Tipping in silver?

[simon13]

If I have a good meal, i'll leave a £5-£15 tip. I might start doing this in silver to spread the idea. 1/2 ounce coins from STG or 1oz maples would cover my average tips.

I've also taken to giving silver for birthday presents for friends.

Thoughts?

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[Ares]

Chances are the people who get 'em won't really appreciate them and would sooner take the £5 - 15 given the option.

[simon13]

Tips have to be taxed in the Uk, so leaving something other than £ saves taxes. Swiss people have a habit of alternative tipping, such as Swiss chocolate and Swiss army knifes (really).

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[Ares]

But will they *appreciate* it? If someone tipped me a trinket and said 'this is worth a couple of quid more than the tip', i'd be a bit annoyed I have to go and sell something I don't know anything about (probably on eBay and lose money through fees) than just having the money even if it's taxed.

 

Might just be me being lazy, but i'll just leave a tenner or so myself

[Paul]

I personally think waiting staff would be not in the slightest bit appreciative of the silver tip, regardless how nice your intended sentiment  

Gifts to family members is a nice touch if followed up with purpose and intention to show what you achieve/educate with the gift.

 

In the same vein however i do like to carry a silver 1oz in my pocket and i also have zimbabwe 100 trillion notes in my wallet

Although i dont look to convert strangers to PMs i have had some good discussions with people on trains, pubs, coffee shops about money.  What is money.  The different between currency and REAL money and how things works in laymans terms.

[watchesandwhisky]

I think silver is completely of the radar to most people and it would not be as appreciated as the cash, on top of that most places the money will go into a tips jar in the office and then be split between staff at the end of the week so a silver coin would be hard to split. its a nice idea though. 

[Kman]

I would save the tip, buy the silver, keep the silver 

[silversword]

Terrible idea, most people would see nothing beyond the face value; good luck with that. Bullion coins in .999 are not really suitable for circulating anyway, that a what .925 is for.

[Danny-boy]

I like the idea in principle, but it's flawed in practice.

You might as well give them antique buttons or beano comics.

[silversword]

Actually, thinking about it, I am not sure I like the principle either. Apart from the fact people seem to think tipping is obligatory nowadays, I don't necessarily want to be encouraging people to handle silver without gloves 

[Ares]

Plus there's the actual ability of us lot - once we've purchased the coins - to be able to hand them out to people in the first place than keep them ourselves

[simon13]

You are required to pay income tax on tips paid in cash or on card. i don't believe George Osbourne deserves a tip.

Gifting is a nice way around it and makes a change for people.

If food was great and service crap, i'd put a couple of beers on my bill for the chefs and if service. It's worth asking a hotel or restaurant about their tipping policy too.

I might get some 1/2 ounces next month and see how it goes.

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[HelpingHands]

Many places now use the tips towards the wages (probably minimum wages).  Some places with all tips and some places with just tips on card payments.

 

Maybe ask whoever serves you whether the staff get to keep the tips or whether it goes into the wages.  If not, then I would have thought they'd rather accept the gift.  That is unless there is some B.S. company policy which means the staff can't accept gifts.

 

It's amazing how many companies treat their staff like crap and then wonder later why the staff don't give a crap about the company.

 

Why not give them the choice?  That way you get a little social experiment too.

[simon13]

My barman, who stacks a bit, is off on holiday tomorrow and is taking some maples for tipping for excellent service. Obviously he'd love to be tipped some silver.

Asked some of my staff about this. General consensus is that anything is a bonus and are happy with alternative tips if they are of value. Obviously weird stuff is not appreciated, such as dead mice or sextoys. Some said that they found tiny tips offensive and were uncomfortable with tips they considered too large.

Sweets, such as boxes of chocolates are actually quite a common tip in a hotel, foreign currency is also quite common.

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[simon13]

(By tiny tips I mean pennies)

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[Pipers]

Giving then Silver will only give them something else to moan about!

 

My experience of waiting staff is, they are the biggest back stabbing 2 faced bit-hes/ba-tards going.  They moan about the customers, make fun of the customers, complain if they don't get a tip, complain if the tip is small, complain if the tip isn't big enough.

 

 I found this out when a good friend of mine who owns a restaurant and is a Chef. I was in his kitchen one late afternoon talking to him when I heard them at it.  I asked my friend about what they were saying, he just shrugged his shoulders and said they are waiting staff what do you expect.  He then went on to tell me about all the places he had worked and how bad the waiting staff were for making fun, complaining about customers and how owners had tried to stop it, only for the waiting staff to walk out there and then.  I'm not saying all waiting staff are like that but its like chefs have a reputation for being bad tempered.

 

Remember you do not have to tip under UK law.

 

 If the waiter/waitress does not meet your expectations don't tip, odds are they are only complaining or making fun out of you anyway.

 

Even if they are really good if the food is just OK don't tip you do not have to.

 

If you just don't fancy tipping don;t tip, you do not have to!

 

If you want to tip then fine, but after the false smile and the thank you forget about it, they have. 

 

Ask your self this, when was the last time you tipped the petrol station man/woman or tipped the woman/man at the supermarket.  They are also on low wages in fact there are lots of workers now more than ever who are on low wages who I wouldn't think to tip, so why should waiting staff get a tip.

[Carpe Diem]

Sweets, such as boxes of chocolates are actually quite a common tip in a hotel

 

 

If we're giving silver as tips to partly "educate" the waiters on the value of PMs, then, going by the physique of most people these days working elsewhere such as hotels, I think tipping in Slim Fast might be in order.

 

Also, what about if a company offered to pay its employees in t/oz of silver per month instead of fiat?  I've not really thought this through, but what would be the tax ramifications of that and could a company and/or employee avoid certain taxes by being paid in such form.  Any tax experts in the house?

[HelpingHands]

Then they'd be paid below the minimum wage.

[HelpingHands]

I say that half-joking because it would be £2 face value Brits.

 

I've heard of people in the US being paying their wages in bitcoin.  Whether they are officially employed or self-employed I do not know.

[Carpe Diem]

If you just don't fancy tipping don;t tip, you do not have to!

 

If you want to tip then fine, but after the false smile and the thank you forget about it, they have. 

 

Ask your self this, when was the last time you tipped the petrol station man/woman or tipped the woman/man at the supermarket.  They are also on low wages in fact there are lots of workers now more than ever who are on low wages who I wouldn't think to tip, so why should waiting staff get a tip.

 

Me, you and Mr Pink should meet up for dinner sometime.

 

[simon13]

My guys are pretty well paid and the prevalent attitude is that anything is a bonus. In some parts of the world people need tips to survive. Some people even work for nothing just for the opportunity to earn tips from tourists. n the uk, nobody is going to starve if you don't tip. I usually tip, sometimes I don't. @pipers, not all waiting staff are bitches, just like all chefs aren't fiery. I don't employ bad tempered chefs (for long). Take coffee for example. I love espresso. They cost about the same all over the country but a good one is hard to find, so i'll tip if one is good. I left a fiver for the most perfect espresso i've ever had in a small Indy cafe, in Dundee of all places. People who take your order and carry your plates preform the same function and get paid a similar amount around the country. If someone does a really good job, then I will reward them for it because I appreciate good service. If one of my employees is worth more than other people, i'll pay them more.

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[simon13]

Anyway, people don't have to tip in the uk. I'll continue to tip when I feel its worthwhile.. I'll get some 1oz and 1/2 oz coins at the end of the month, just for tipping and see what the reaction is and report back.

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[StackemHigh]

I only tip when i feel the service has reached a good level and more if the service is really good. I'm not sure the tipping in silver is a worth the hassle for the server as tips could be needed sooner rather than later or even undervalued by the person recieving it not really sure what your giving them. I would think fiat would be best until you know the waiting staff and see if they are interested.

[ChrisSilver]

The waiter/waitress might look at the face value and think you were stingy with your tip. Tipping a £20 silver coin in the UK would be pretty cool.

[simon13]

Did my first tip in silver. I've been using air B&B, where you rent peoples flats or houses. The place we stayed last night was an amazing apartment owned by a hot young professional reiki master. Got the impression she stays with a friend a few nights a month to rent her flat to help with the mortgage. 1 brit well tipped.

I could tell she appreciated it but that she couldn't tell if it was worth 1 euro or 50 euro.

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