Some interesting insights and perspectives. Just to add some context, I’m in SoCal where there are many of these car wash places that advertise as 100% handwash, which basically means there are no machine scrubbers. So instead of your car running through rotating scrubbers there are people who use hand towels and what look like mops on a stick to scrub the roof. As cookingwithgas said, it’s a 3-stage process with you pulling up to the starting point where a guy tries to up sell you a wash package for a “just for you today” price of around $60. Here a guy vacuums the mats and interior, then it goes to the wash area where your car is mechanically pulled forward where 1st it gets an initial rinse 2nd about 2 guys on either side scrubbing away and 3rd a blower to blow excess water, and the final stage is a guy comes to drive the car to the hand drying area. He’s the guy that normally gets the tip because when he’s done he honks and you pick up your car from him.
The vacuuming and washing parts are really quick, so I think if anyone gets a tip it should be the dryer guy at the end who spends the most time with your car (usually done under the sun).
Well, based on what I’ve read, looks like I over tipped, especially considering that the washing and drying wasn’t all that great. I know it was only a $20 wash, but the result was something that I could have done (maybe a bit better). Oh well, I will continue to tip because it looks like other people do it here and I believe it might be expected and I don’t want to be the stingy type. I may adjust my tipping accordingly though.
Yep, that’s my motto, too. I can afford it, and I like to spread it around. These folks work hard, and the place I go to has many familiar faces. You can’t take it with you!!
Yep. $19 hand wash and vacume place with 3-6 people working on my car at different stages. I tip $5 without a qualm. 'course this IS the Bay Area - everything is pricier in these parts ;).
It’s one thing to tip when someone does an extra super job and you’re extra happy. But this thing about tipping being expected to the point of being mandatory is pretty exclusive to American society. In most places on the planet tipping is not a given and when it’s done it’s far more appreciated than it is here.
Being expected to tip on a $4 purchase is ridiculous and tipping 20-25% is beyond reasonable. But it’s your money just don’t look down on me for not doing the same thing (or doing it but begrudgingly so).
Where does this end? You’re not tipping the serve staff at McDonalds, are you? What about the person that sells you a movie ticket?
I also bathe too! Shower, actually. I’m just a hippie by virtue of my long hair.
Anyway, just wanted to add that I don’t frown on anyone who doesn’t tip. It’s just that I only recently started using car washes and wasn’t sure how one tips at those places. I’m a bit surprised that some don’t tip the dryer guy since he’s actually doing the most work. Maybe it’s more a California thing. Maybe next time I should let the dryer know in advance that I got a good tip for him so that he’ll know to be a bit more thorough.
Aren’t you paying them to vacuum up your mess? Is that not rather the point of paying them to do it? If they didn’t vacuum my car when I pay them they’d be getting nothing at all. Really, doing their job truly is the very least I expect.
I rather suspect that tipping for some people is not about rewarding someone but rather an opportunity to play the benevolent lord of the manor.
But it is a cultural quirk and I’m glad it isn’t too widespread in the rest of the world.
I try to avoid all tipping and don’t seem to be hit by bad service, even when I’m a regular.
Unfortunately it’s something the U.S. will never get away from, especially in the food service industry. We’ve fucked wait staff in this country by having a separate and insultingly low minimum wage for them. This is why I’m willing to tip well at a restaurant but not at a car wash. Apparently in other countries wait staff can make a living on their salary and just the occasional tip.
The other thing we do wrong here is not including sales tax in the total price of an item.
ETA:
Getting back to wait staff, there is an obnoxious practice that they do in the U.S. that I abhor. In many other places once you’re served your food the waiter/waitress will position themselves at their wait station and look around the room for a diner to wave them over. What they don’t do is pop up at your table while you have a mouth full of food, or while you are having a conversation with you dinner guest and babble [most irritating voice you can think of] “How’s everything tasting? Can I get you anything? Do you need another drink? Blah blah blah!” I don’t want wait staff at my table uninvited 15 times. In many other nations this doesn’t happen and it is so nice! And the reason it doesn’t happen is because the wait staff isn’t trying to blow phony smoke up your ass to get a better tip!
I always tip well at the car wash and I use the same one every time I get my vehicle done. When I first started using this company, I would find a smear on the window or a smudge here and there, but I kept tipping the same. While some of the younger employees come and go, there are some people that stay. It took some time, but I finally built up a good “reputation”. I go maybe twice a month, but I will see the senior employees jockey to get my vehicle when it comes out and they always do a great job. If they can’t manage to get mine and a younger employee gets it, I will see the older ones talk to the kid and check his work before they call it done.
So in my experience, the good tipping was an investment and I am happy to keep tipping. (It has also got me some extra services from time to time, like armor all on the dash that I didn’t purchase etc).
I used to wash our cars myself - I may still do it occasionally on a nice day. But mostly I drive thru the unattended automatic units where you have a choice of 4 options. For $8, the worst of the crud gets knocked off the car and it kinda sorta gets blow-dried, if I exit slowly enough. And that’s good enough for me. I don’t care about water spots. I never dried my vehicles when I washed them myself. It’s a car - it’s going to get dirty as soon as I drive it, so water spots mean pretty much nothing.
On the one occasion I took it to a place where they did a lot of hand work (I don’t recall what it cost) I put a couple of dollars in the tip box, and it was really more than their efforts were worth. The insides of the windows were not done well, the mats were not removed for vacuuming, and they sprayed some sort of gawd-awful “air freshener” that didn’t fade for 2 days. I won’t be going there again.
