Tipping in USA
 

Hello all. In 3 weeks me and my (soon to be) wife are motorcycling for 3 months across the USA.

We've bought the bikes in advance (2x new kawasaki ninja 300) through a bike dealer in the States in order to make the paperwork etc easier. Although we haven't actually picked up or seen the bikes yet, the dealer has been fantastic.....they sorted all the registration documents for us, which is massively useful because we don't have an address to use in the USA and means we can set off the day we arrive. They've also been excellent with all our email questions.

So my question is this......should I tip the dealer?? It would be very strange to do this in the UK, but they have done us a big favour. I was thinking of giving the guy $100 to say thank you but don't know if this would just be weird

Thanks in advance

Tipping the dealer himself would be silly--he just ordered the work done by his minions. If you really want to do something special, buy a gift certificate from the local pub or an obvious restaurant and offer it to the employees. Do that in public, so everyone knows they're entitled to a share. Let them work out the details.

On a lesser scale, just buy a case (or two or three) of beer and drop it off late in the day. In most places, beer remains legal tender. You'll be appreciated and well-remembered.

No one will expect anything of the sort, so don't worry about it if you don't follow through. You could just send a couple of cards from interesting places on your trip, or if feeling adventurous offer a general invitation to visit you at home. In my experience no one ever actually shows up, but the offer itself is a nice gesture.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

I can understand why you might want to show your appreciation of a job well done. I really can't imagine any UK dealer taking something like that on board - or maybe I've just been going to the wrong dealers for the last half century. :rofl:

I did my US bike purchase through a friend living there, who has sorted out all the paperwork as well. There's quite a few crates of beer coming his way when we turn up in a couple of months.

Where are you heading in the States?

Hi Ben, you could certainly give their business a rap in here & any future blog :thumbup1:
As for any sort of gift, bring him something from home. That would be special enough.

I'm afraid I'm pretty cynical when it comes to dealers in the US. However nice and helpful they've been, they're making money from you and, not being on the spot to check out the bikes etc. before making the purchase, you're taking a risk with them.

I'm not saying that your dealer isn't totally straight and above board, he may be - probably is! However, when we did the same sort of deal a few years ago, the (very nice and helpful) dealer neglected to mention a cash rebate offer that was running at the time he sold me my BMW F650GS and also sold my husband a new bike that turned out to be from an earlier year's range.

At the time, we were delighted with the guy's service. The issues only came to light at the end of our trip, when we intended to sell the bikes on ...

If you're happy with your dealer's service give him a good write up on your blog (or whatever) and recommend him to others. He'll be delighted with this. Don't tip.

Thanks everyone. The general consensus seems to be tipping would be a bit weird so i'll leave it. It would certainly be strange here in the UK, but in the USA I've heard you're meant to tip pretty much everyone everyone so wasn't sure! The company is Palmetto Motorsports, based in Miami. Like I said, we haven't actually picked up the bikes yet so things could change, but so far they get 10/10.

The (very general) map of our route is below. We have no fixed dates other than our flight to Miami and flight out of Los Angeles 3 months later (1st August - 28th October). Our main aim is to be on the Interstate as little as physically possible, and just go day by day.

Great website by the way, I've planned loads of stuff based on advice on here.

Happy riding

Ben

Please don't. They need to learn.

I worked in shops for 35 years and can still remember the times I got a tip. I always took care of travelers. Go buy a handfull of starbucks or similar gift cards and hand them out to the individuals that were involved in getting your bikes going,

The real key here is that you can give some sort of special consideration--card, coffee, beer, even money--to an actual worker who's gone above and beyond for you. The owner of the dealership is already reaping the benefits of your patronage, i.e., the profits on the bikes and other stuff you purchased from him. He doesn't need your money.

Tips in America are generally given to those who either really, really stand out from the crowd, or to the whole class of service workers who don't otherwise earn a living wage. That includes all sorts of people who'd be adequately paid in Australia or Europe, but are generally not in the USA--waitstaff, haircutters, many musicians, etc. Tip them per US norms and consider it an integral part of the cost of their services.

Mark

A thank you letter would be posted on a message ad board and good for many years,save the 100 and take your wife out.

better still.............send me the hundred & I'll take someone elses wife out :rofl::innocent:

Our paths might cross ! - I'm over there from end Aug to end Oct (roughly) and covering much the same ground in much the same frame of mind. I'll keep an eye out for your bikes - and if you see a beige GoldWing and a Triumph, err, something or other, on New Jersey plates come and say hello. Actually there will probably be thousands of those but I'll try and put some id stickers on the Wing - any ideas on country stickers the Americans are always pleased to see :rofl: (or more importantly which ones should I avoid :thumb down:)

Buy some donuts or a cake for the staff. Tip the dealer? You must be joking

A brew, donuts, or a gift card are the best suggestions IMHO... "Atta boys" are always appreciated!

Some good advice here. I think if a particular employee did something special - say a mechanic works late to get your broken-down bike back on the road, that might be worth a gift card or something similar.

Rest assured that the owner of the biz is factoring a nice slice of profit into the cost he charges you.