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Old May 14, 2016, 1:22 pm
  #91  
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Originally Posted by eigenvector
I avoid any situation where a tip can only be paid in cash because while my employer will reimburse tips according to local customs, they cannot reimburse anything without a receipt and getting petty cash in a foreign currency is accompanied by a nuclear reactor level of red tape.

It's silly to say "if you can afford travel you can afford tips"; travel is not only for leisure. Just because my job has me spending thousands of my employer's dollars on travel every month does not mean I can afford to give a commensurate amount in cash tips out of my own pocket.

I do whatever I can to not utilise any service that normally expects a cash tip but sometimes it cannot be avoided (e.g. taking a taxi using a voucher from a hotel or airline).
I had that fear early in my work travels, until a partner told me to request petty cash for tips prior to travel, then account for it after each trip. This made my life a lot less stressful. I'm not sure if you can do this, but if you can, I highly advise it.
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Old May 15, 2016, 4:24 pm
  #92  
 
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Originally Posted by eigenvector
I avoid any situation where a tip can only be paid in cash because while my employer will reimburse tips according to local customs, they cannot reimburse anything without a receipt and getting petty cash in a foreign currency is accompanied by a nuclear reactor level of red tape.

It's silly to say "if you can afford travel you can afford tips"; travel is not only for leisure. Just because my job has me spending thousands of my employer's dollars on travel every month does not mean I can afford to give a commensurate amount in cash tips out of my own pocket.

I do whatever I can to not utilise any service that normally expects a cash tip but sometimes it cannot be avoided (e.g. taking a taxi using a voucher from a hotel or airline).
Does everything have to be reimbursed? If it makes my life a little bit easier to check my bag curbside, a few dollars of my own money is worth it. I just don't understand why people are so "cheap" that everything they spend needs to be reimbursed on a business trip.
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Old May 15, 2016, 4:41 pm
  #93  
 
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Originally Posted by teddybear99
Does everything have to be reimbursed? If it makes my life a little bit easier to check my bag curbside, a few dollars of my own money is worth it. I just don't understand why people are so "cheap" that everything they spend needs to be reimbursed on a business trip.
It depends on how much you travel. All these little things add up to a large
number. Sometimes the bags you carry are company equipment and you pay
to airport porters and hotel porters. Week in- Week out....That is not cheap !
So please keep your judging to yourself !!!
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Old May 15, 2016, 4:57 pm
  #94  
 
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Originally Posted by flyalways
It depends on how much you travel. All these little things add up to a large
number. Sometimes the bags you carry are company equipment and you pay
to airport porters and hotel porters. Week in- Week out....That is not cheap !
So please keep your judging to yourself !!!
Then just don't tip

Everyone has opinions, it's what we are made of.
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Old May 16, 2016, 4:51 pm
  #95  
 
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Originally Posted by teddybear99
Does everything have to be reimbursed? If it makes my life a little bit easier to check my bag curbside, a few dollars of my own money is worth it. I just don't understand why people are so "cheap" that everything they spend needs to be reimbursed on a business trip.
If I decide to use a service that requires non-reimbursable payment, for my own convenience, then sure, that's on me. What I am talking about is things like the expectation of mandatory tipping in cash on a hotel stay. I will tip housekeeping on personal travel but I cannot afford to do it out of my pocket when I am travelling for business 25 weeks a year.
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Old May 17, 2016, 4:06 pm
  #96  
 
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Originally Posted by flyalways
It depends on how much you travel. All these little things add up to a large
number. Sometimes the bags you carry are company equipment and you pay
to airport porters and hotel porters. Week in- Week out....That is not cheap !
So please keep your judging to yourself !!!
I used to travel a ton (200k + miles a year) and never expected my employer to cover all of my tips, particularly the personal ones that saved me a ton of time and aggravation (i.e., curbside check in, porters taking my luggage).

Sure, I could have waited in the bag drop line or hauled up my own luggage, but life is too short and it's totally worth a couple of bucks for me to save time out of an already long trip to avoid those hassles.

While it is work versus leisure travel, the way I look at it is that I was lucky enough to have my employer pay business class fares and put me up in four star hotels in cities that I would have never visited on my own and the least I can do is suck up a few extra dollars of tips coming out of my own pocket.
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Old May 18, 2016, 5:11 am
  #97  
 
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Originally Posted by Statman
I used to travel a ton (200k + miles a year) and never expected my employer to cover all of my tips, particularly the personal ones that saved me a ton of time and aggravation (i.e., curbside check in, porters taking my luggage).

Sure, I could have waited in the bag drop line or hauled up my own luggage, but life is too short and it's totally worth a couple of bucks for me to save time out of an already long trip to avoid those hassles.

While it is work versus leisure travel, the way I look at it is that I was lucky enough to have my employer pay business class fares and put me up in four star hotels in cities that I would have never visited on my own and the least I can do is suck up a few extra dollars of tips coming out of my own pocket.
That is great and that is the way you see things ! But if someone expenses
everything to the business that does not make them "cheap" as some
poster claimed ! Traveling people depending on the corporate policies make
many sacrifices like traveling in Economy class, weekends, lack of meals
due to long back to back meetings etc. We do it because we gain something
out of it as well...So there is lot of non-reimbursable spending going
on that is never counted. People should keep their judgemental remarks
to themselves...
F.A.
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Old May 19, 2016, 2:50 am
  #98  
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Originally Posted by JonNYC
There's absolutely zero parallel between the 2 above scenarios. It's not like the guy said "I'd hate to see these bags end up in Hawaii" or even "you know-- so no one takes anything out of 'em" etc., etc.

And, only extremely cheap people don't tip for a curbside check-in, it's expected and appropriate. Don't wanna tip? Take your bags inside.
Totally disagree these people are effectively begging for your money and using your luggage as an excuse. They get paid to do the job and if its not enough go find another job or stay quiet. I pay to fly F class and dont expect to pay anymore for scroungers like kerb side check in agents. You will be suggesting I tip the check in agents, the automated check in should have a tip slot as well and how about the idiots in TSA and the person in the lounge checking me in. Only in America is tipping o offensive and rude.
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Old May 19, 2016, 6:34 am
  #99  
 
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Originally Posted by flyalways
People should keep their judgemental remarks to themselves...
F.A.
I am sorry if you felt hurt by my "judgmental" comment.

Again, we all have opinions, that is mine, and I will stick with it. This is a forum of opinions, and I am not attacking you directly by stating my opinion in a general sense. Sorry again that you felt "judged."

I used to travel as a trainer for new offices of a national staffing company. I never expensed every single thing because I would still have some of these expenses when I was in my home office as part of my daily routine.
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Old May 19, 2016, 7:52 am
  #100  
 
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Originally Posted by teddybear99
I am sorry if you felt hurt by my "judgmental" comment.

Again, we all have opinions, that is mine, and I will stick with it. This is a forum of opinions, and I am not attacking you directly by stating my opinion in a general sense. Sorry again that you felt "judged."

I used to travel as a trainer for new offices of a national staffing company. I never expensed every single thing because I would still have some of these expenses when I was in my home office as part of my daily routine.
That is great but I am not going to call you "charitable", "kind" or "generous"
because of it
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Old May 20, 2016, 11:51 am
  #101  
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Originally Posted by eigenvector
It's silly to say "if you can afford travel you can afford tips"
Totally agree. That's not even the right question. The right question is whether the tipping model is truly the most efficient, effective, and transparent (to all stakeholders) way for this particular labor market to exist.

I would usually argue that it isn't. But in the case of skycaps, I suspect the counter-argument would be that without tips they'd simply go away. The airlines don't want to hire skycaps, so the tips are the only thing that keeps it going. Enough tippers deem it a necessary-enough service to keep them around.
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Old Jan 12, 2019, 9:48 am
  #102  
 
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Originally Posted by wetrat0
It's not the same service. You are paying the skycap to carry the bags in for you. That's a different service, and honestly, if you need someone to carry your bag in for you, it's something that you should pay for (i.e., there's no reason for it to be an "included" service).

FWIW, it's also a service that I don't ever use, and that has become much less important now that everyone has rolling bags.
Maybe it’s different at some airports, but at most (all?) of the ones I’ve seen, they turn around and put it on a conveyor just like inside. They’re not trucking it inside. So from my perspective, it is the same service.
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