Hacker News Reader

Comment by mod | Hacker News Reader

>> some people just never tip, but they're a tiny group

In my experience, they're not tiny. I'm a young male who owned and worked in my own bar in a poor area of the bible belt, so there's those caveats--but I averaged about 8% in tips over 2.5 years.

My niece, on the other hand, averages over 20%.

My service was in all likelihood better than hers--at the time, we had fewer customers and therefore I was literally able to do more. Further, I'm well-liked by my customer base, and by my own measure I was an excellent bartender.

Anyway, I had a very large amount of customers who did not tip. I'd say > 30%.

View on HN

> "I averaged about 8% in tips over 2.5 years. My niece, on the other hand, averages over 20%."

Can you clarify the circumstances here, namely:

- does she work in your bar? If not, how similar is the place she works (same city? Same type of neighborhood? Same type of services?)

- did you work the same hours / days / crowd demographic? (There may be a difference in tipping expectations on Wednesday mid-afternoon when people are getting a single drink after work, vs Friday night when they're getting multiple drinks and food and trying to impress their date.)

- were there significant changes in the surrounding area, such as a factory opening or closing, that changed customer demographics?

- are there other wait staff you can compare to that would show a pattern? For example, are women in your establishment generally better tipped than men?

Sorry it was unclear.

Yes, same bar.

Over time our clientele has changed (we intentionally changed it, mostly via pricing and what we carried, like nixxing 'Best Ice'), however that has just led to increased sales, rather than an increased percentage for her.

My nephew also works in the bar now, and he is tipped well, though not as well as my niece. I would venture a guess that the old crowd tipped women better than men, and the new crowd tips based mostly on service.

Either way, I got the short end of that stick.

>>My niece, on the other hand, averages over 20%.

Were you able to figure out why?

I just posted more about it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844833

But no, just speculation.

I speculate that people are less likely to tip barstaff than waitstaff, but I don't have any sources to back that up.

In the anecdata of my family & friends who have done both, they have come to expect a higher percentage on bar tabs (~20%) than on restaurant tabs (~15%).

There's a ton of factors to consider, of course. Some people get angry when drunk, some get loose with their money, some try to impress. Some people are surprised by large bar tabs and feel cheated. And all the normal factors, like that certain groups are notoriously tight with their money.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com