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Best Etiquette Ever: LV Guide To Customary Tipping

Farnoosh Torabi
Posted on June 14, 2010


As a customer, it’s important to tip for good service. Lots of workers including waiters, bartenders, hotel concierges, and salon workers rely heavily on your gratuity, but we’ve fumbled over tipping for valet parking and coat check more often than we’d like to admit. Want to give the right amount without looking (gasp) ungenerous? We bring you the Official LearnVest Tipping Guide, so that you’ll have the best etiquette in the room.

But, how much tipping is appropriate? After all, it’s not your job to support your waiter’s family, especially if you feel that a tip is undeserved.

Is It Ever Okay Not To Tip?

If you experienced abysmal service (e.g. the waiter was rude to your face, your food arrived very late and cold, or the manicurist made you bleed) then you have the total right to voice a complaint to management. If the business doesn’t acknowledge that you were wronged, speak to the manager on duty before you neg the tip. Ask if management can “resolve the issue on your bill.” If your food was too salty, don’t decline to tip the waiter—it wasn’t his fault. But, if the waiter gave you terrible service and the management refuses to give you a discount on the bill, then tip accordingly.

We bring you the LV crib sheet for proper tipping etiquette:


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  • Christianlynne

    What about tipping your dog walker?

    • carolinewaxler

      GREAT question. Back to you with that shortly.

    • carolinewaxler

      From the author, Farnoosh Torabi: Dogwalkers, cleaning people, babysitters…people you pay a flat rate throughout the year deserve tips around the holidays. Tipping him or her the equivalent of one session is always appreciated…more if their work is stellar. This is done just once a year, remember. So, if your dogwalker charges 25 bucks for an hour with Pooch, tip him 25 bucks extra (cash or gift card) around the holidays. If you normally pay your sitter $15 an hour, a gift card may be a nicer gesture (than $15 cash) or a bottle of wine.

  • Lizzy

    How often should I tip the newspaper delivery person?

    • The LearnVest Staff

      As with dog walkers and other professions that serve you regularly and for a fixed rate, once per year should do. From the author: A $5 Starbucks card or a batch of homemade cookies will do…But only if he’s considerate and cares enough not to throw your Sunday Times in the sprinkler! A tip is a nice gesture.

  • Sue

    It doesn't make sense that the percentage should be higher in cities where the cost of living is higher. Presumably the base charge to the customer is higher; therefore the service provider is already receiving a larger amount to account for the higher cost of living. Fifteen percent of a fifty-dollar haircut is more money than fifteen percent of a forty-dollar haircut. Sounds like these guidelines came from hairstylists and restaurant associations themselves.

    I also do not accept that the customer should leave a full tip for mediocre service and instead talk to the management. For very bad service, yes, but if we took time to have a confrontation with management every time we received mediocre service we would never get anything done; not to mention it would be unpleasant. It isn't our job to evaluate restaurants, we just want to eat and leave.

    • The LearnVest Staff

      Hi Sue,

      I totally understand where you’re coming from with this, as it’s obviously not your moral obligation to singlehandedly support your waiter and his family. What we are saying is not that it’s your ethical obligation to tip more in urban areas (since you’re right with your argument about the base cost reflecting standard of living). Instead, we’re reflecting what’s customary in these areas, socially expected and acceptable. For example, you’d tip differently when you go abroad, because you’re conforming to local custom. Similarly, people just tend to tip differently in a place like NYC.

      Hope that helps!

      Allison, Editor at LearnVest

  • Guest

    I don't see why the percentages would vary based on cost of living… isn't the food/cab fare/etc usually higher to begin with in a more expensive city, such that 15% (or 20%) is a bigger amount of $'s anyway?

  • Emily

    Another important person to tip when travelling is a tour guide. Many companies, including walking tour companies, pay their guides like waiters even if it is not generally acknowledged that they are meant to be tipped. If you are on a planned trip with a tour director, then it is even more important to tip that person. For a walking tour that is 1.5 to 2 hours, a $5 tip is a nice gratutity, if longer, the tip should be more. If you are travelling with a tour director, each individual should tip $4 per day, even if you are travelling with your family (family of 4 should be $16 a day.)

  • Mariko

    Any advice on how much to tip staff in an apartment building – super, porters, etc.?

  • http://www.facebook.com/AshleyVictoriaBurton Ashley Burton

    This is great, my mother always says that I am over tipping! So now I am proud to proclaim, “I AM AN OVER TIPPER!” Not a bad place to be, good/bad service no worries you get a flat rate from me! There are even times when my tip is larger than my bill! It’s not their fault I didn’t order a lot, though the service was still great! No wonder everyone is so nice to me and always want to wait on me! I don’t often have time for these luxuries, so why not make it a good day for EVERYONE involved!