Originally Posted by
chuckyt1
What you earn has nothing to do with whether or not you tip.
If a service is provided to you that a UPS pilot pays a buck for, then you should pay the same price for the same service.
You'll need to leave the "If I made..." out of it.
If it's part of your job, and you can't afford it, you're in the wrong job.
Actually, UPS perDiem is $2.25 an hour for domestic, and goes up from there. My mainline friends at Delta are worth $2.00 an hour.
Many regionals are around $1.35-$1.55 an hour.
The example of 4 x 4 day trips each month means that a UPS pilot can spend $280 more than me each month on van driver tips. Delta's pilots can spend $202 more than me each month.
So, obviously, regional pilots are neither entitled nor expected to eat as well or tip as well as UPS or Delta crews.
As far as "If it's part of your job, and you can't afford it, you're in the wrong job" - my company manuals do not say that I must tip. Therefore not a part of my job.