Originally Posted by
CaptKrunch
I give the Van driver a smile and a thank you. Unless they stand in the way and force me not to I always load my own bags in the back and offer to load the Capt's and the FA's bags too. He drove me from the airport to the hotel and back. It is not rocket science. Added to the fact he makes more than I do in a year. No one tips me for flying them halfways across the country and back. (Let me make it clear I don't want tips) The point of my rant is not everyone has the want or the means to tip them and when they stand there expecting it, it just makes them look bad.
If you tip the van driver $1 on average of 15 nights a month for a 30 year career, you end up giving those van drivers over $10000, or about $360 a year. I think that's about as the expensive iPhone, so I can understand where a poor FO might skip on tipping the van driver so they CAN afford that iPhone. Also, speaking of van drivers, I spoke to one the other day who makes over $75k a year, mostly on tips. Only reports about $25k of it (his salary). At a rate of $1 a person (twice, once to and once from the airport), that's less than 8 round trips a day with 8 people in the van. That's not that uncommon.