Tipping? 'It's awkward and happens less and less'

Leaving a tip after a night out? Waitresses can usually count on some greasy coins, but what do you give an invisible chambermaid or the paperboy without a penny to his name?

The hairdresser or the heating engineer? No, says Maarten van Garderen, consumer economist at ING’s Economic Bureau, you don’t necessarily need to tip them in the Netherlands.

"In Anglo-Saxon countries like the US, tipping is part of the payment. If you walk away from the table there without leaving a tip, you’ll have an argument. In the Netherlands, we’ve agreed that the tip is included in the minimum salary, and an extra tip is just a nice bonus. It’s not really necessary. We have excellent CLAs here, and it’s not necessary to slip something extra to people with a paid job. That’s different in other countries."

That’s right, says Canadian Sally Koldenhof, who works in Eindhoven. "You give about fifteen to twenty percent in a restaurant, and you also tip taxi Union representative, delivery people, hairdressers, or after a beauty treatment."

In China and Indonesia, tipping is not customary at all, say expats Wynne Zhou and Crystal Paruntu. Paruntu: "Most restaurants have already included it in the bill, and some places have a strict 'no tipping' policy. Tipping is not encouraged in Indonesia."

Less tipping due to card payments and prepaid arrangements

In the Netherlands, we’re getting signals that tips are decreasing, says a spokesperson for FNV hospitality. "According to staff, this is due to the digitisation of payment transactions, such as card payments. It’s also increasingly common for arrangements to be booked and paid for in advance."

"The payment no longer takes place after the meal, and the payment moment between the guest and staff is no longer there, resulting in fewer direct tips being given to the staff."

That digital payment, says the ING economist, makes you forget to add a tip. "Additionally, it requires a different kind of action than just leaving some coins or saying 'keep the change'. You have to make the effort to quickly calculate what you want to give and then say what someone can make of it. That can be an awkward moment."

More than half of hospitality guests never tip

The last survey on tipping in hospitality was conducted in 2015 by Misset hospitality. It shows that 38 percent of guests always tip in hospitality, and 42 percent do so regularly. Rounding up the bill is the favourite form of tipping: 41 percent of guests pay a little extra this way.

There are no legal provisions regarding tips, says FNV hospitality, except for the provision that tips received by staff also belong to the staff. The employer can never withhold tips.

Tipping is becoming a thing of the past, suspects Van Garderen. "The paperboy who used to bring my paper before seven every day always got a good tip from me, certainly about five to ten euros. Now I read my newspapers digitally. Even if he were at the door, I probably wouldn’t have cash in the house to give him something."

Tips are being distributed less in hospitality, but in many professions, an extra is not even allowed to be given. In healthcare, for example.

Not allowed in healthcare

We don’t accept money, says Janneke van Koperen, who works in home care. "We sometimes receive small amounts, and we put that in a joint pot for outings. It’s not for ourselves. We have to curb generous clients. Recently a client said: but who should I give my money to then? I have no family, no children, I can’t spend it anymore and enjoy your stories when you come back from an outing."

A group that does receive significantly more tips are taxi Union representative: We gave over ten percent extra tips to taxi Union representative in the past two years: an average of 5.86 for a trip to the airport.

That’s really a holiday service we’re willing to pay extra for, thinks Van Garderen, and moreover, a service where cash must be paid.

"Then it makes it easier to give a tip. I can imagine that the hospitality industry will soon come up with something for those declining tips. A digital tip jar where you can determine the amount yourself and pay contactlessly somewhere separately."

Source: Nu.nl