Tipping Dockside

This subject has inspired heated debate to some degree, as I expected, but not the venom I encountered in another forum. I generally tip in $5, 10 and 20 increments, and I thought I'd be burned at the stake by those who thought $1 was a great tip for a dockhand. I was deluged with nasty emails by people who thought I was trying to drain their wallets, redistribute the wealth of our nation and generally ruin boating because I tipped too much. Given the types of boaters on the different forums I must conclude what I always personally felt is true; that trawler owners and sailboat owners tend to be cheap compared to motoryacht owners. (Before that generous sailboat or trawler owner jumps on me let me acknowledge that there are exceptions to every rule.)

Were you in another forum spreading the word and got a few tips you can't bank?

Have experienced exactly what you describe, Ed, especially with sailboat owners. One thing I've found though is that the sailors on sailing websites do not represent the larger group of sailors. Crewed sailboats not there. Many who consider themselves self sufficient and pride themselves on living on $500 per month which certainly doesn't leave much for tipping. But I was amazed at how far some went in deeming tippers to somehow be destroying the world. Basically what their real objection was that by tipping you make them look bad when they don't. Sorry, but my responsibility isn't to you who choose not to tip.

Reminded me of Chinese manufacturers in Jamaica who wanted all of the manufacturers to band together primarily to hold wages down. We refused. When confronted we told them in no uncertain terms that our responsibility was to our workers, not to them. Of course the fact we had better working conditions and their best employees would leave to come to work for us was just an extra benefit. They trained them quite well for us.

My parents were by no means wealthy but were generous tippers. Now my grandfather lived in a small town, didn't tip, and you better watch or he'd pick up the tip you left on the table. Actually the diner he ate at often, when my mother went there, she would give them a multi meal tip for him, without him ever knowing it.

A young friend of ours told of an elderly lady who came ever day to a coffee shop she worked in, ordered a discounted senior meal, paid in cash, pulled from a change purse, and left a 10 cent tip. She said they all flocked to serve the lady and never once did she stiff them. She said the lady had no family so for her birthday and Christmas they'd all go in and buy her a present, other customers even pitching in, but spending far more on that than her tips for the year. Often times regulars would pay for the lady's meal too. But when they did, she still left the dime.

There are a lot of times that I feel tips are well deserved and some times when they are expected but not always deserved. Back to the original question. At my yacht club with moorings, there is no tipping the launch service. But for that matter, there is no tipping allowed in the bar or restaurant, and they are not allowed to take them. However they get paid a fair wage. On the other hand, when I drive my boss' boat to get fuel or a pump out, I always tip. First it is something I would rather not do, and it generally gets me better service in the future when I need a hand with dock lines, or I need them to stay late to help me out. Really, in the grand scheme of things, if you are taking on a few thousand $$$ in fuel, and the kid is sitting there pumping it for me, it allows me to do other things. Which in my book is well worth the tip money. I also offer them bottles of water or soft drinks.

Another marina that we store the boat at I was not able to be their for winter haul out. It is always the same crew, and they have always taken care of me. This one time I was not able to be there, they moved the boat from the slip to the slings and made sure everything was ok. The next day I dropped off a gift card to buy the entire launch crew breakfast and coffee. Again, the relatively small amount I spend on tips goes a long way to people remembering you, and being helpful or going above and beyond.

As others have mentioned, when we get heavy weather, it is good to know that the fuel pump attendant at our home marina will swing by and check on the boat. My thought is that this is an expensive hobby to be into. The extra money for tipping well when well deserved goes much farther when you are in a bad situation in the future and need the help. Really what is spending $1000 on tips over a summer when you consider what it cost to run the boat. $1000 goes a long way in tips when you are handing out $20 tips to many people, and it also comes back tenfold in the help you receive when it is needed. Just so the amounts do not seem strange, I am talking about a 50-60ft cruiser.

When we pull in to take on 100,000 Gals I do not feel the need to tip the agent, fuel man , line handlers at all.

Simply answered a question, similar to the one posed here, based on my personal experience. Since I'm mostly retired now I've got no real dog in the fight except that it would be in my best financial interest to be cheaper than I am. Through my career I've greatly appreciated the generosity I've been shown, and feel that generosity is more needed today than ever before. I also think that generosity tends to bring a very good ROI. At least I've always tried to make sure it did for those who treated me well.

[QUOTE="I just called the customer service line of a major window company and spent over an hour listening to ads telling me how good a company they are. (Meanwhile their sales line gets you to a human immediately).[/QUOTE]

That drives me insane. It's too the point that when I call the cable co or some other such service I always hit "new service" even if i'm doing someting else. You get an immediate response and when your transfered you usually don't go back into the waiting line.

A few typical comments from elsewhere...

Tipping is annoying, done by people with an inferiority complex

I see no reason for ever tipping.
Same goes in a restaurant IMO. The price is on the menu and that is the price.

Tipping is ludicrous.

And those are the nicest comments.

The boats I deal with seldom take on more than 1,000 gals. So no agents. The fuel guy and the line handlers (generally the same person) can save me significant time, and make my stop easier or harder, faster or slower. Little things like 'wait 5 minutes for me to finish that boat and I can get you on the high speed pump' are appreciated. Tying my lines correctly so I don't have to retie them to keep from sliding into the boat 5' in front of me is appreciated. Putting me on the dock in a position where I can pump my holding tank while I fuel is appreciated. It's different on smaller boats. When you take on 100,000 you're also generally dealing with professionals who make a decent living. I'm often dealing with a kid who may have never dealt with a boat before last week, and is lucky if he gets a 40 hour week at minimum wage. I do think I'd find a way of taking care of an agent though if I used him on a regular basis. That could have a significant ROI when pumping 100,000 with a simple heads up that by waiting a day to fuel could bring a lower price (although you know that world better than me).

Oh, you've met some of the people who emailed me. lol.

100,000? Wow. So you're saying when we pull up in a boat full of hot girls with very skimpy bikinis then no tip necessary? We still tip then.

Darn, K1W1 meant 100,000 gallons. I thought he meant gals as in females...a blonde moment. Sorry for the diversion, but the thread needs it anyway

Were all those posters from the US? The rest of the world does not embrace the tipping system with quite the same enthusiasm as those in the contiguous 48

Those type of folks coming onboard are normally on account and the remuneration is handled offboard.

Some were, some weren't. And where they really went wild was tipping customs or others in places like the Dominican Republic. Yet many have reported not tipping and having no problems and the rest of us tip and they think we're encouraging crime by doing so and it's unfair to all other boaters.

There are tips, and there are (t)ips. From a guy who's worked the docks I'll tell you that both are greatly appreciated.

When you are pulling into a commercial port to take on 100,000 gallons, you are paying a pretty penny for the dockage and in turn they all are getting paid extremely well in their salaries, not true at your typical yacht fuel dock. Not relevant to the conversation here.

I can tell you this much. I have cleared into and out of the Dominican Republic many times and in a few ports. If you don't tip on the way in, you won't have any problems legally, but you'll be waiting on your clearance out for hours after the time they are supposed to clear you out. AND, if they happen to clear you out at noon, instead of 8am, you have to leave the dock instantly......which screws you up on your destination. Both customs and narcotics have to board and search your boat on entry and exit. I tip each agent $20 each on the way in, (and out) and everything goes smoothly and on time.

Ohhhh the fuel dock days.......not all tips were monetary.....I had many girls take their tops off and such......we had one 63' searay that came in weekly and the Captain tipped $100.....but he was always in a rush to pick up the boss and guests and 3 of us would fuel him, pump him out, and get him 20-30 bags of ice like a nascar pit stop.

Time for my $0.02, except for the big tippers, time for my $2.00. We brokers make nice commissions when we sell a boat. For the owners that complain about the standard 10% commission, the response is often justified by not just the work and expenses on that boat, but also the percentages of commissions paid versus the work put into the clients who don't buy or buy from another broker. My only income is commission. I don't take referral fees or tips from recommending captains, yards, mechanics, services, etc. If I am offered a referral fee or tip, I ask the vendor to discount it to the client. But jeez, it sure would be nice to get flowers on occasion. When I spend a day or two or 3 driving clients from boat to boat, infusing them with knowledge and advice along the journey, and then they end up buying a boat from someone else, send my some flowers as a thank you. Forget tips or gifts, flowers would go a long way to feeling better about what became wasted time and energy and the fifty bucks is a cheap buy of good will. Btw, when a client is buying from me and says he feels badly that another client had shown him boats, I always suggest sending a check for a thousand bucks as a thank you for his time. Not that I've ever gotten one myself but it is disappointing to know you put in hard effort with no reward at the end.

Judy