# Do I tip furniture assembler? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 27, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-furniture-assembler/818651 "2018-07-27T01:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-furniture-assembler/818651/21 "2018-07-27T23:37:27Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I WOULDN’T buy quality furniture that requires assembly. It’s the factories job to assemble it. That’s why I pay a premium price. > > I know some furniture is assembled at the store and then offered on the showroom. But, the consumer sees a finished piece of furniture for sell. It’s purchased and delivered to the home. > > Flat pack furniture is cheaper because it’s in compact boxes and costs less to ship. They design it for the average person to assemble. IKEA has made a fortune selling this stuff. They put a lot of thought into making this stuff easy to assemble. It’s their entire business model. You don’t know shit about the type of table the OP bought, or about why he needs it assembled instead of doing it himself. Yet somehow we all now know that you’re an expert at putting together flat pack furniture in a thread about tipping. How strange. For what it’s worth, I don’t think I’d tip since it sounds like the OP hired someone to do a specific job. It seems different to me than buying something and having it delivered/installed. If I got into the habit of hiring the same person to do handyman type stuff for me on the regular, I’d probably do some sort of holiday bonus or gift. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-furniture-assembler/818651/22 "2018-07-27T23:42:11Z")
Sigh. There’s two types of furniture. Assembled and unassembled. You either pay a premium price to get it delivered assembled or you don’t. FWIW I do tip delivery men. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-furniture-assembler/818651/23 "2018-07-27T23:55:32Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > But, I don’t see why that matters. As I said, we don’t tip over here. People tip waitstaff in restaurants, or for other services if they want to, but there is generally no expectation for anyone to tip. Service charges are included in the price of things and there are minimum wages that nobody is working just for tips, or for such a low base wage that they are dependent on tips. Having said that, there are “crap jobs” where all you get is minimum wage for “hard work”. I did those sorts of jobs when I was young and when I was at uni. I still remember how crap some jobs were, and now that I’m old(er), a couple of dollars for me to sit at home on my bum while some young kid drives my dinner to my house in the rain to bump up his or her income to me is “what goes around comes around”, especially when they’ve knocked themselves out putting in more than the required effort. Also, keeping people doing these often thankless service jobs allows me to be completely lazy, so it’s selfish to keep them doing it by tipping. On the other hand, a business is just that - a business. The proprietor works out what they need to charge to pay expenses, pay staff wages (including their own), Any fee is all-inclusive and I don’t feel any obligation to give gifts to a business owner. > [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > Their drivers are all technically self-employed independent contractors Yes. and the placement “service” is making lots of money. I’m not going to subsidise wages in those circumstances, especially when they (uber, don’t know what the other one is) are competing with regular taxis, who have to pay a small fortune for their taxi license. If you want to avoid the usual expenses, that can come out of your pocket, not mine. With regular taxis, I’ll do a “keep the change”. ---
**Author:** ![katgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@katgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-furniture-assembler/818651/24 "2018-07-28T00:02:49Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I always do, but it’s probably not necessary. I usually give them a $20, but I’m a sucker for such things, so take that into account. It’s just money, and maybe it makes someone’s day a little better. I’m like this, I tip everyone. This reminds me of years ago when I first came here and I had one of these complicated computer desks still in the box. My new Dominican friends offered to help me put it together. So it’s several pieces of particle board and various plastic bags with nuts, bolts, washers and all kinds of small plastic parts. And very detailed instructions in very detailed order, as you all already know. I handed them the instructions and they laughed at me and said they don’t need instructions. So I said okay and sat back and watched the fun begin. They kept looking at the picture and screwing things together and after they had to unscrew and redo everything for about the tenth time they finally caved. It was hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-furniture-assembler/818651/25 "2018-07-28T00:44:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Sigh. > > There’s two types of furniture. Assembled and unassembled. > > You either pay a premium price to get it delivered assembled or you don’t. > > FWIW I do tip delivery men. This is excellent advice for the OP. Bravo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-tip-furniture-assembler/818651.md?page=1)