- Thread starter sosuadr
- Start date
Average tip - Gas attendant- Grocery store... Average cost of labour.
We heard that a few years back, and since then I’ve noticed they don’t get a lot of tips from Dominicans. We mostly shop at La Sirena in San Cristobal, which has 99% Dominican customers. The baggers usually leave their tips right in front of them. We usually leave 50 pesos.
When we’re in SD, I usually stop at Plaza Lama on Churchill, they bring everything to car and load it, so we give more.
A few weeks ago, we went for the first time to the new Ole in Haina, I don’t think they had a bagger at our lane. Nice store, we went for dog food they had on special, but we’ll definitely go back. (With 5 dogs, finding big bag of food for 595 pesos was worth the trip. Bought 8 bags, so plenty while we’re away, we store it in the blue plastic drums we ship stuff down in).
Your money and you can do with it as you wish. $4 for packing groceries? No wonder service continues to fall off without an ever increasing donation to the "voluntary support me directly fund". Now I know why my bread is always placed under the bag of flour. My gardener doesn't make that converted to a very conservative hourly wage and I generously overpay him...
I have this weird thing I do at the gas station: I only tip if they tell me the screen is starting at 0. Typically 50-100 pesos.
Grocery guys? 50 to 100 pesos. Most that I deal with are courteous and load the back of the SUV with care.
Restaurants? 5-10% of the non-taxed amount, provided the service is good.
Gas guys (and girls)...20 pesos, if they look like they enjoy standing around in gas fumes 10 hours a day and those who make certain that i am getting the gas I require and the pump, is at zero. Wash an obviously dirty windshield...10 pesos... try to wash my just cleaned car windshild...a loud cono!
Restaurants? 5-10% of the non-taxed amount, provided the service is good.
Gas guys (and girls)...20 pesos, if they look like they enjoy standing around in gas fumes 10 hours a day and those who make certain that i am getting the gas I require and the pump, is at zero. Wash an obviously dirty windshield...10 pesos... try to wash my just cleaned car windshild...a loud cono!
Even at Pricesmart when I have a full grocery cart We rarely use the packers as there is me and my BIL. If I do use one I tip 100 pesos, I give nothing to the gas jockeys, and I tip all waiters and watresses personally directly into their hands, and I usuall tp around 15% but don't use a calculator.
It sounds fine to me, but I'm not sure if the gas attendant will consider the "gracias" and a fist bump a good propina!
He loves it ! He’s actually the younger brother of our gardener ..so I’m sure he’s getting his “good propina” from you , perhaps, ....or from some of his other customers. He gets appreciation from us.
Bottom line , as previously mentioned , is ...”your money and you can do as you wish” ...choose to tip big or don’t tip at all ? ..you do you.. ..and life goes on ...
Depends on the service, or lack there of... better to just give advice,
unfortunately some people just don't get it until its way toooo ckfunig late.
SPADE.
I don’t tip the gas dudes unless they clean the windows or help me with something. Clean the windows 10 pesos-
25 depends on my mood and what I have on me.
Bag guys I tip 10 pesos even if it’s for a can of pop. If it’s a lot of stuff 20-25pesos. If they bring it to my car it depends but usually the same. (I rarely have them bring my stuff to the car, I can’t stand that)
If we buy huge water jugs at a store where he has to lug them about we tip the guy 5 pesos a bottle.
,
Restaurants I tip at least 20% even if the tip is included bc I don’t trust the severs will get it. I way over tip a lot of the time I was a server so I know how hard it is!
Take out I tip as well, probably 20%. If I can’t tip well I won’t eat out.
The small shops that have tip jars I always put change in.
The parking guys I usually give 25- 50 pesos. I’m cheap on that one, they used to drive me crazy bc there is no need for someone to watch my car here. No one seems to break into cars which I find odd!
When I get haircuts I usually tip 100-200 pesos but I cut my own hair usually.
I won’t usually give money when people ask for it, I am strict about that unless it’s old people, then sometimes I will give 100 pesos here or there.
Motos I sometimes tip as well, i rarely use them though.
25 depends on my mood and what I have on me.
Bag guys I tip 10 pesos even if it’s for a can of pop. If it’s a lot of stuff 20-25pesos. If they bring it to my car it depends but usually the same. (I rarely have them bring my stuff to the car, I can’t stand that)
If we buy huge water jugs at a store where he has to lug them about we tip the guy 5 pesos a bottle.
,
Restaurants I tip at least 20% even if the tip is included bc I don’t trust the severs will get it. I way over tip a lot of the time I was a server so I know how hard it is!
Take out I tip as well, probably 20%. If I can’t tip well I won’t eat out.
The small shops that have tip jars I always put change in.
The parking guys I usually give 25- 50 pesos. I’m cheap on that one, they used to drive me crazy bc there is no need for someone to watch my car here. No one seems to break into cars which I find odd!
When I get haircuts I usually tip 100-200 pesos but I cut my own hair usually.
I won’t usually give money when people ask for it, I am strict about that unless it’s old people, then sometimes I will give 100 pesos here or there.
Motos I sometimes tip as well, i rarely use them though.
Really???? $0.50 cents tip is too much? damn, how cheap can you be? Maybe bag your own groceries and clean your own windshield. Anything under $2.00 US is a tightwad. You think people are baggers because they already make too much money? pump gas, clean your nasty windshield for laughs? spend your money. When you die, either the government will take most of it and your heirs will squander it.
Yes it's legal. They ask permission to bag groceries for tips. Tip them! If a dollar is enough to make or break you, then whats the use of even being alive. Why retire??? SMH
Try reading the thread again. You've misinterpreted my post and I never said 20 pesos it too much. I said in post #3 I give them 20 pesos(sometimes 30) for washing my windshield. That works out to $12/hr for washing windows - pretty darn good.
If you want to give an attendant $2 to wash your windows - good for you. It's your money - spend it how you want, but a 20-30 pesos tip is not a limnosa as Fulano2 suggested. Go ask an attendant yourself sometime. They're glad to get that in tips - many people don't give them anything.
I go to the supermarket every day - usually one or two small bags. I don't tip for that. If the baggers had to carry them to my car I would - probably 50-100 pesos depending on how many bags.
This isn't really a discussion about giving a voluntary gratuity, it's about something else.
If tipping is voluntary there should be no problem not tipping at all. If it's not voluntary, it's not a tip but a fee for service and there needs to be a subsequent discussion on what is fair compensation for the work provided.
For me, the cost of something is the price on the sticker, menu or on the chalkboard. If a mandatory tax/tip is required over and above the price listed for something, then I usually go somewhere else. I don't appreciate being guilted into paying more just because some business owner doesn't pay staff enough.
If I feel like offering a tip, I will. If the recipient gives me a look of disappointment/disdain, then I am likely to put the tip back in my pocket and not return to that establishment. Those who came before me, obviously broke that service provider by giving more than I would ever consider leaving.
I can't change the way people think or the way they choose to conduct a transaction. I can only control what I do so I have long since steadied myself for the inevitable aspersions of being a tightwad, cheapskate and usually avoid this type of "no win" discussion.
Except in a restaurant/bar where patrons serving themselves is generally considered inappropriate, I am prepared to do most things for myself if that course of action is more appealing than paying more than the service is worth to me. I do get a little personal satisfaction from packing my own groceries while a mischief of packers stands around watching and learning how it should be done, getting nothing in the way of coinage because they choose not to be grateful for the spare change that could have ended up in their pocket instead of my massive change jar at home.
In the end I just don't care what others do. I do what I feel comfortable doing and not one "entitled" peso more when it comes to tipping. If that isn't good enough, then the establishment, formal service person or street urchin can just go get "their due" from someone else - if the gratuity I offered is not sufficient, then it is not a gratuity and I refuse to be pulled into this guilt game - I'll just stay home and pay myself 25 pesos every time I do something for myself.
How lazy are you that you cant bag your own groceries or clean your own windshield? Baggers at Pricesmart make 14,000 pesos per month plus medical insurance and several other benifits. The baggers/packers at Casa Duran in Jarabacoa make between 6000- 10,000 per month for unskilled labour. They do home delivery and my NIL gives them 100 pesos each for delivery. I give the Colmado guy 25 pesos to carry the water from the colmado to my house. I could do it myself, but he's a young guy.
BTW, on quite a few occasions there weren't enough baggers at different supermarkets and I did bag my own grocieries. Since I go every day, I usually only have about 10 items, so maybe it took 20 seconds(?). No big deal. At Walmarts in the self-service lanes, you bag all your items yourself. Never found that to be a hassle at all.
Do you live down a dirt road in a barrio somewhere that you have nasty dirty windshields - or are you too cheap to have your car washed? I pay a worker here at my condo 250 pesos every week to wash my car. At worst, they might have a light salt film on them and I'll ask the attendant to clean them just so he can make a tip.
Maybe you should complain a little more about these employers who pay their help so little - or don't pay them at all(?). I don't feel I have any obligation to make up for that.
Last edited:
And are you such a tightwad that you won't give the colmado a chance to earn a little extra and pay 25 pesos for them to deliver it to you? That's what they ask for if they deliver. It might be 50 pesos - depends on the distance. I'm more than happy to let them earn a little extra and not have to lote a bottle of water back to my condo.