Holiday Tipping

[Spaniel]

Last year I tipped the Bkk Post delivery guy a few hunderd bhat plus a tin of cookies but nothing for the mailman. We have had the same mailman for several years now so think maybe a tip is in order. Does anyone else tip these people and if so how much?

[saraburioz]

Never tip the mailman as he helps himself. About 25,000 baht jas gone missing from Birthday cards over the years. I buy the alcoholic bin emptier a bottle of Johnnie Walker every xmas.

[johna]

I don't recall seeing Thais tipping during this holiday season.

Maybe I hang out in the wrong places, but I don’t see Thaïs tipping much the rest of the year either.

When in Rome do as the Romans do.

[noise]

Living in a gated community with a guard gate 50 ft from our front gate and a specific pair of 24 hr guards that take good care of us with specific acts (not just open and close the gate), we give them New Year gifts.

The house and yard trash collectors (2 different groups) make special efforts to take our trash. For example, when we do some extensive guardening/trimming and have 2 or 3 times as much yard trash as usual and they show up with the routinely fairly filled truck and can not take it all. They will make an extra trip just to come back and get it, which they did not do year 1. We have in the past and will continue to give them a New Year gift of money to buy lunch for the entire group (though we really do not care what they do with it). So now, not only do they pick up our trash, they will look in the yard to see if we forgot to put anything out on the street. OBTW: They seemed completely flabbergasted the first year we did this; most people pretend they do not see them if they don't have a complaint.

Now that I have written it down, I see we give the New Year bonuses (and that is what they really are) to those that do more than their job "description" requires. They do that little extra for us and we appreciate it.

Mail man/woman, paper boy/man, etc.??? No, no gifts. They show up, drop off, and disappear in 10-15 seconds.

[craigt3365]

I don't recall seeing Thais tipping during this holiday season.

Maybe I hang out in the wrong places, but I don’t see Thaïs tipping much the rest of the year either.

When in Rome do as the Romans do.

I think the big bonus is during Songkran. Perhaps Chinese New Years for some companies. But big bonuses are given out. Sometimes equal to a month's salary. Pretty much expected here in Thailand...

We give our trash guys M-150 or cokes on a regular basis...same with the security guards. We will give them a tip for new years also. They don't make much, we don't give much, but they sure appreciate it!

[siam2007]

I don't recall seeing Thais tipping during this holiday season.

Maybe I hang out in the wrong places, but I don't see Thaïs tipping much the rest of the year either.

When in Rome do as the Romans do.

I couldn't agree more.

it is the Farang (and particularly those from US and to a certain degree OZ, as tipping is not only common but compulsary there) who tried to establish the "tipping" - culture here, and actually once again damaging the local custom. I cannot deny that I do tip sometimes, though SMALL amounts that are suitable, considering the average daily wages.

My barber who is the best barber I experienced in my life, get's a tip of 40 Baht, but that's already a large amount, and I have not seen any other Thai in many years there doing this. Such tips rather ANGER the locals, as they know this means the person who is tipping will get a better service than theirselves.

I do tip at chain-restaurants where almost nobody is tipping (such as Swensens, and occasionally Sizzler), as the people there have to work very very hard for little money. they have tip-boxes at the cashier, so you can do that in a discreet way, without "showing off". then again, never in my life I have seen a Thai putting money in those tip-boxes.

and after all, it is their country and their culture, so as has been said here, we as Farang should apply the "when in Rome, do as the Romans" -approach.

Tipping has been discussed here in TV many times in a very fierce way, hope this here won't end the same way ^^

[craigt3365]

I think the OP's question is not about tipping in general, but specifically for tipping during the upcoming holiday season.

And for sure, we don't want to go down the route of arguing about tipping in general...as you said...it get's heated!

I just asked wifey about this. She said a bonus is normally given by companies for new years. Not Songkran as I mentioned. I got that mixed up. She said some Thai-Chinese people/companies do it in February for the Chinese new year.

So this is a normal thing to do here in Thailand, especially by Thai employers.

[Raesum]

We give the rubbish guy 100 baht a month and 500 baht at New Year.