# Are you supposed to tip the hotel shuttle bus driver? (US) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170 "2010-03-29T02:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![idahogolfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@idahogolfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idahogolfer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/41 "2011-09-03T00:02:13Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > ^ This. > > The only drivers I tip for just driving me around are taxi drivers. Let me see. Your courtesy van driver just saved you a huge taxi fare, does the exact same thing as a taxi driver, and yet he doesn’t deserve a tip. Makes no sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/42 "2011-09-03T00:49:40Z")
No. I was planning to but he was horrible. (Not from a hotel, but the NYC-Newark shuttlebus). But I had expected to. > [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > My friend from the UK was horrified when she learned you were expected to tip someone for cutting your hair. So was I actually (having been out of the US for 11 years). That’s weird - it’s actually the norm to tip your hairdresser in the UK. Maybe not if it’s a dash-in, dash-out $5 trim place, but otherwise hairdressing is one area where a tip is expected. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/43 "2011-09-04T09:55:36Z")
Tipped our airport shuttle drivers for our luggage because Mom and I had very heavy lugggage on the most recent vacation. We could have tipped the hotel housekeeping staff a little more, i think, because they work very hard jobs. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/44 "2011-09-05T00:13:44Z")
When I travel with the family, I do tip shuttle drivers that help with the bags. It’s too hard when I’m trying to keep the kids from getting lost or something. When I travel on busines, I never tip the drivers but I schlep my own bags. I don’t want to wait, give the driver my bag, let him store it in a way where I’m not sure where it is or if I’ve got something that could get damaged. Nope, I jump on the bus with my bags myself, ditto on getting off. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/45 "2011-09-05T01:28:59Z")
YES. I tip my hairdresser, too - and generously. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/46 "2011-09-05T01:34:41Z")
> [@idahogolfer](#): > > Let me see. Your courtesy van driver just saved you a huge taxi fare, does the exact same thing as a taxi driver, and yet he doesn’t deserve a tip. Makes no sense to me. Your courtesy van driver, **whose job is to do that and he gets paid for it and doesn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart** , just saved you a huge taxi fare. I might as well tip the plane pilot and the crew, THEY saved me a huuuuuuuge taxi fare. I’m a generous tipper by my country’s standard and a good one in the US, but I hate expected tips. Expected generosity is a tax and not a tip. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/47 "2011-09-05T01:41:41Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Your courtesy van driver, **whose job is to do that and he gets paid for it and doesn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart** , just saved you a huge taxi fare. I might as well tip the plane pilot and the crew, THEY saved me a huuuuuuuge taxi fare. > > I’m a generous tipper by my country’s standard and a good one in the US, but I hate expected tips. Expected generosity is a tax and not a tip. I think your statement just made you ‘not a generous tipper’ by US standards. [http://www.couponsherpa.com/ask-coupon-sherpa/tips-on-tipping-for-63-services/](http://www.couponsherpa.com/ask-coupon-sherpa/tips-on-tipping-for-63-services/) Do you guys (er, Dopers) tip while at casinos? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/48 "2011-09-05T01:51:35Z")
In the airline biz I ride a hotel van 2x/day 12-15 days/ month. Every pilot always tips $1 for the 1, 2, or occasionally 3 bags we carry. Flight attendants tip $1 or very occasionally 50 cents. They all have 2 or 3 bags, although all but the main one is pretty small. Crews have been tipping a buck a head since the 1970s. So relatively speaking the value of the tips we give has gone way down. Then again, so have our wages & so has the quality of hotels we stay in. I do see that when we share a van with non-airline folks, those folks tip about 1 time in 3 or 4. And it’s strongly correlated with the tipper having a pile of luggage; the typical businessman with a small rollaboard & a laptop bag doesn’t tip, period. In our case we’re not really paying for them to move our bags from pavement to van compartment or compartment to pavement. We’re mostly incentivinzing them to be there waiting curbside when we next show up, rather than having to call the hotel & stand there for \*another \*20 minutes wiating for them to drive over at the end of \*another \*long day. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/49 "2011-09-05T02:03:29Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I think your statement just made you ‘not a generous tipper’ by US standards. > > Do you guys (er, Dopers) tip while at casinos? I tip the usual buck-per-bag and 20% at restaurants. My personal feelings are my own to hold. I’ll end this hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/50 "2011-09-05T02:04:20Z")
I tip the driver. Sure, he or she is already getting paid, but I know that I’m saving a lot versus paying a cab. A buck or two each direction is a bargain. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/51 "2011-09-05T21:03:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Every pilot always tips $1 for the 1, 2, or occasionally 3 bags we carry. Flight attendants tip $1 or very occasionally 50 cents. They all have 2 or 3 bags, although all but the main one is pretty small. > > \ > > In our case we’re not really paying for them to move our bags from pavement to van compartment or compartment to pavement. We’re mostly incentivinzing them to be there waiting curbside when we next show up, rather than having to call the hotel & stand there for \*another \*20 minutes wiating for them to drive over at the end of \*another \*long day. Bingo. There’s a hell of a lot more incentive to _be_ a tipper in situations where you think there’s a decent chance that it might affect _future_ service. It’s why I tip ~20% for good service in restaurants I may never see again, but jack that up to 25-30% if I expect to be back before they’ve forgotten my face. And why I usually don’t bother tipping in bars, on those rare instances when I’m in one. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/53 "2020-07-07T13:59:10Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s why I tip ~20% for good service in restaurants I may never see again, but jack that up to 25-30% if I expect to be back before they’ve forgotten my face. And why I usually don’t bother tipping in bars, on those rare instances when I’m in one. Heh, pre-COVID I spent considerable time in bars. I tip bartenders very well, in exchange it is nice to walk into a crowded bar and have the bartender stop what they’re doing to ask what they can get you. ETA: I assume a spam post brought tyhis thread back to life, right? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/54 "2020-07-07T17:25:42Z")
I always tip bartenders well, even if it’s at airport bar where I’ll never see them again. I figure they deal with enough stress and occasionally can be sources of good information. Hotel shuttle drivers get a couple bucks, I know they’re not working strictly on tips. And sometimes I get useful information as well, how busy the airport is likely to be on a Saturday morning or something like that I’m in the USA and I do wish we could abolish tipping. But, as of now we haven’t and so I play the game ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/56 "2020-07-11T05:17:31Z")
i never did, nor thought of it, no saw anyone else do it. I carry my luggage on my lap ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170/57 "2020-07-11T23:36:47Z")
Tipping shuttle drivers who help with your luggage has been pretty standard for as long as I can remember. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-supposed-to-tip-the-hotel-shuttle-bus-driver-us/534170.md?page=2)