How do you tip a porter?

[Cuizer2]

Just read a reply in another post mentioned first $3 a luggage when drop off then $5 a luggage. Is that a "standard" rate you would tip a porter? We will have 6 pieces luggage so that'll make 48 bucks tips in total, sounds like a lot to me. First time cruisers so would like to find out.

 

 

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You have to sneak up on them (from behind is best). Be careful, because if you tip them more than 45 degrees they might fall down.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Comments like that are the reason you are no longer "1 happycruiser";)

 

Mike:)

 

Oh, but I am a happycruiser, aren't you? I only wish I had a high paying job moving bags 10 feet at a time getting paid over $100K a year.:D

[OctoberKat]

This is a discouraging thread and, since I am cruising soon, I hope an aberration not reflective of the 488 or so other folk on the vessel. Unpleasant seeing what's apparently just under the skin. Notwithstanding bright spots here and there.

Edited January 4, 2015 by OctoberKat

[weinberghr1]

$5 for 2-3 bags $10 if more

[donaldsc]

Part of the earlier rant involved SF porters. Regardless of whether they are nasty or not, please realize that a family income of under $100K annually here basically means you can't afford to buy a home. Of course, the quality of life is unmatched anywhere. But, it ain't cheap and those porters are just trying to live the California dream.

 

 

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Nobody told them that they had to live in SF or is forcing them to live there. They are doing it by choice. It is sort of like the New Yorkers who complain that the housing costs in NYC are too high but then they refuse to move elsewhere.

 

They could move to an area where the cost of living is more reasonable. I do not feel that I have to finance their life style.

 

DON

[Raxter54]

Like the old Al Capone line "A kind word and a gun , get you a lot farther than a kind word

 

I'd always heard "A kind word and a 2X4 gets you more than just a kind word." :)

[Raxter54]

Yea, I'm sure they are loads of Engineers, Doctors and Lawyers working on the docks these days. They work there on their off time for a few extra bucks.:rolleyes:

After all the pay isn't all that bad. :D

 

Probably more like Liberal Arts majors with degrees in Comparative Literature and Advanced Gender Studies....:D

[sail7seas]

Part of the earlier rant involved SF porters. Regardless of whether they are nasty or not, please realize that a family income of under $100K annually here basically means you can't afford to buy a home. Of course, the quality of life is unmatched anywhere. But, it ain't cheap and those porters are just trying to live the California dream.

 

 

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Certainly not an excuse. Just trying to shed some light on why they might be perceived as agressive. Also, understand that this is an historically unionized town with very little tolerance for change.

It's kind of ironic that outsiders see SF as ground zero for liberal thought and good manners. Yet it is one of the most conservative "in your face" places in the country in that there is little tolerance for anything other than the predominant view be it politics, economics, etc.

In short, please understand that SF is 49 sq. mi. surrounded by reality (and, right now, Dungeness crab is available for about $8/pound).

 

 

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Lots of cities have high cost of living.

Take a glance at stats for NYC and Boston. :)

I can't agree cost of living makes it okay to behave in a way some could view as aggressive. I fully expect and appropriately tip when I travel. I am appreciative of assistance I get along the way that makes my travel more pleasant and a great many of us say thank you with tips.

 

[GUT2407]

Lots of cities have high cost of living.

Take a glance at stats for NYC and Boston. :)

I can't agree cost of living makes it okay to behave in a way some could view as aggressive. I fully expect and appropriately tip when I travel. I am appreciative of assistance I get along the way that makes my travel more pleasant and a great many of us say thank you with tips.

 

 

 

As a small aside a family income of $100,000 would be barely enough to survive in Sydney, and tipping doesn't really exist here, so that's no reason for the type of behavious some are describing.

[michelle.zhang.90]

You have to sneak up on them (from behind is best). Be careful, because if you tip them more than 45 degrees they might fall down.

 

 

We gave one dollar for each bag.

 

 

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[sail7seas]

As a small aside a family income of $100,000 would be barely enough to survive in Sydney, and tipping doesn't really exist here, so that's no reason for the type of behavious some are describing.

 

What is interesting is that you pay included in menu pricing or you pay in tips but in the end, we are all paying commensurate with cost of living in our area. At the end of the month/year, were you to calculate meals in restaurants where you didn't tip extra vs.. what you would have paid with tip extra, from all the travel I have done, I'd venture it comes out to the same prices.

 

I love when someone says their country gives 'free healthcare'.... there is no free healthcare anywhere but for those who are destitute or disabled perhaps.

 

Pay for it in premiums or pay for it in heavy taxing but we are all paying for it no matter where. I am amazed at the taxes in Quebec City and Montreal when we visit there. Those taxes are paying the 'free healthcare'. It's just two different systems and that is fine and both are likely fine but in the end, the vast majority come out the same. Yes, there are exceptions....

 

I just know I tipped a dollar per suitcase 40 years ago. Speaking only for myself, I don't think it enough four decades later. :)

 

[GUT2407]

What is interesting is that you pay included in menu pricing or you pay in tips but in the end, we are all paying commensurate with cost of living in our area. At the end of the month/year, were you to calculate meals in restaurants where you didn't tip extra vs.. what you would have paid with tip extra, from all the travel I have done, I'd venture it comes out to the same prices.

 

I love when someone says their country gives 'free healthcare'.... there is no free healthcare anywhere but for those who are destitute or disabled perhaps.

 

Pay for it in premiums or pay for it in heavy taxing but we are all paying for it no matter where. I am amazed at the taxes in Quebec City and Montreal when we visit there. Those taxes are paying the 'free healthcare'. It's just two different systems and that is fine and both are likely fine but in the end, the vast majority come out the same. Yes, there are exceptions....

 

I just know I tipped a dollar per suitcase 40 years ago. Speaking only for myself, I don't think it enough four decades later. :)

 

 

Actually I'd suggest that in Aus we pay a lot more in restaurants without tips than in the USA with tips.

 

My point was that the cost of living isn't an excuse for what, if some posts are believed, [and I have no reason not to believe them] can only be described as extortion.

[sail7seas]

Actually I'd suggest that in Aus we pay a lot more in restaurants without tips than in the USA with tips.

 

My point was that the cost of living isn't an excuse for what, if some posts are believed, [and I have no reason not to believe them] can only be described as extortion.

 

I tip willingly..... not due to suggested extortion. That's an awful word and I cannot agree with it.

 

[GUT2407]

I tip willingly..... not due to suggested extortion. That's an awful word and I cannot agree with it.

 

 

 

I too tip willingly, but some here are saying that at certain ports, I think SF was one, it is at least intimated that without tips their bags may have a "mishap" and that is what I am talking about, I see a big and do mean BIG difference between tipping someone for a job well done, or paying them to do a job I don't want to do and that type of threat.

[GUT2407]

Post #18 was the specific one I was thinking of and it was Miami sorry to SF if I misrepresented you.

 

That can only be extortion [again f it is correctly reported].

[AZbeachboy]

I tip willingly..... not due to suggested extortion. That's an awful word and I cannot agree with it.

 

 

I like that term "suggested extortion." I have never heard it used before.

[sail7seas]

Easy.

Tip, don't tip.

Your choice.

[sail7seas]

I like that term "suggested extortion." I have never heard it used before.

 

You are right.... I phrased it poorly.

 

My meaning was it has been suggested here there is extortion involved by porters trying to 'urge' people to tip.

 

[AZbeachboy]

You are right.... I phrased it poorly.

 

My meaning was it has been suggested here there is extortion involved by porters trying to 'urge' people to tip.

 

 

I wasn't being critical. I understood what you were saying. I really like the term. There has always been the idea that if you don't tip your food will be ruined or room steward will find some way to loose your baggage the night before the cruise ends.

[trev71]

We Always have three bags. Sometimes i tip them $3 sometimes $5. It pretty much just depends on the money that is in my pocket. I dont think they really deserve it but I dont want to chance my bag not ending up on the ship :D

[jak378]

What a rude post.

 

I am really glad you recognized it as such, that was the intent.

 

I am amazed at how many folks try to justify not tipping for the convenience of having someone carry their bags, wait on their tables or drive them in a taxicab. It is nothing more that a rationalization of the parsimonious among us to avoid payment for a helpful service. Tipping is not a secret to Australians visiting the US or boarding cruise ships in US ports. It amazes me that many of you will spend big money on a cruise but then try to avoid tipping a porter by schlepping your bags on and off of the ship. Probably te same folks that remove the automatic tip.

[donaldsc]

It amazes me that many of you will spend big money on a cruise but then try to avoid tipping a porter by schlepping your bags on and off of the ship. Probably te same folks that remove the automatic tip.

 

They do not schlep them on or off the ship. That is done by ships crew. All they do is put them on luggage carts and push the carts a few feet. If you want to tip the people that do all the work, add an additional tip for the crew.

 

DON

[greatam]

And their average salary is over $1K per year. Not bad for moving a 45 Lb bag 2 feet while the crew members who actually do most of the labor get minimum wage.

 

Just to straighten out your assumption (and believe me, I am NO union fan-I run a non union logistics company that deals with the ports almost every day of the year and yes, they are far overpaid for what they do)

 

Those that work at the pier are generally pulled off the "extra board" list. They do not work steady at one of the ports. If there aren't enough people on the "extra board" list, the unions will ask steady working members if they want to work. So a lot of those shagging luggage at the port only work when they are called which may only be a couple of days a week. They may or may not make $100,000 per year. Most are just part time workers waiting for a chance to get a steady union port job.

[jak378]

They do not schlep them on or off the ship. That is done by ships crew. All they do is put them on luggage carts and push the carts a few feet. If you want to tip the people that do all the work, add an additional tip for the crew.

 

DON

 

Don, try to read more carefully. I didn't say that the porters schlep the bags I said people trying to avoid paying a tip schlep their own bags on and off.

 

Watching people trying to avoid tips, when tips are an accepted practice, is one of my pet peeves. If you can't afford a meal in restaurant, a cab ride or the cruise, don't go. Why stiff the worker that makes it much more pleasant. I have no patience for that.

[sail7seas]

They do not schlep them on or off the ship. That is done by ships crew. All they do is put them on luggage carts and push the carts a few feet. If you want to tip the people that do all the work, add an additional tip for the crew.

 

DON

 

In addition to taking luggage from people exiting cars and taxis, putting it on the carts, they also use the fork lifts to load all those huge bundles of luggage into the cut in the ship. All luggage handling ashore is done by the stevedores. No ships crew can touch luggage until it is delivered to them at the top of the gangway or the cut in the ship.