I manage a limo company, which is a service where tipping is customary. The average tip amongst all of our drivers and affiliates is between 20-25%, however there are some customers who don’t tip at all or tip so little it would almost be better if they didn’t tip at all so we could believe they just didn’t consider it. And it gets to the point where drivers don’t want to accommodate certain clients, because a decent tip is sometimes upwards of 1/3 of the driver’s net income, and nobody can be expected to enjoying working for 2/3 of their average net.
We have some competitors who will always say “gratuity not included” in their quotes. And we have some competitors who automatically add gratuity to their quotes and call it an “all inclusive” price. We’ve never done either of these things, as we think it’s a bit cringe/taboo to mention tipping before providing a service or when giving a quote, and if we went with an all inclusive quoting process, we might actually be pricing ourselves too far above our direct competition in our marketing space.
To try and give some examples of the complexity of the situation. We have groups of customers, where one family referred their friends to us, then their friends, and so on. So we’re in a position where we have to maintain the same price point for the service for all parties, because they’re all friends and could easily find out that the non-tippers are being charged differently if we were to just increase their fares to compensate the lack of tips. Another example is when one spouse tips more than the other spouse, for example sometimes the husband has cash and will pay the exact fare with zero tip, but when he doesn’t have cash we invoice them via email that the wife handles and always tips. These aren’t really situations where we can “cherry pick” when to accommodate these clients either. I’ve also had clients who tip me, but not the owner (who also drives) and said “don’t tell ______” when they tipped me. And sometimes a driver will get a $5-10 tip on a $400+ service, which just feels
disrespectful.
Here’s what we’ve tried so far; sending email receipts that will specifically show that no gratuity was added, but there’s no way to know that they’ve even reviewed the receipts. Or we’ll claim to be unavailable, and set the ride up with an affiliate, and explain that the affiliate’s price is “$X and gratuity isn’t included” as if that’s how our affiliate wanted us to present the quote. Some will tip, some won’t, and I’m really not sure if either of these tactics has changed anyone’s tipping behavior with us the next time they hired us.
I don’t know how/when you settle up with your clients, but I used to have a little blurb, where I’d verbally go over rates with the clients and say the rate was x/hr, and you were charged this mileage, and whatever other fees, just to make sure they knew how the total was being calculated and right at the end I’d say it very clearly but nonchalantly so that I didn’t seem pushy, “and tips are never mandatory but always appreciated-it’s customary to tip 10-20% for good to great service, but again it’s not mandatory and anything is appreciated, the guys most often will just get a 20 note each or whatever”
So our process from start to finish, in a nutshell is we receive a call/text/email/DM asking for a quote, we probe for details and give a quote without mentioning gratuity unless the client brings it up, then we’re completely honest and say that our drivers receive an average between 20-25%. Once scheduled, we connect them directly to the driver who will reach out via text as additional confirmation and so that if the client has any specific needs they can discuss them. Payment is accepted in any form after the ride, half the time it’s cash or venmo, or paid with credit card using Square on our phone or we email them an invoice that they can pay later (this is for regular clients).
Personally, when someone pulls out cash I simply ask if they need any change, and I never count it in front of them, say thanks and goodbye. And if they ask how much it is, I always say “The fare is $X.” hoping they’ll get the implication. With credit cards, the app will require them to make a selection for tip, I’ve set up my Square account to have 5 preset options: 20%, 25%, 30%, Custom Tip, No Tip. Most customers will hit 20 or 25, some will do a custom amount like $10 or $20, I’ve never had anyone hit No Tip and not give me cash on top, usually they hand me the card and a cash tip together, then I just hit the No Tip for them so they can sign and get a receipt.
I guess it would be nice if we always just did a card swipe after each ride, putting them on the spot so to speak. I certainly don’t care about a $3 card processing fee if it nearly guarantees me 20+%, but there are plenty of “cash is king” kind of people.