That time of the Year---TIPPING

do you actually interact with all 26?

7 doormen, 3 concierges, gym and pool staff?

I've seen fancy buildings before. But that's a tremendous amount of staff. If you can afford to live in a building with that kind of round-the-clock white glove service, just go to the bank, get an inch of Grants, and start spreading the good cheer.

It's Manhattan Place....485 units...sinlge guy, VERY low maintance on staff, only interact with door people, some just a hello, others will have a 5 minute chat, shoot the shit with....

I've hear $100 is the minimum for a doorman. But in a building this size that would be $48,500 in tax free tips for each doorman each year. Is that right?

hum. The one advantage of my walk up. Only one member of staff to tip (the super).

Will give him $60-80. Sound right?

In a building that size (485units and 26 employees) $25 for each and $50 for the super should be plently. Do the math, that's a nice xmas bonus. i don't know about you but i get ZERO for a bonus. America is tip crazy! Everyone wants a tip for simply doing their job!

Do you give separate cards? I was gonna give one envelope with money in $10 denominations for easy splitting (13 building staff), but then I realized the doorman I give it to might just pocket the whole thing, even though all the guys seem trusting enough. So do I make out 13 personalized cards with appropriate amounts in each?

Also, I moved in September. Not to sound like a cheapskate but that shouldn't come into effect right...

Like it or not, tips are part of the game for buildings in Manhattan. The bldgs would have no staff if tips were elimiated, lozlo. When we lived in a larger rental bldg with a big staff, we gave $75 to the doormen, porters and staff, and $150 to the super (about $1200 total). In a small condo now with only a super and we give him $300 - he is very nice and helpful though.

lozlo...that is my point...if you do the math, and everyone gives $25, doorman is walking away with 12K cash...pretty outrageous....HEre's a question for thought...If you are a renter in a condo building, who should tip the super, and maintenance people...the renter or the owner of the unit?

we are in the same situation -- huge list of people that we have no idea who they are

we decided to give only the people we interact with directly money as we prefer to give them more than give everyone else equal and less -- considering this is a capitalist practice, we felt that it was only appropriate.

definitely give seperate cards -- you never know what can happen to the $ then you look like a scrooge

$100 seems a bit high for doorman in a big building unless you are loaded and want to make an impression . . $50 should definitely be enough there are guidelines all over the web for tipping, but the reality is you gotta go with your gut -- especially if you give people tips throughout the year . . .

rclavi, I give separate cards and try to hand it to them personally. The ones I don't see personally, I have to trust that they won't be stolen. I tend to give everyone a smaller tip. My philosophy is what brokerstink said, if everyone tipped the same as me, it'd be a nice bonus. If someone (usually the super) really helps me out during the year, i'll add more then usual.

also I think it's usually whoever lives there, tips.

brokersSTINK, the person living in the unit should tip, since that's the one using the building's services. And give tips in separate envelopes, sign your name & apt number, they will remember.

Appropriate ipping's a tough one to pin down, but I'd think that a single person in a studio/1 br should be expected to tip less than someone with a family whom the doorman is always helping unload the car. You should give more to each doorman (including the overnight) and the super than the rest. And don't forget the guys who collect the trash - you may not see them every day but it's an important job.

I wouldn't tip the pool/gym staff unless you use those facilities. And even then. do you pay extra to use it? If so, would you tip the staff at your regular health club?

Tip generously otherwise all year every time you see the doorman or super, etc. you'll feel awful...plus $300 for a super..now that's really generous!

We own an apartment that we're renting out. We've never lived there. The only staff is a part-time, live-out super. The first year, we gave him a nice tip in December because he helped us out a lot (letting in the painters, etc.), but last year we didn't send him anything because we didn't ask him to do anything for us. Also, we have never actually met this guy! I don't even know if the same person still has the job, as a matter of fact. So I'm not sure of the etiquette in our situation.

Some things to consider:
Does the day doorman help you with packages, receive dry cleaning, etc--basically do more than the midnight-8am shift doorman? Then the day guy might merit more.
How long has a staff member been there? Some people feel long tenured employees enhance the value of the position to the building so rewarding longer service may be something to think about.
Do you tip the super each time he fixes the dripping sink, helps install the new light fixture in your dining room, unsticks the valve in your radiator in your coop or whenever he goes a little beyond his job description to help you out? If not, then the year-end tip should take that into consideration.
Finally, if the difference between a reasonably acceptable tip and a generous one will not make much of a difference in your life, why not make everyone happy and shell out the extra coin.

What do you do when your board set aside funds to tip the staff, but still indcates that it's up to the owner if they want to tip above and beyond that?

LLL, I would not tip in addition to the tip they will receive from building funds UNLESS a staff person has gone over and beyond the call of duty, extraordinary service, then I would consider tipping them. And can I say: lucky you to not have to worry about it!

nitpicky, is it awkward to put your apt # in the from section so they remember, like "mike smith @14C" or is that too forward

I own my condo, but don't receive a bonus....you give what you can and give what you feel is appropriate. customary bullshit tipping, my ass... i have a friendly super that takes care of us and is pleasure to deal with. Then there are 4 porters who don't seem to like their job of cleaning the elevators, lobby, trash, and ogles at my girl. They got nothing. Then there are 4 doormen (day, night, and two that do the graveyard shift/occasional weekend). Clearly the day and night doormen do more and interact with me/others more; the other guys either look drunk or stoned and have it pretty easy. considering that there are 125 units in my building, I'm giving $100 to super, $50 for day/night doormen, and $25 to each late-night doormen. What do i look like?!?!? Like I'm made of money?!?!
Based on this tipping schedule, the super would get $12,500, $6250 to main doormen, and $3125 to late-night doormen.

I don't think it's inappropriate to put your apartment # on the card: "...Thanks again for all you do, Dan Smith (Apt 9G)." Another option is to hand the tip to the person so they connect it to your face. Anonymous tipping is better than none, but if I'm shelling out all that money I at least want some good will in the bank from those receiving the tip.

I think giving cash is a little tawdry. I prefer to make a donation in their names to a local charity in about the $50 - $100 range depending on my interaction level with each position.

I find this is well received and greatly appreciated...

Now that's just what they want you to do. Instead of making a donation to them so they can feed their kids you decide to make a donation to their favorite charity for them.

Basically I agree with everything Kyle West says. (I find this to be the case in general--thanks kylewest for your invariably well thought out and measured posts.) I don't agree that it is tawdry to give cash--I like it to enclose it in a Holiday card. Regarding Real Estate Junkie's donations, though I am an occasional believer in giving donations as presents, I am not certain that it is really all that appreciated in this case. I think it should be up to them to donate part of their tip should they choose, and to the charity they prefer. Or not. But if they have no choice in how to spend it then they are not really receiving a holiday bonus/tip. Just my 2 cents.(which sadly is a hell of a lot less than I will be giving in tips this season...)

lol..realestatejunkie decides to give money to the doorman and then takes it way from them by donating it to his charity..

Think about it - if your company normally pays out cash bonuses to employees at year-end, how would you feel if your boss said to you, "hey, great job this year. Instead of your $xxx bonus in cash I've decided to make a donation in your name to the United Way because that's a group I like".

Question is, who gets the tax write-off - the doner or the person whose name it's in?

well the person donating (i.e. the owner/tenant) gets the tax write off, and the doorman gets to pretend he's grateful for the donation "in his name". (And probably has to put up with mountains of junk mail from the charity and its partners if his full details were used).

Realestatejunkie, Scrooge be thy true name.

For the record I do not take the tax write off...the doormen are free to do that. I did after all donate it in their name.

What if you have only lived in the building for three months? What should you tip?

We rent in a 200+ apt building, 12+ staff. They help mainly with mail and deliveries, never with unloading the cab for instance. So I tip only the 3 doormen who know my name, around $40, enclosed in a holiday card "happy holidays, family xxx(aptxxx)", give them personnaly.
last year I gave less and if they weren't happy with my tip, I didn't notice it in their attitude. but if they had changed, I wouldn't have cared neither b/c I don't expect a buddy buddy relationship with them.
I'm not American so maybe that's why I have a HARD time with this tipping stuff.. building staff, cleaning lady, teachers ...

realestatejunkie, I appreciate your position and know you mean well but my guess is that you are the tenant they make fun of every xmas.

Asmitherma: If you've only lived there a couple of months during the past year, it's understandable to tip less than you will next year. I'd consider including a note card with the tips that say something like, "Thanks for making our new building feel more like a home," or "Thanks for helping our move here go so smoothly," etc. In other words, just some little thank you coupled with a reminder you weren't there all year. Look. The bottom line is that tipping is a nice thing to do to make people feel good. If you think they don't know you only just moved in and will be insulted by $25 instead of $50, you aren't making them feel good. A little note changes that and now you've made them happy by just adding a couple of words. And "nyg," thank you. That was sweet.

I just moved in over the summer. 10 guys in my building (~100 apartments). Tips ranging from $40-$60 for all, except for 2 guys I see a lot who got $100.

i'm a young professional with a 1-bdroom. the buidling is rather large with probably 300 units.so this is how im doing it this year.

manager (the guy in charge of approving renovations, move outs etc) = $40. supers x 3 = $40 each. doormans/concerige x9 = $40 each. cleaning staff x 9 = $15 each.
all in is $655.

i'll usually hand the stack of christmas cards with cash inside to either the manager or the doorman that knows me well. they seem like honest folks and are very friendly but i am always wary if they would pocket it (esp knowing what's inside). so this year, the plan my plan is to write CHECKS.

im sure they prefer cash but its only way to ensure that they do not pocket it themselves. i do not meet all of them, esp the cleaners.

I live in a full service building with 300+ apartments. I just tipped $400 in the tip box which is placed in the lobby of my building.

realestatejunkie when you tip that way do you have to wear a helmet , face mask and other protective devices to cover your body.

Anyone know the days the regular mail carriers work (the ones who come to the same building 5x/week, not the other 2 days)? Mail service to my building had been so atrocious for many years I stopped tipping. There's a recent, much improved mail carrier, and I want to make sure the tip I leave in the box goes to her. I rarely see her in person.

realestatejunkie, I don't see how giving cash for tips is cheap & gaudy. Know must people receiving a gift will be a gracious.

I would never ever ask building personnel to dispense my cash tip to their colleagues. Don't trust them to do it. Everyone gets an individual card and a cash tip which I hand to each personally.

realestatejunkie - would you like your christmas bonus from work, if you get one, to be donated to the charity of your employers choice? it makes no sense. I could understand a couple getting married asking to donate to a charity in lieu if a gift, but not this

Next time I tip a waiter I'm going to ask him what charity I can send his tip to same goes with the taxicab driver. This is so silly. I am convinced that this is realestatejunkie dry sense of humor. He can't be doing this. Good idea for a Seinfeld episode.

Does the doorman need to claim the donation as income before he can take a deduction on it?

Problem with your super claiming the charity tax deduction - it may raise some red flags with the IRS, who can come back & ask, 'but what about all of the OTHER cash tips you made?' gulp! one more thing to remember next time your faucet leaks.

downtown_gal, you can ask your dooman or super if they know when the regular mail carrier comes, or check with your local post office.

Sorry, but I can not see the point in tipping the postman. Maybe out in suburbia where you see the person....

why would you think only in suburbia do you see the postman? I see mine often and usually leave something in the mailbox. I believe there's a limit to how much they're allowed to receive. One year I left the mail-lady this cute bag of green & red M&M's wrapped up in holiday colors that I got in DuaneReade for $5.99. along with a card - she absolutely loved it.

Two thoughts. First of all, I don't think you want to assume that you can figure total tips that any doorman will get just by multiplying by the number of units. Not everyone tips, so you should assume a lower hit rate than 100%. (I haven't tipped some years in the past ... long story.)

Also, consider whether you're a "high-maintenance" user of the building services or a low-maint one. I have friends who live in another building near me, and their doormen will happily feed their cats when my friends are traveling, or even do light shopping for them at the bodega in their building. My building offers no such services, mostly because they're super-strict about staff letting themselves into apartments (much paperwork and/or computer logging).

I never thought about it, but because they're so security conscious, it really limits their ability to make my life easier. Certainly they haven't made it $100 a year easier per person, that's for sure.

I live in a full service building with eleven employees. Last year we got a 5% maintenance increase and 35% of the new maintenance in an assessment--with 30 days notice. I knew that many people would "take it out" on the doormen so I gave between $80-$100 depending on level of service and how they treated me. Many people only gave $20--and nobody gave donations. I gave the super and handyman $150 each.

My income id dependent on many factors and I didn't have as good a year this year. I thought about it--I'm one person with no kids or dogs in a small apartment who doesn't even take out often anymore. My guests are known for being exceptionally polite to the staff--never push their way in, "demand" to be let in etc. Or so most doormen have told me--I am very friendly with most.

We have one doorman who only looks up if a member of the board is around or if it's between five and eight and there are two doorman on duty. I gave him $60. He stopped me on Christmas Eve and demanded to know why I had given him so little. I could think of ten thousand reasons but didn't want to get into to it with him then. He was surly, nasty and I was in no mood to talk to him.

I work from home. He's not the doorman who accepts my packages or does anything for me. Frankly the porters do more just in collecting garbage

I could get report what he did to the board. His "demands" were overheard by neighbors who think I should. I think this is a way over priced city where doormen assume tips are part of their salary. I'm sorry that I was "too generous" last year. I'm tired of living in a culture of "I'm owed because I exist. I honestly don't know whether or not to report him. He only speaks "sports" and doesn't even say hello unless a board member or other doorman is around.

Next holiday season, shit in a bag, put it in a box, wrap it up nicely, and give it to this guy. When he opens it, tell him nicely that you were worried about not giving him enough based on his comments from last year, and that this year, you decided to give him a shit load more.

I agree with most of the posters, It all depends on the level of service you get!

I live in a 100 unit building with 4 doorman, 1 super , 2 porters. Gave the doorman that always helps me and my girlfriend with the packages $100, the others got $50. Gave the Super $50 as well, he probably wanted more, but he has never fixed a thing in my apartment. Porters got $40 each.

Most of the staff was appreciative, and I think they realize that not everyone is a banker or lawyer and can afford a thousand dollars in tips.

Around Christmas time, I feel like I'm the only person that doesnt get a holiday bonus!

jadedinNY, you have to choose your battles, and with this particular battle I wouldn't say anything to the board. The Ungracious Doorman is well on his way to hanging himself with that type of attitude. Although he is most worthy of a bag of shit, I'd just keep tipping him the same amount or less in the future and try to stay out of his personal drama. You were wise to not get into it with him.

Back to how much to tip, last night I was watching French news and in France the norm is to tip 10% of your rent during the holidays, and the tipping season extends to the end of January. This year I gave tips totalling 12.7% of my monthly rent to 7 people.

A few people were interviewed on the streets of Paris and asked if they tipped 10%, and all of them said no, they tipped less.

Not sure how tipping practices in Paris apply to NY at all. By that analogy, we should not tip in restaurants here, as it is included in the bill in restaurnats in France.

Good thread for this time of year. Some funny stuff here as well.

With bonuses down across most industries in Manhattan, should year-end tips be reduced as well?

I do cases of wine. So they can just pick a bottle or two. Comes about $10-20 per person.

If your moving into a new bldg. (doorman,super, etc.) on 1/1/09 are you still obligated to give holiday tips. The lease is for one year and then out.

im not tipping my new doormen - I'm moving on 12/30 - I'm tipping my old ones

Building personnel are essential and if they are providing good service, I would not personally reduce their tips this year.

julia and cccharley, you are not obligated to give 2008 holiday tips in your new building; however, don't skim tipping the super at a minimum and porters when you move into your new home.

Is there a tip guide online? I've moved into a non-doorman building and am perplexed about how much I should tip the building personnel who have been really nice and helpful the past year.

""brokersSTINK, the person living in the unit should tip, since that's the one using the building's services. And give tips in separate envelopes, sign your name & apt number, they will remember.""

Not true. I always tip the staff in my co-op, even though I am subletting the apartment and not currently living there. I don't go overboard, but I like to know the super is keeping an eye on things when I'm not around.

Do NOT expect that your tenant will tip. They probably won't.

Oh, and to the idiot who gives a charitable donation in lieu of tipping - that is honestly one of the stupidest, self-righteous ideas I've heard. What do you think the doorman would rather have, an extra 50 bucks to buy his kid some new shoes or a card from Heifer International marking the "generous" donation of four chickens and a pig made in his name? C'mon, get real.

What should you tip the super regarding move-in...is it based if they do anything or do you tip no matter what they do. How much $50/$100...

I am very friendly with one of our doormen, and he says most people don't tip in our bldg. (it's a 200-plus-unit bldg). He said, in addition to cash, a lot of people give them gifts, cards, etc. but a big chunk of people just don't give anything. I wonder what's going to happen this year...

I give $20 to unfriendly ones and $40 to friendly ones (we have about 6 different doormen). My super? He gets nothing, given that he is the reason for the last few maintenance increases--and I haven't really suffered the consequences yet, luckily.

About tipping mail carriers: Can Federal Employees accept tips for carrying out their duties??? I really find it tacky when my mail career puts her "mail your gifts to me at this address" cards in my mailbox every year. I am pretty sure she is violating some rule by using my USPS mailbox to solicit tips/gifts, on "company time."

Julia - Always grease the super's palm as soon as you move in. $50 to $100 is fine; if it's a rental, you can do the lower end of that range, if you've purchased, go a bit higher.

We tip everyone equally, $100. each. (Extra for the Super). Yeah, it ends up being a lot, but we feel especially strongly about tipping the porters, they are the ones who do the really tough work! PLus they make a whole lot less than the doormen.

$100-$150 each to the doormen we interact with a lot, $20-$50 each to porters and handymen we interact with a lot (those two groups end up being about half the people on our building's list of 30 or so), a tin of homemade cookies and maybe a six of beer under the downstairs Xmas tree as a group gift for the 15 people I don't know, Starbucks card to the postal carrier.

I am female so the doormen and the porters do a lot for me in terms of carrying bags, hailing taxis, etc. My feeling also is you're trying to give out one month's maintenance in tips -- though when I have a better year, the doormen do too.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

kudos to juiceman for picking up an old thread that became relevant again instead of starting a new thread.

front_porch - $100-$150/doorman - can you tell us what type of building you are in and if you are single or a couple or have kids? how many doorman does that add up to?-five in a week?

Thanks

$125 for favorite doorman; $100 for other 2 other doormen we interact with mostly; $80 for night doorman / $50-$75 for porters, super and handymen. my bldg only has 8-10 people to tip depending on the year though.

interesting you tip your super less

I'm in a rental during renovations to a coop. Am tipping:
$100 to super;
$50 each of 4 doormen and 2 porters and handyman;
$100 for super in new building I don't live in yet...keep him happy during my renovations.
$50 to each of 4 attendants at parking garage.
Equivalent of 2 days of cleaning for cleaning lady (that is, she gets $100 every two weeks, so I tipped $200--I love her and she's been with me for 2 years).

Is that everyone....jeesh. It adds up, huh?

In my building, the Board of Managers sends out an Employee Holiday Gratuity Opetions memo. What is suggested as a guideline is $1,000 per unit which is then divided evenly among employees. They are not permitted to accept gratuities during the year, therefore $50 a person is very reasonable. I give individual checks for more than that along with a small gift.

Luxury condo studio Midtown West. 600-unit building that has a small army of service people, and I don't know them all.

We are a couple with no kids yet -- hubby is salaried and my income is variable -- but like I said, we try to make the total tip pool equal one month's maintenance. That just seems fair because then your tips scale to your housing costs. We did a little worse last year because we had a tough year, and we'll do a little better this year because I had a good year.

we haven't done the divvy yet, but my guess is four doormen get "good" tips, one or two of the night or swing doormen get tipped as if they were porters, and then we hit about eight other porters/handymen who we have dealt with who are particularly helpful to me.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Glad you had a good year, ali. xox

We don't get bonuses, they don't get bonuses. Sux for everyone, but it's the trickled down economy.

i tip the package men (4) $75 each - the door people, concierge, super and porters (24 people)$50 each...

what if you rented out your unit for half of the year and had to pay $1k application fee for tenant to condo board? i'm guessing that $1k has nothing to do with doormen, super, etc.

I doubt that the workers/servers/aids in your building saw any of that $1k so NO, that wouldn't count toward holiday thanx.

Nope, doesn't count, unfortunately! :)

I generally tip super $100 plus bottle of something, 2 day doormen $50 each, 2 night doormen $40 each, porters $25 each and handymen $30 each. Porters and handymen get tipped also all year when they do something. This year, I'll be tipping one of the night doormen lots more because he handled a terrible situation very well.

I make sure to tip everyone in the bulding, even those I don't see, with separate cards for each. The porters who take out the trash, etc, deserve something. We don't have a huge staff so it's manageable. I've always found that the recipients are always appreciative regardless of amount.

Is anyone cutting back this year? Based on this board, it doesn't sound so.

I heard a story about a coop owner who was usually a good tipper but got laid off at year-end, ended up making hommade cookies for the bulding staff. The knew his predicament and appreciated the gesture.

I do think that it is the thought that counts (except fot that moron who donated in the worker's name). A gesture really does buy a lot of good will. We're fortunate to be living in Manhattan & in buildings which provide these services & to say "THANK YOU, I appreciate the work that you do & the help that you provide throughout the year", is certainly appreciated.

Has anyone ever NOT tipped, and gave presents. Like I can get a normally $100 small dvd player for $35 through certain deals. Yes, I'm cheap, but thoughtful.

one friend of mine told me that she found out that only about 1/2 the people in her building tip. This is a prewar coop w a doorman.

Cash is king. People would rather get $20 in hard cash. Here's who I tip: all the porters, doorman, super in the building; babysitters at the gym; part-time babysitters; letter carrier; preschool teachers (though it's not called a tip). My point is, if you can afford the service, set aside an extra 10% and use that for the tips. If it's a bad year, and you're struggling to pay rent/buy groceries, then you're off the hook. Other wise, pay up. If you get asked, be blunt and say that you're struggling.

Here's an astounding anecdote: A friend's mother lives at 875 park - a VERY nice building. She saw one of the residents hand the doorman a large can of peanuts for his holiday bonus.

Maybe it was the fabled rent-controlled tenant. There are very cheap people out there, and I hate them. It's like the old ladies I see with their aide who are very mean and cruel. They will get theirs someday.

hol4, as nice as a DVD player might be, I agree with the 'cash is king' idea. Honestly, I think the doorman would rather just have the $35, rather than the $100 DVD player, if that is what you can afford.

And re: the homemade cookies--as sweet as the gesture might have been, IMO it still would have been better to hand out a few $20s rather than make food. Those extra $20s here and there have a wonderful way of adding up.

bramster, you're right, those $20 do have a wonderul way of adding up. If it's between tipping and feeding your own family, I think the hommade cookies, which cost much less than $20 per batch to make - are better than nothing.

i think i'll give the dvd route a try. it's so easy now to resell online or gift return they're sure to make a profif, or X out someone on their holiday list. i don't use them excessively, except for picking up weekly dry cleaners, which i tip regularly on site to be fair, b/c sometimes they change shifts so it's not always the same guy doing the work.

oh, plus they know i'm still a young college student, so hopefully this helps.

Doormen and other building workers make very small salaries relative to what most coop/condo owners earn. Like Wall Streeters in days of yore, a substainial percentage of their annual income (whether the IRS knows it or not, not my business) comes from residents' holiday gratuities. Unless one is having a particularly grim time (and don't forget doormen know if you aren't coming down each morning dressed for the office), and/or you are over 80, anything other than monetary gifts would be most probably percieved as tacky and partronizing.

Tip generously.

$100 to each of the seven doormen and porters, and $200 to super. (84-unit WEA co-op.)

On what day of the month of December is normally a good time to pay the tips out? Two weeks before, or one week, or several days before Christmas?

Have people paid their tips yet or are you waiting until a little bit closer to Christmas?

We've waited as late as Christmas Eve. (btw, I have yet to encounter a Jewish doorman, porter, concierge, etc)

This year we'll distribute tips next week.

I like to tip the individual before he (or she) has his (or her) two days off.

Tips should be going out this week. But up until 5 days before Christmas is acceptable. As long as you tip, they don't really care when you give it, as long as it's before Christmas.

Miss Manners on holiday tipping this year:

“That’s the last place that you should cut,” said Judith Martin, who writes the Miss Manners column and dispenses advice on challenges like this one, “because what you’re doing is cutting the income of someone who is much more on the edge than you are. I think the whole tipping system is rotten — the money ought to be built into people’s wages so they can count on it — but given that it is the custom, these are the last people you should stiff.”
And no shortcuts, either, she said. “A plate of cookies is no substitute” for a tip, she said. “You depend on them, and they depend on you.”

Here's the link to the whole article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/nyregion/15tipping.html?scp=1&sq=miss%20manners%20tipping&st=cse

What are people's thoughts for giving cash vs. a check?

cash

Between $50 and $100, a check.

Under $50, cash.

Cash is probably easier and nicer for recipients, but not so convenient for us.

Keeping in line with holiday tipping, what is an appropriate amount to give the attendents at the garage?

thanks.