I get my haircut by this older gentleman for $10 flat. He and his wife look old enough to be retired and they use the small front room of a house to run their barber business. It's only got two barber chairs and several waiting room chairs. They are always friendly and I haven't received a bad hair cut yet. My question is should I be tipping him? I love paying that low amount versus going to a salon or hair stylist and paying up the wazoo. Should I feel guilty for not tipping him?

 

I always tip barbers as I would a waiter or waitress or bartender. The guy that cuts my hair charges $10.00 and I always kick in an extra $2.00. It's still cheaper than a cut at one of those fancy mall places and I know that he appreciates the gesture. As a kid my Mom would send me to the Barber with extra money for a tip, and I have kept doing it all these years.

Cliff

 

I use to date a beautician, and she always told me tipping is a necessity if the hair cut is good. So I have always tipped.

 

I can get a haircut at any barber in town for 8 bucks. Just went up from $7.00. Looks like their tip is already included. $10 per cut. 4 per hour= $40.00 cash an hour aint bad when you dont even claim all of it to uncle sam. which most dont. If you want to give them $48 an hour, go ahead.



Anyone can build a ch*vy.
ONLY THE BEST BUILD FORDS!

 

> $40.00 cash an hour aint
>bad when you dont even claim all of it to uncle sam. which
>most dont.

OH ohhhh........ Let's not go down THAT road again......

 

> I can get a haircut at any barber in town for 8 bucks. Just
>went up from $7.00. Looks like their tip is already
>included. $10 per cut. 4 per hour= $40.00 cash an hour aint
>bad when you dont even claim all of it to uncle sam. which
>most dont. If you want to give them $48 an hour, go ahead.
>

I don't know where you live, but in most parts of the country a hair cut costs at least $12. The cost of living in most places would drive anyone charging $8.00 for a haircut out of business.

$40/hour assumes he is cutting hair continously without a break and with no slow times. That's not the case with most any business.

If he was business all 8 hours each day, that figures to $80,000/year, which after expenses to run the shop probably nets the guy $60,000/year. That is a fair wage for someone running their own business.

If he was busy a more reasonable amount of time, say half the week, then that's $40,000/year. Minus expenses and you have about $20,000/year. That's below the poverty line and certainly not enough to cover the expenses of a household.

A man is worth his wage, tip him when he gives you a good haircut. The barber is certainly not getting rich.

 

No harm intended on the previous post. I get my hair cut every week(like to keep it neat) and use 2 very good barbers that i would pay $30 if they wanted it. It just seems funny with them charging 8 bucks one drives a 01 sport trac, lives in a 180k house, wife drives a town car and does not work. The other drives an 01 silverado and lives in an up scale neighborhood. Pretty good for 20 Gs a year.





Anyone can build a ch*vy.
ONLY THE BEST BUILD FORDS!

 

A Sport Trac is an average vehicle and $180,000 isn't, in most parts of the country, that much above average.

I don't see anything wrong with driving a new vehicle and living in an average priced house, especially when someone is in business for himself. How much someone makes shouldn't be the deciding factor in whether you tip them. I don't begrudge a man for making a decent living, but I used to when I didn't (recipient of my own choices made in life).

 

As others here have said, I think a tip is pretty much standard practice if you like the haircut - but if the haircut is bad or only so-so, then I wouldn't tip. My barber charges $12 for a cut, and I usually give him a twenty and tell him to keep the change - so that works out to an $8 tip. Of course, I only get my hair cut every 8 weeks or so - if I got it cut every week I'd probably tip a lot less.

I am a definite believer in tipping according to the service you recieve - I've been known to leave a 50% tip at a restaurant if the service is good (or I like the waitress), but I also have no reservations about leaving without tipping at all if the service is poor. I *hate* those places that automatically add the tip to your bill...where's the incentive for decent service?

The only other person I tip is my farrier, particularly when the horses are being a pain in the rear...and since this guy charges less, I just end up paying him the same as I paid the last guy.

LK

 

Haven't tipped or paid a barber in six or seven years. I cut my own hair. Used to just buzz it with the trimmer and a guard, but now I have graduated to visual gymnastics with two mirror using the haircut trimmer and a beard trimmer, with a minor amount of shaping. Also cut my wife and son's hair. Wife cuts daughter's hair.

INLINE SIX POWER!
300 Cubic Inches of Low RPM Truck Torque! And twin-I-beams too!

 

I tip, and I've been going to the same barber for 23 years.

BTW, you shouldn't judge people or their income by what they do, where they live or what they drive. Can be very misleading.

 

>I am a definite believer in tipping according to the service
>you recieve - I've been known to leave a 50% tip at a
>restaurant if the service is good (or I like the waitress),
>but I also have no reservations about leaving without
>tipping at all if the service is poor. I *hate* those
>places that automatically add the tip to your bill...where's
>the incentive for decent service?
>

Amen.... something I also do is make sure to tip the waitress if her service has been good even if the kitchen messes up. I let her know in advance that the kitchen had better fix the screw-up and if she does that then there is no impact on the tip. I usually tip really well, and have on occasion, like you, have tipped extremely well if its been a remarkable experience. They put a little joy in my life for few moments, why shouldn't I put do the same for them?

 

hmmmm....Interesting points of view. Tipping wouldn't be such a big deal if I didn't have to get a haircut every two weeks. It's like my hair is feeding on Miracle-Gro. I just had to ask about tipping because we just had a baby and my wife is now a stay at home mom and I'm still juggling where to cut costs to stay on top of the bills.

 

When you tip a waitress do you lay down cash or add it to the credit card bill? I never put it on the credit card because I read that the IRS assumes cash paying customers tip at the same rate as credit customers, but apparently that is not true, but the credit customers overall tip higher. But then on this assumption, the IRS makes the restaurant/waitresses cough up the taxes on what they assume cash tips were rather than the real and lower value. I have mentioned this to waitresses and they knew what I was talking about, so it very well may be true. Anyway, I suppose business write-offs require documentation of the tip on the receipt, but other than that, never give the IRS more info than required!

Also, I often use half price coupons for dinner, but still figure my tip based on the full price.

INLINE SIX POWER!
300 Cubic Inches of Low RPM Truck Torque! And twin-I-beams too!

 

I usually tip with cash, but a big part of that is because I usually pay for the meal with cash. And, for me a tip with cash just seems more "real" than scribbling a number on that little credit card bill thing.

Also, I eat fairly often at the little mom-and-pop family restaurants that don't have a good setup for credit cards - quite a few don't accept them, and most of the time the ones that do don't really have a way set up for tipping.

LK