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NSEMN8R

TI's-- Do you get tipped?

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Just wondering how many of you guys get tips regularly. How much is it usually? Out of about 300 or so tandems I can probably count on 1 hand how many times I've gotten a tip. One lady gave me $50 and a few others have given me 5's & 10's.

I took my kids horse back riding the other day and everyone in the group paid the guide some gratuity. Why not TI's?

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We were just talking about this the other day at the dz. Whenever you go whitewater rafting or any other sort of guided outdoor sport, tipping is always encouraged. I think its because when you sign the paperwork they tell you, "if you like your guides work, don't be afraid to tip them." Or they have signs up that say the same thing. If you want more tips get your manifest person to encourage it.

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At my dz I see it quite often actually, both to TI's and/or camera guys, some weekends you dont get any, some weekends you walk away with $80 in tips. Usually ranges from $10-$20 and in some cases I've heard of $50 tipsB|.

This past weekend out of 15 tandems & 4 videos I walked away with $10, from a repeat customer that requested to go with me again, so I was more than happy and appreciative. :)
Ohh an no there are no signs or anything that encourages tipping in out dz.

...

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I've been tipped about 5-10 times, ususally $20. We have no signs on the DZ to encourage it, some folks just do it. I really don't like the idea of a sign hung on a DZ to encourage tipping, it's really low class IMO.

Since a large majority of my students are college kids, I really don't expect a tip, a lot of these guys have to actually save money for a little while to afford to go do a skydive.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Mebbe 3 or 4 tips in 200 tandems.

I'm with most folks here, it's pretty tacky to ask for tips.

I'm not too bummed out about not getting them. I just remind myself about the HUGE chunk of change the student just dropped on the tandem (even bigger if they got a video)... their wallets are hurting enough as it is...

Elvisio "happy with what I'm getting" Rodriguez

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I didn't get any tips or repeat customers this weekend, but I got something close. I jumped with a guy and afterwords he asked if, in October when he returned with his wife for her to make her first jump, would he be able to request me as her instructor.

I was completely flattered. That was WAY cooler than a monetary tip.

Elvisio "beaming and blushing" Rodriguez

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It is interesting that we don’t get tipped more, it’s like it just isn’t expected. In 500 tandems, I may have received 1 or 2 tips. We go the “extra mile” with a good ground training, sight seeing tour on the way up, etc. Maybe we’re like the guy that runs the ride over at the amusement park, how many times have you thrown the Farris wheel guy a buck?
It seems like we’re given the impression on such things like white water rafting that the guide is a “poor college student” who is underpaid for doing what he/she likes to do over the summer. Where we would prefer that our customers see us as professionals, and as such they assume that we are paid fairly for what we do. They know what they paid, and I would bet that most assume that the instructor gets a bigger cut is the reality.
Maybe we could get an intercom system where the pilot could say in his best DJ voice “and remember that these lovely guys work for tips, don’t be shy and put a tip on their hip!”
Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

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We go the “extra mile” with a good ground training, sight seeing tour on the way up, etc.



Good training is the "extra mile?" I'm sorry, but I can't agree with that! I train my students to the level they need to be trained with "good ground training" and I love pointing out things on the ground while in the plane (and sometimes under canopy). Things that make the students smile, such as Texas A&M University's campus, or Messina Hoff (famous local winery), etc.

I view that as things that need to be done to ensure that my student gets the fullest "adventure" he or she can get. Who knows, maybe that's why I get a lot of repeat business and a lot of people bring their friends out to jump and request that I take them.

Basically I view a tip as a neat thankyou, but I don't expect by any stretch of the imagination. The coolest tip I can have is to have a tandem student enjoy it so much that they continue in our student program and become a jump buddy. That makes my day.:)
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Our guys get tipped once in a while, but this one TM and Video guy got the mother (mama) load.

The lady comes out with her 2 sons that are doing a tandem (she was about 60). When I went in the room after they watched the video the boys said "Mama wants to jump too". I said "no problem."

Well, mama had a nice beehive hairdo. She does her tandem, loves her video and sends the video guy an antique watch with appraisal papers and the TM a gold nugget bracelet with appraisal papers. The items were appraised around $5000.00 each.

Judy
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

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I completely agree with AggieDave. A good ground prep and pointing out things on the way up is just part of our job. I have never been tipped nor do I expect to, the $150 - $180 for a tandem is expensive for the average person and I would not expect them to pay any more. I think a tip would be great but the only tip that maters to me is the perment grin on their face afterward.
Kirk

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As I read these posts, I am with the people who request you the next time they come out or bring their friends out. The number of these requests far outnumber the tips I have gotten over the years. Although, there was a period o a few months ago when the tips were coming hot and heavy for a few weeks. Including one lady, who gave the pilot, videoman and myself each $40 dollars.

I have a better question for all you TM's out there. Do you share any tips you get with the camera person? I have always believed it takes two people to make it work when video is involved, so I have always split my tips with the videographer!
blue skies,

art

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I think we have a little misunderstanding as to my intent. What I meant is that we’re not a “factory”, it’s all very personal. I have seen operations where 95% of the instruction is done through video, show em an arch, and go. I know the vast majority of DZs and instructors do not operate that way, I simply meant to point out that we do it “right”.
I don’t expect to be tipped. I also was attempting to have a little fun with the comment about a intercom system in the airplane with the pilot playing the part of the Jiggle Joint DJ, note the “lol”
I have been skydiving since 1990, have accumulated 1600 jumps, have been instructing since 1995, have done over 500 tandems, and instructed numerous static line, and IAD students. If I weren’t instructing, I would have burnt out long ago. I would hope that everyone who instructs does it because they enjoy it, and not for the money. When the day comes that I no longer enjoy working with students, I’ll most likely give up skydiving althgether.



Quote

Quote

We go the “extra mile” with a good ground training, sight seeing tour on the way up, etc.



Good training is the "extra mile?" I'm sorry, but I can't agree with that! I train my students to the level they need to be trained with "good ground training" and I love pointing out things on the ground while in the plane (and sometimes under canopy). Things that make the students smile, such as Texas A&M University's campus, or Messina Hoff (famous local winery), etc.

I view that as things that need to be done to ensure that my student gets the fullest "adventure" he or she can get. Who knows, maybe that's why I get a lot of repeat business and a lot of people bring their friends out to jump and request that I take them.

Basically I view a tip as a neat thankyou, but I don't expect by any stretch of the imagination. The coolest tip I can have is to have a tandem student enjoy it so much that they continue in our student program and become a jump buddy. That makes my day.:)

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

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I get tips all the time.
I all ways share with my camera guy and never really talk about it to anyone other than my camera person .
That being just to make sure they got tipped as well or to split it.
The norm is $20 but I have gotten $100 from a guy who was scared shitless.
It is usually parents tipping when you take good care of their kids or husbands when you take care of their wife.

Have also gotten $50 to scare the shit out of a husband.

Chris

Uncle/GrandPapa Whit
Unico Rodriguez # 245
Muff Brother # 2421

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In my first 100 tandems i've gotten tipped about 3-4 times. One lady gave me $40 which I was really stoked about. The others were like $20. It just made me happy that I was able to provide them with such a good time that they were willing to dish out more money after they already dropped a bundle on the jump itself.
Tips are definitely not expected....but always respected :-)
_________________________
goat
derka jerka bukkake jihad

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We post no signs nor encourage any tipping at Raeford. If it happens, great, but like many others here, I never expect it. I have been tipped maybe five times ever (over 500 tandems and 500 AFF dives and god knows how many SL students back in the day).

Chuck



ditto in perris. at previous dz's where it was encouraged it happened a lot. I once got a $60 tip... now I get a tip maybe 1 in 50 jumps because no one mentions it.

Tipping money is for going out to dinner :)

peace
lew
http://www.exitshot.com

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i have about 800 tandems and have recieved only 2 tips $20 each, i put them both in a comunity fund jar and it got stolen.

my DZO refuses to allow a sign that would read " tips, never expected, but always appreciated. he thinks it's tacky. one of the TI's would drop a bunch of hints until they would tip, but that pissed a bunch of the other instructors off too.

i really don't have an answer to your specific question. but i do think it amazing that most of the service industry gets tips because it's just what you do, and i risk my life to show them OUR world and only make a few bucks. the damn pizza guy or girl makes a ton in tips.

try for a small sign near manifest, it works at a bunch of other DZ's that i've been to.

good luck,
brent


***
~~~~Green grass and high clouds forever~~~~
no matter where you go, there you are!

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We put our tandem students in class, show the RW waiver video and teach a verbal class. At the end of class we mention a few things, one of which being that all staff at our dz are full time and have put tons of time, effort, and money into making this experience available to YOU 7 days a week daylight hours and if you appreciate what we do tips are welcome and appreciated. Sometimes we get nothing. More often than not we walk off with an extra $20.00. Of course half of that would go to the camera guy if applicable. You might say it is tacky or unrefined but it is the truth, and at the end of the day those tips sure do help out. $30.00 tandem vs. $50.00 tandem, hmmmm.......

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I've been tipped about 5-10 times, ususally $20. We have no signs on the DZ to encourage it, some folks just do it. I really don't like the idea of a sign hung on a DZ to encourage tipping, it's really low class IMO.

Since a large majority of my students are college kids, I really don't expect a tip, a lot of these guys have to actually save money for a little while to afford to go do a skydive.

Aggie Dave,same applies here and most of my tips come from the boyfriend,husband or father when I take their Female counterparts on a skydive and return safely to Earth.

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I had to 'reel it in' at Skydive City a few years back. Some staff started askign for tips, and I thought that was crude - they did not since scuba operations do it all the time.

We met halfway. Posted around the dropzone, signs say something like:
TIPPING:
There is no set standard for tipping in skydiving. Instructors are paid for what they do, but like any service industry, if you feel you received great service, then you may tip. It is not expected, but it is appreciated.


Since that time, we do see more tips, anywhere from $5 to $20 seems to be the norm, $50 once in a while.

TK

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There is no set standard for tipping in skydiving. Instructors are paid for what they do, but like any service industry, if you feel you received great service, then you may tip. It is not expected, but it is appreciated.



I like that. It gets the message across, but I don't think it sounds "low class" at all. Do the instructors split the tips with the vidiots, packers, pilots...? Or do they get their own tips?

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I have been tipped 5-6 times in aboiut 400 tandems. Tipping isn't encouraged at our DZ.
I do see when I am off on a Scuba trip it is more common for the dive guides to get tipped. If I am on a dive boat, I always tip at least $10 if there is a guide. Tips for TI's are always nice, but not expected. The pay for tandems has pretty much stayed the same since forever, but the jump tickets and prices for tandem have gone up.(at least in the 7 1/2 years that I have been jumping


How do ya like it Johnny?

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I'm just a student yet, so feel free to tune me out but I think tipping is really inappropriate for completely different reasons. As instructors, you are just that, instructors. You don't leave your college classroom and hand the prof a $20 if you feel he really taught you well that day.

Jen

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

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For my tandems at Desert Skydive I asked the owner/video guy about tipping and he said they're getting paid to do a job and don't wory about it. At Skydive AZ they have a sign-- not necc. but appreciated-- kind of thing. It is located next to a guest log for people to write about they're experience. I have tipped the people who go the extra mile for me. also as seems popular in this thread I tip the guys keeping my wife alive in ASP (or tandems befor). I appreciated the sign because it let me know that I would not "insult" anyone by offering the tip. I think you should have a sign one way or the other, well worded, to make it clear to customers what is "normal" in this situation. Remember most tandem customers have no idea of what is or is not appropriate as it is they're 1st trip to the DZ or close to it.

Sorry to be longwinded just thought you might like the customer perspective.

James

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