I'm thinking about getting a second job as a van driver ...

 

uhm, your math is off. that totals $6.02

 

...and I think your pilot research skills are broken...if you kept reading the forum after that, you would see that I 'fessed up to my mistake...

 

Alright guys, this might offend some of you "high earning" CA's, or the one UPS guy who has posted on here, but...

I'm a 1st yr FO, and earn a minimal wage. I really can't justify tipping a van driver who makes more than me. Simple as that. I do it sometimes, especially when I feel that the van driver did a good job/I've had him/her before and they always do a good job/ or I just had a good ride or flight, and feel generous. But seriously, if I make less than the van driver, why should I tip them? I just flew an airplane here through ice, storms, fog, and all sorts of ****, in addition to driving my car through that same **** to get to the airport for a deadline much more strict than what they have. (If they get there on time, bonus, if I don't, then I delay a flight, and I'll probably get fired...I've driven through blizzards where I can't see the lines on the road to get to the airport in time...) They're usually a retired old man who is probably just van driving to have a job, because that's what they are used to. My CA's usually tip, and my FA's usually don't, and they sometimes make more than me.

I really do feel bad when I don't tip too...I know it's almost expected. But really, I try hard to maintain an even bank account from month to month, and I can just barely do it on my salary. In fact, I probably lose about $100/month the way I spend. (But hey, I'm helping the US economy, right!?) I could probably do better, but I'm hoping for the raise next year, if I don't get furloughed.

I have a heart, and I feel for the van driver, but srsly, are would you tip somebody who makes more than you? It's like, "hey, I know you make more than me, but here's some of my hard-earned cash too! Go enjoy your spending, while I sit at home on a Friday night because I can't afford anything else! ................. twice for me too, because the way girls are these days, I can't get one, because they all want money, and I don't have any, despite what you had back in your day, with whatever the hell you did, besides being a pilot!"

Flame me. I'm definitely down. I might be doing this whole thing wrong, and don't know it, but I'm always open to suggestion.

 

And I'll say it one more time too....maybe things have changed....and some people will make more in different parts of the country - but I did not make more money than you as a van driver. Maybe that should be written into the next airline contract; that the airline will pay you additional per diem of which part of that will be to tip the van drivers.

 

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.

 

I've always wondered what started the whole tipping thing myself and after reading this thread looked up the history of it. Now me personally don't believe in the whole thing at all simply because everyone in the states thinks that they should be tipped it seems. You take a job you get paid for it. If you don't like what they pay then don't take the job. Pilots do the exact same job (in theory) as van drivers, cabbies, but yet if we set a tip jar outside the cockpit or had the flight attendents stand at the door on the way out with a tip jar all hell would break loose. Yet the guy who picks us up at the airport, might load or unload our bags should be tipped for doing his job. Get real. This guy/girl had no training for his job while we pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars for ours and don't get paid much better than them. Yes I do know that there is a chance that someday we will all be high paid mainline pilots and at that time then I may change my mind on it. (doubtful though).




NEW YORK (CNN Money) - It seems like everybody expects a tip these days. Even the folks who make coffee at Starbucks have a tip jar -- and they never even step out from behind the counter. According to the Internal Revenue Service, Americans paid out $14 billion in tips last year, and that is almost certainly a severe undercount.

But have you ever really stopped to think about this strange custom? Not just the "how much" part, but why we do all this in the first place. For example, the restaurant could just charge more for the food and pass it along in the staff's paychecks. Banks pay tellers that way - why not restaurants?


The logic of tipping

It may seem odd, but tipping some people and not others really does make sense. Some service employees, argues Michael Lynn, associate professor of market and consumer behavior at the Cornell University School of Hotel Management, offer a highly personalized service -- and tipping is an efficient way of rewarding them.

In a restaurant, for example, what constitutes good service is really a matter of the customer's opinion. "It's much rarer to tip a chef than it is to tip a restaurant server," says Lynn. "The chef's job is not customized -- whether or not he did a good job is easily evaluated."

Status also comes into play. "A chef has a rare skill that requires a great deal of effort and study," says Lynn. "People may feel less guilt because of that. I don't feel bad that a chef cooked me a meal, but I do feel bad that a waiter had to serve it to me."

Tipping exists around the world, but there are different customs in different countries. Lynn researched these variations, counting the number of service professions that were tipped in various countries. He then compared these numbers with the results of personality tests given to people in those countries.

It turned out that countries with the most extroverted and neurotic citizens (the United States leads in both categories) tipped the largest amounts and to the greatest number of professions. "Extroverts are outgoing, dominating, social people -- and tipping is an incentive for the server to pay you attention. Neurotics are prone to guilt and generalized anxiety -- maybe they tip more because of guilt over status differences between themselves and the server," Lynn says.


The history of tipping

In 1972, George Foster, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, looked at the origins of words meaning "tip" or "gratuity" in several language. He found that, frequently, it evolved from 'drink money' -- supporting the idea that the practice began in eating establishments. Foster theorized that tipping started with a desire to avoid envy on the part of the server and to send the message that the server should have a drink at the customer's expense.

The origin of the word English word "tip" is less clear. One popular theory says it's is an acronym of "to insure promptness." Jesse Sheidlower, Principal Editor in North America for the Oxford English Dictionary, says that's wrong, because acronyms weren't popular in English until the 1920s. "'Tip," says Sheidlower, "began as a verb in the seventeenth century, used in the language of thieves, meaning 'to give'." By the early eighteenth century, the meaning included "to give a gratuity to a servant or employee".

 

The 'cheap' view is cute and all with the 'driver makes more than me' shtick.

The driver knows who tips come from. He/She will probably be more apt to be on-time for crews that tip them. I'd rather set a trend of giving them a dollar rather than sitting on the curb for 45 minutes after a long day. If that 1 dollar is more important to you, and your crew, more power to ya.

 

if your FAs tip and you don't, you're cheap. doens't mean you're a bum and a loser, just cheap.

If the service in a diner is lousy, I don't tip. on more than one occasion, my crew and I have huddled in the van and said "no tip" the guy was a jerk..

we also borrow dollars from each other. tip the guy if he's okay

 

If the FA tips and I don't, does not mean I am cheap... just means I don't believe in tipping van drivers that's all...

I have tipped about 25% at restaurants and not on a lousy $10 bill, but on $100 bills for excellent food and outstanding service... I know I am not cheap... just don't believe Van drivers or Starbucks workers or any other service where they are paid propper wages requires a tip...

in the end for me it's just a matter of principal