What's the current percent for a tip?

Getting some work done tomorrow and I'm curious as to what the current percentage is for a proper tip here in the USA? I was leaning towards 20% if done right.

 

lol, you're not going to a resteraunt..

I have small words tattooed on me that didnt cost me that much and i gave the guy like 40 bucks as a tip. I only paid 100 for that tattoo i think. It's up to you what you wanna give them. Just don't be a cheap ass.

 

I usually tip about 20% to my guy. He always acts surprised and grateful. Who knows, it may just be an act but I think a lot of people don't tip their artists. Although mine has a sign hanging up front that says "Tips are cool" Sometimes if its a piece that is more difficult or takes a long time I'll tip more.

 

Why don't you just pay them properly in the first place ?

 

Obviously you pay what they ask for the artwork they give you but tipping them just shows your appreciation for the job they did for you. Much like a server at a restaurant, a hair stylist, a stripper, You tip for their service. It's not required but appreciated.

 

What? I don't know how things are done in Australia but here in the states there is an agreed price on the work to be done before it happens. When the work is finished the artist gets paid and usually is then tipped based on a percentage of what the bill was and how good the work was also. Isn't this the norm around the planet?

 

Actually you know (or don't know) there are places around the world that are different from the USA. Some places have good health care and education for example.

We pay our 'Servers' (Waiter, Waitress) , bar staff etc more than $2.50 an hour so there is no need to keep them from starving by a mandatory system of 'gratuities'.

Specifically how it works with Tatts I don't know. I will try to ask my Bro but he seems to have 'gone missing' recently.

 

Thanks for sharing the knowledge that there are places in the world that are different than the USA. I never would have guessed..........

 

PS..........no one starves here as a waiter/waitress. The low wage is an incentive to better yourself as a server. My wife is a waitress and kicks ass at it. The better you are as a server the more money you make. We don't need some gov't handout or mandated wage here in the US. We just work harder at our jobs to make more money. If folks can't handle the job they can look for other work.

 

I think that depends on who is doing the work.
If you go to a specific person for specific work, especially custom, then you just agree on a price/hourly rate and no tip.
If you go into a shop like many where there is an owner who leases chairs to artist's for a percentage of the fee, then I would say yes, tip the artist who actually does the work.

So in my mind it's simple, if getting it done by a freelancer or shop owner, no need to tip.
If done by a subcontracted artist, then yes, tip.

Tipping is generally done to show appreciation for work done by employees who are not getting the lions share of the pie.

 

Are you saying the USA doesn't have good health care?? lmao

 

as long as your not some dickhead orc though.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwoXttMwIcg"]Fuckin Orcs (Paul) - YouTube

 

My artist is the shop owner. I still tip him. Being a small business owner, you don't really make as much as someone might think. There is shop overhead they have to pay. They don't just get to pocket every cent that comes in. It doesn't matter to me if he is the inventor of the modern tattoo gun. If he did work on me and I was happy with it then I would tip to show my appreciation for the job he did. I've never quite understood the "don't tip the owner" mentality. Maybe because I am an owner of a small business in a tipping industry. It's like a thank you card. Do you appreciate the tattoo less because the owner did it? It's not like they are going to put less effort into it because they are the owner.

 

The shop owner sets the prices, whereas a subcontracted artist is not in control of the pricing, so it's not the same thing.

There is nothing wrong with showing and giving a gratuity to someone for good work, but technically you tip employees, not business owners.

I am also a small business owner, I don't get or receive tips and even discourage employees from accepting them.

 

Seems to me that a tip/gratuity is down to the individual - based on what one feels is right, and not what is an expected calculation of requirement.

 

Well I got the shading done yesterday on the skull/piston tattoo. The gentleman charged $80 for the job which almost took an hour so I gave him $100 even and he was very appreciative.

 

I hate to use the phrase but "it is what it is". You either afford it or you can't but this is off topic slightly due to the man from "down under".

 

I was just thinking about every time I get some MMJ delivered, the delivery person always asks "Do you need change back?" or "how much change do you need back?", asking for a tip without coming right out and saying it. LOL

I always tip them anyway, just thought it was funny.

 

No it is not.
Direct copy/paste from my Bro : " Tattoo's - just pay the price - reflects all other US v's Aust transactions. "

 

Thanks for the smugness. I had no idea what a douchey Aussie was like before you, having only previously encountered sweethearts among your countrymen. Anyway, we don't pay our foodservice workers $2.50/hour either, genius. Ever head of a minimum wage? Yeah? Well ours is still too low, but it isn't 2.50. It is illegal for anyone to make that amount. So, while the establishment in question might be paying $2.50 +tips, if tips don't come out to enough to ring that $2.50 up to minimum wage, the employer MUST make up the difference. We call our gratuities TIPS because it is an incentive To Insure Proper Service.

Yeah, 20% is still good. My ink was $350. I don't remember how long that took. I gave the guy who drew it an extra $15 because I didn't realize there would be a seperate guy for that, and that's all I had at the time. I gave he guy who did the needle work $70 on the second day. We'd elected to break it up I to one day for the outline, and one for the filling a week later.