I’ve got a trip planned there next March and my Googlefu is yielding mixed results.
Not an Australian, but tipping is not a common practice there, except by foreigners visiting that don’t know better.
All Australian workers (even restaurant workers) receive a higher wage, get 4 weeks leave and paid sick leave.
No we don’t tip. That doesn’t mean you can’t tip, but it is not expected. Waitstaff receive at least the minimum wage of around $17/hr and if they are casual staff they get an extra 25% on top of that. Their pay is between them, their employer, and the government, and patrons are not expected to top it up.
The bit about the annual leave and sick leave is not necessarily the case.
In Australia there are essentially three broad types of employment;
- Full Time, permanent employee, working on average 38 hours a week, entitled to at least 4 weeks annual leave and a minimum of 10 sick days per year.
- Part Time, permanent employee, working <38 hours a week and usually on a regular schedule each week, receives same benefits (leave, etc) but on a pro rata basis.
- Casual no regular schedule, no guaranteed hours of work and is not paid sick or annual leave, however casuals receive a higher per hour rate of pay to compensate.
A fair percentage of the front of house staff in restaurants would be casuals, which would mean they don’t receive annual leave or sick leave. However the hourly rate is higher.
There are many variables, but assuming a waiter in a licensed premises (licensed to serve alcohol) >20 years old, who is fully trained and ‘competent’ at their job would receive the following hourly rate. (This is the government mandated minimum wage by the way)
Casual - $23.88/hour
Full/Part Time - $19.10/hour
These rates increase if working on weekends or public holidays. Public Holiday rates for that same casual for instance is $45.75/hour with a minimum 4 hour shift.
In reference to the OP and tipping, it is 100% not expected. The waiters and other staff are not stuck eating 99 cent noodles for the week if you don’t tip them. A couple of situations
- When you get the bill/check there will more often than not be a space to write in a tip if you wish. Don’t take this as a must, and the waiters will not be cursing you if you don’t tip.
- A fair number of cafes now seem to have tip jars on the counter, again tip if you like but no one is going to curse at you or think bad thoughts for not doing so.
I’ve been paying for my own restaurant meals for >20 years now, and I would say I’ve tipped (in Australia) maybe a dozen times tops. I only tip when I’ve received truly exceptional service, or the overall dining experience has been truly top notch.
If you see any cites claiming tipping is expected, that’s hogwash. Sure it’s nice and the waitstaff will appreciate it if you choose to tip, but even in fine dining it’s not the norm.
That’s remarkably…sane. Wish we had a system like that here in the States.
I voted “No” on the grounds that I don’t tip in Australia – and I’m guessing that’s an unstated assumption in the question. I also don’t tip in other countries where tipping is not the norm, e.g., Japan and New Zealand. However, I do tip in the U.S., where tipping is definitely the norm – though I aim to tip the minimum acceptable amount, because I don’t like tipping.
I only dine out with groups of friends. We divide the bill equally among us and generally round up a bit. What we leave as ‘extra’ wouldn’t count as a tip anywhere else and we do it more to make it easier for us than to leave a tip.
As mentioned above, Australian restaurant staff are fairly well paid but they do often try to guilt diners into leaving a tip and they love foreign diners who don’t know any better and who leave massive (by our standards) tips.
Nope. Tipping seems a horrible system to me. Hope it never comes here.
Usually our lunchtime dining is groups who all toss in something around what they spent. We leave the extra as a “tip” but it’s probably only a few dollars. I’ll tip if I am getting a voucher deal meal - some of the deals are embarrassingly generous. Sometimes I’ll tip for a cab ride if the change is a pocketful of coins. I don’t think I have ever tipped in any other transactions.
The most preposterous idea i have ever heard though is the US “tip $1 per drink” crowd. A barman at a a busy pub would be a wealthy man.
Largely agreed. I’ve never actually seen anyone put money in a tip jar on the counter, ever. It’s always got money in it but I assume that’s to try to encourage people. I think they are left out mostly to see if visiting Americans can be suckered into coughing up something.
I voted no because that’s pretty much entirely the rule.
I will occasionally round up taxi fares incurred for business purposes, especially when I’ve had an engaging conversation with the cabby, and particularly if he has an interesting life story involving arriving in Australia by boat from Wherevathehellistan and is currently studying by day and supporting wife and children by driving a taxi in between his night cleaning jobs. I also add around 10% in fine restaurants when I’m entertaining clients for no reason that I can think of right now. Habit mostly, I think.
In both cases, it tends to happen when I’m in a notably good mood. Alcohol is usually involved.
I’ll tip if they’ve done some extra effort at a high-end full-service restaurant. For example, no drink sales, plus small children: I know that without the drink sales, they aren’t making a profit, and the small children are extra effort for everybody.
But I’ve been influenced by American relatives.
My wife doesn’t tip at all, because she’s worked in high-end service here, and to her, a $10 or 20% tip for extra service is just embarrassing: it just emphasizes that you think $10 or 20% is real money and that you think you can pay high-end staff that kind of money to be nice to you, and also that you are kind of stupid with money.
On the other hand, my friends and faimily worked in low-end service, and to them, $10 free and clear for extra effort was a good thing and quite unexpected.
Taxi drivers always get the change. Anybody who suggests or asks for a tip is not a nice persion. Try to keep your voice down. You don’t ever tip for coffee or drinks. Don’t leave money out for house-cleaning: they aren’t supposed to take it.
I will generally only tip in a “keep the change” sense. This includes dropping shrapnel into the tip glasses at bars.
Sometimes when paying by card there’s the option to tip and I’ve almost tipped a shitload by accident. They hand me the eftpos reader thing (I just realised I have no idea what it’s called), I select savings/credit/cheque, and I just start putting in my pin number out of habit not realising I’m on the tip screen. Thankfully, trying to give a tip in the thousands causes it to be declined.
As a former London cab driver my experience is Australians are the worst tippers in the world. It’s also the generally perception.
Not Australian but on a few visits there I would come to the end of my stay and have a few dollars in change, which I would leave on the nightstand. I assume the waitstaff kept it.
That’s different though. You can be denied re-entry to Australia if they find out you’ve tipped a London cabbie.
Tipping sheep in Australia is not a regular pastime as is tipping cows in America.
I wonder if waitstaff at Outback receive less in tips than other restaurants.
Hey, I resemble that remark! 
I’ve been to Australia a few times, and I can’t tell you how hard it is NOT to tip. I’m purposely a very good tipper here in the US, and I feel absolutely awful if I don’t leave a tip. I know, I know… but I can’t help it. If I’m in a bar and the waitress brings me a beer, it seems like such a small thing to give her a dollar tip.
I agree. If you want to be paid $X to provide a service, you should quote your price as being $X. Giving a quote of $Y but then demanding $Y+20% after the service has been given is a shitty thing to do.
Do London cabbies expect tips? Serious question.
In my couple of trips to the US, I was fairly generous in my tipping to avoid the whole clueless tourist stiffing me thing. I’m actually heading over to the UK at the end of the year and I personally would never have thought to tip a cabbie* in London as I thought the UK was much like Australia in terms of being an essentially no-tip country. I suspect that may be the problem you encountered. Virtually everyone of my fellow countrymen I talk to about travelling to the US (the obvious standard setter for tipping) everyone is so worried about appearing stingy or clueless that they tip fairly generously.
- I do tip cab’s on occasion now, but only in a ‘keep the change’ sense if I’m paying cash.