Some rules for tipping are engrained: tip 15-20 percent of the pre-tax total when dining out. A dollar or two per bag to the airport valet. Others are common though not everyone is aware of them: leave $2-$5 per night for hotel housekeeping staff, for example. (Some say higher, particularly if you're staying somewhere swankier).
But some situations are trickier. How about when you order takeout and use a debit card, only to see a line on the receipt for a tip? Are you expected to fill that in?
It depends. There are no hard-and-fast tipping rules, more like unwritten societal expectations. No pressure.
Cab drivers as well as Uber and Lyft drivers typically get 10 to 18 percent of the fare, while a barber or hairdresser receives 15 to 20 percent of the bill.
A massage therapist customarily gets 20 percent, while you are not expected to tip a personal trainer; the caveat there is that a gift at the holidays is considered a nice touch.
And here are few you might not have thought of: the furniture delivery people customarily get $5-$10 per person and tow truck drivers often get tipped $3-$5 even if insurance is paying for the tow. And your personal house cleaning service doesn't require tipping, though it is another entity in which a holiday gift is commonplace.
(And as for the takeout slip, there is no obligation to tip for takeout orders, although the staff would certainly appreciate a little something.)
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
