick learner.

No tipping required for shore dive DM's. The boat dives they charter boats who often have two or three different dive groups from different dive shops. No tipping required the crews are paid by their own employers.

I have a dive buddy who lives in Okinawa and plan a dive trip with him when things are easier for travel to Japan. Renting tanks and doing shore dives is easy. If you want to do a boat dive with a group also easily arranged but it will cost you. I also in a sense if someone says tipping is required take that to be extortion.

 

[ScubaD1veDiv@]

I need to correct my comment above. I misspoke. We tip $10-15 per tank for both my husband and I. Sorry for the confusion and for getting everyone so riled up. lol

 

[brsnow]

Cozumel diving is cheap comparatively even with $10 a tank tip.

 

[DandyDon]

Yes,I agree. He or she is essentially your employee for the day.

And your agreement is what?

You're already paying for a private DM why more for a tip? The boat dive crew, another question.

This tipping thing is so overdone. Why tip either?

I tip. Probably too much based on my experience in the hospitality industry. That being said, if you plan on diving with them more than one day or plan on coming back to dive with them, I would tip.

So it's a bribe. I tip every boat crew on every ride, but only because it's an expected thing, because y'all do it.

When it comes to tipping dive boat crews or bartenders........ I always do it in advance and I make it a point to do it discreetly and in person and in cash. That usually makes for "better" drinks. ! For diving, I really don't need or care or give a rip about any additional service for me personally..... but I want to make sure that the crew is attentive, respectful, courteous, and taking great care of my wife.

That's totally a bribe.

It's actually an interesting question because it gets into the difference between tipping an employee versus an independent contract or owner. When I order a $10 drink at a bar I know the bartender is not getting the $10 but is getting paid a low wage that probably relies on tipping to be decent so I tip. When I pay $80 for a 2-tank dive trip I know the captain and DM aren't getting the $80 so I tip.

But if you're hiring a private DM for $50 then what exactly is the arrangement? Is he getting the $50? Is there a revenue sharing deal? Is he turning it over to the shop and getting a typical DM stipend? Or worse, getting nothing at all except what you tip?

If he's pocketing the whole $50 I wouldn't see the need to tip but if he's turning most or all of it over to the shop then tipping is very much in order.

How do you know?

 

[drk5036]

There are times I do feel like tipping, and that's when something is done that is above and beyond what I feel like I'm paying for. Once on a multi-dive trip in Okinawa, they took my drysuit back and washed it for me between days. That's worth a tip I think.

 

[ReefHound]

How do you know?

Asked in reference to the financial arrangement between boat/op and private DM, I think the only way to know for sure is to ask the shop/DM. You might get a good idea if a shop owner or DM can tell us how it is typically done there.

 

[brsnow]

I have had boat crews mention they were basically unpaid interns in Cozumel and relied on tips. I mostly dive with a family run operation so I believe they are all paid in some form. I understand the diving is cheap in Cozumel with the agreement you tip. Works for me.