Tipping the Crew

Are you speaking as a charterer or owner?

As a charterer, 10 - 20% seems customary. As an owner, many/most do not tip like that or at all. I have been and am lucky enough to work for owners who do tip one way or the other.

Tipping protocal varies from place to place, circumstance to circumstance. Some charters will include a gratuity in the contract. If it's not included in the contract I would prefer to put the tip into a crewmember's hand. Some businesses have a no tip policy (and hopefully they make up for that in salary). In my business I charge a flat rate regardless of date, where the boat is located or circumstances. I expect a client to recognize my efforts for them and take care of me, especially if I travel a distance or take special care of them. If they don't, my schedule gets very busy when they call again.
One thing for sure, very few people working in this business can't use a few extra dollars.

Cash in person is the best way. The crew can do whatever they want with it, and you know they've recieved it for their efforts. I'd say that most of the owners I work for 80-90% have always tipped me after every trip. Full time was a little different but still have been tipped here and there.......

So on a $60000 per week charter with 2-3 crew you would expect a $6000 tip; ie 2000 to 3000 each; I think I`m in the wrong profession.
Paul

Yep, its not unusual to get a $10,000 tip, a Rolex and a new pair of handmade shoes from a 10 day charter (the shoes got ruined in the rain while riding my Moto Guzzi, dumb-assed thing to do!!).

Hi,

While some of the numbers quoted here seem a little on the high side there are always exceptions.

I was on a boat that did a charter Christmas/New Year 94/95. The guests were coming for 2 weeks but did not come till the 26th so we could have a normal Christmas Day, they paid a $4000 tip for each of the 14 crew in advance plus insisted on taking the crew out in many places and took two flying in a chartered plane from Mystique down south over the Islands who had been unable to join in the New Years Eve party in St Barths earlier in the trip.

At that time the charter rate was around $135,000 a week plus expenses.

Well I sure hope the Revenue services arn`t reading this; as in the UK they avg out tips and charge you tax regardless if you recieve any !!!

When you work off-shore and reside in 2 different tax juristictions most of the year, **ck'em.

Why is it assumed that tips aren't reported. Very few frighten me. IRS does. I report all income, cash, tips, whatever. Don't want that nightmare.

Hi,

A professional UK seafarer who spends enough time away from the UK sailing foreign and if resident in the UK does a proper Tax declaration as required by the Revenue will have nothing to worry about regardless of whether his income is a salary, wages or tips.

At $60,000 for the week (base) you are likely to have more than 2-3 crew to split up the gratuity.

A VERY GENERAL rule re charters is allow about 30% more than the quoted base price to cover provisions, fuel and gratuity. Obviously this percentage can vary enormously depending on how much and how fast you run, and how expensive the champagne has to be that you want your hot tub filled with

ROCK

More like 9-12k is the norm and there would be more crew than 2-3. A friend of mine's boat recieved a $40k tip on a $75k charter for a week that was from Christmas through New Years.

If you go out to dinner and everyone agrees you tip a waitor or waittress 15-20%. Regardless if the dinner for 4 people was $100 or a $1000, the tip is still 15-20%.

Today a lot of restaurants are including the tip for parties of 6 or more, because too many cheap SOB's drop a $20 tip on those $1,000 dinners. Most waitresses love tables of guys (30-50% tips), hate tables of ladies (cheapskates) and fear tables of oldies (miserly).

Throughout Europe that's fairly common which I can only summize is due to a cultural failure to tip. It's now catching on in the U.S. more and more because of the serious price of dinners and everything else today. The other night a friend went to a new, fairly expensive restaurant that demanded a credit card when the order was placed. If the restaurant is afraid of getting stiffed, what's the odds of the server getting shorted? Those who tip well can't imagine this, but there are a lot of cheap SOB's out there who will get off on anyone they can, but it usually ends up to be only the lowliest. $1,000 on dinner to impress his friends and then stiff the single mother making $3.50 an hour. Makes them feel important. I once watched a waitress chase a deadbeat out to his Jaguar where she loudly belittled him in front of friends and strangers alike. Probably cost her job, but good-o.

What??? The price is stated at the menu. That's what you have to pay. If you want more than amend the prices at the menu.

Now that's a cultural failure!

Hi,

Ed, In Europe the waiting staff get paid at least a living wage not the bum deal many are stuck on in the US.

Tirekicker - The base wages for waiting staff in the US are very low, most get most of their income from Tips. It is a stark reminder of an area of everyday life where the US lags far behind the rest of the "civilized" world.

That's always been the perception, and there are exceptions to every rule, but is that really the case or is it a people proud of themselves and the job they do not admitting their circumstances. In the U.S. minimum wage for tipped employees is 1/2 of normal m.w. That doesn't mean that a minimum wage worker can afford to pay his rent or feed his family. It only means that when a tipped employee gets stiffed their child will go hungry another day. I earn considerably more than minimum wage, but without the generosity of my employers I'd have to put a gun in my hand to survive (slight exageration).