To tip or not to tip?

No. You already paid for it.

No, you have already overpaid for it. I don’t know where you live, but here we pay an average of $50.00 for delivery and installation.

I’m with @chyna here: These guys should be giving you a tip.

No tipping required. they are being paid either a salary or by the hour by the business and you do not tip in this situation. you might offer them a Coke instead.

Never for appliance delivery. Plus you are paying a hefty fee for the removal of the old stove.

As far as I’m concerned, they’re doing their job. That’s what they get a salary for.

Now, if they’re installing it on a third floor with narrow staircases and they manage not to scratch the banisters, they deserve a tip.

^_^

@everyone, I live in the Chicagoland area

@john65pennington Great idea.

You paid for it and built into the cost was their salary to do the job; unless you’re on a 5th floor walk up or have an amazingly difficult space to navigate it into “thanks”, holding the doors, and making sure they have a clear path should be enough.

VAT is the question!

Thanks! Because of jellies like you guys is why I love fluther.

Whenever you aren’t sure if you should be tipping for a service or not, you should ask the management. Guessing wrong punishes the worker.

However, if you paid a separate fee for the service, that’s usually a good indication you don’t need to tip. (Unlike in a restaurant, for instance, where you only pay for the food/drinks.) I don’t think you need to tip in this case.

As others have suggested, if they go above and beyond their job—a lot of stairs, squeezing through small spaces, moving your junk out of the way, so on and so forth—a tip would be considerate.

Either way, of course, be courteous to them and offer refreshment (like water).

@Seek_Kolinahr @wonderingwhy Why do you assume they’re on salary?

@nicobanks

They should be. I am paying for a service. Paying for the service should, logically, cover the person performing the service. I don’t pay a flooring company $3000 to install a floor, then pay the installer separately. I assume the company will pay for him. If I ask the installer to help me move a particularly heavy piece of furniture that was not discussed in the contract I drew up with the company, I will tip him for the extra service.

Doesn’t that make sense?

@Seek_Kolinahr Sure, but why do you assume they’re on salary? They could be on wages. But either way, that doesn’t really have to do with tipping. I mean, no one is paid entirely through tips: workers who receive tips are usually paid a lower wage or salary than they otherwise would be—the idea being the tips supplement their lower income.

I agree with the no tipping consensus. I’ll usually offer service/maintenance folk a drink and/or a snack if they’re nice and doing a good job.

As for your $300 fee…Did you at least get the reach-around with that, um…“service”? Sheesh.

If you can get them to clean your garage. Then tip them.

They are doing their job and are already being fully paid for it. You paid far too much for the installation service, BTW.

I do not tip delivery folks.

Did you check Sears or Lowes for their prices? I just feel you have paid way too much for installation. I bought a washer and dryer from Sears and they charged me $50.00 for delivery, set up and removal of my other set. This was 2 years ago.

@chyna I did shop around, and this appliance store had the oven on sale for more than $400 off any other store around. So even with the EXORBITANT installation fee, I did save money.

…and it’s a wall oven that they are going to have to custom modify the cabinet for, hence the higher installation fee.

Thanks again everyone. I’m not going to tip them. I’ll just be hospitable and offer them drinks.

@Narl Oh, well that makes more sense in the price they are charging. That seems reasonable.

Jerry Seinfeld would ask: “Did you offer them a glass of water?”

Say thanks and give them a soda or bottle of water for the road.

$300 for installation? Were they converting from gas to electric, or electric to gas??? Otheriwse, you got ripped off.

We just had a fridge delivered today. The installers/delivery guys do not make that money, the owner of the store does.
We tipped the three delivery men today. We would also tip a pizza delivery guy. Same concept.

No tip, but you can have a few cold beers for them if you feel guilty.

tipping is for the birds.

I think the rule of thumb is when you pay a service fee up front, no tipping is required.

@SuperMouse What about food delivery?

@warribbons What do you mean?

@nicobanks Tipping is for the birds

@warribbons Great answer.</sarcasm>