Photography Workshop Tipping (Question for USA)

[terrib]

I attended a workshop this week for photographing Moose (pics to be posted later). The photographer running the workshop is the sole proprietor/owner, chauffeur, instructor, etc. so he is getting all the profits from the fees paid. I wasn't sure if in this situation it is customary to give a tip at the end for great service. I am very happy with all the work he put in but at the same time feel the fee he charged was fair so I had not considered a tip. But he did a great job so I would not want to go against what is customary. I'm just not sure so I thought I'd ask what y'all know about it.

Thanks for the help!

[Shadowman]

Wouldn't a glowing testimonial work just as well?

[IzzieK]

I would also be confused as you regarding this situation. I am an Aussie so I do not know if tip is necessary. We do not usually tip for services in most places. But not here in the US...we have a different situation here.

[Mike Buckley]

I look at it this way: If I would tip for maid service of a hotel room or bed and breakfast, I wouldn't care whether the owner or the maid provides the service; I'm paying for the service, not who provides it.

[nimitzbenedicto]

Maybe it depends on what is the usual norm in that area.

As Izzie mentioned , they don't usually give tips, but the situation here is different.

Why not ask around and find out if it's ok to do so.

HTH

[Manfred M]

The workshops I've taken, there has been no tipping. Generally tipping tends to be reserved for low paying jobs, and the prices charged at the workshops I've been one cannot be described as a "bargain" price. The instructor(s) were well compensated...

On the other hand. I have provided the instructors with a nice (and honest) reviews of the workshop, which are now quoted on the websites.

[DanK]

I look at it this way: If I would tip for maid service of a hotel room or bed and breakfast, I wouldn't care whether the owner or the maid provides the service; I'm paying for the service, not who provides it.

It often makes a difference, because the employee typically gets only a fraction of what the owner charges for the service. In some businesses, that fraction is quite small. That's why in many areas, it is customary to tip the person who cuts your hair only if it is not the owner.

I've only done a few workshops, all run by the proprietor, and I didn't see a reason to tip. It actually didn't occur to me to tip, as the prices were quite substantial.

[Mark von Kanel]

The last workshop i did cost me £500 for the day the owner got it all, i think thats a great day rate for anyone!!

[terrib]

My thinking is along the lines of Manfred and Dan but I just wanted to find out if that was the general thinking because sometimes I'm not so up on things like this. I know customs are different in other countries which I why I put "Question for USA" in the title. I will definitely be giving him good reviews and plugs when I have the opportunity.

[flashback]

Terri,
Since the business is sole proprietor and there are no other employees there is absolutely no reason, whatsoever, to tip.
A tip is typically something employees get for doing an exceptional job (tip jars at store registers are little more than begging), not for someone you've hired and who does all the work him/herself. Had this person paid someone else to chauffeur or in some other substantial way helped then a tip might have been in order. I agree with the others, write a glowing review (unless somewhere there was a sign that 'tips are appreciated', then I might reconsider the review.)

[LocalHero1953]

Tipping is such a cultural thing. I have been told very firmly by my French son in law that I shouldn't tip at restaurants in France (I suspect waiters there occasionally work the tourists nevertheless), and the same is true in Iceland where I am at present.

As a cultural Brit, I would agree with Jack above and others: one does not tip proprietors, only low paid employees.

[William W]

Interesting questions –
My views are:

I attended a workshop this week for photographing Moose (pics to be posted later). The photographer running the workshop is the sole proprietor/owner, chauffeur, instructor, etc. so he is getting all the profits from the fees paid.

That’s likely supposition on your behalf.

How do you know that there was a PROFIT from the fees that were paid?

Some small businesses run at little or no profit.

It is quite a logical argument that the business is NOT making a profit if the owner has all those roles to perform himself.

He might actually be making less than the minimum wage . . . which in turn makes better for the consideration of leaving a tip, if the criterion to leave a tip is to do so for only the lower paid workers.

***

I wasn't sure if in this situation it is customary to give a tip at the end for great service. I am very happy with all the work he put in but at the same time feel the fee he charged was fair so I had not considered a tip. But he did a great job so I would not want to go against what is customary.

That’s interesting.

At first you were happy, but then uncomfortable in so far as your actions might not be conforming to what is socially expected or acceptable.

What was it that changed your mind?

Did someone else leave a tip?

WW

[William W]

The last workshop i did cost me £500 for the day the owner got it all, i think thats a great day rate for anyone!!

A day rate for any single engagement, may have very little to do with the net profit of the business.

WW

[Jeff S]

I live in the USA and have never heard or read of anyone tipping for what are essentially professional photographic services. Tipping is customarily done for lower paid employees in industries like restaurants, hotels, taxis, tour guides, hair stylists, etc. I tip often and well, but not for so-called "professional" services or merchants. That's the cultural norm in the USA as far as I am concerned...and I'm a lot closer to the end of my life than I am to the beginning...so I have a lot of experience. I have also been a professional in three different fields in my lifetime and never received or expected a tip for services rendered, no matter how good the services or the outcome.

[Mike Buckley]

I live in the USA and have never heard or read of anyone tipping for what are essentially professional photographic services... I have also been a professional in three different fields in my lifetime and never received or expected a tip for services rendered, no matter how good the services or the outcome.

It's typical that extremely highly paid lawyers are provided a bonus by their clients for a job well done ranging from bottles of wine that cost at least hundreds of dollars each to extra payment in amounts of perhaps tens of thousands of dollars. I realize that these forms of saying "thank you" generally would not be considered tips but they do speak to the issues of how well-paid people and some providing professional services are handled in America.

[William W]

It's typical that extremely highly paid lawyers are provided a bonus by their clients for a job well done ranging from bottles of wine that cost at least hundreds of dollars each to extra payment in amounts of perhaps tens of thousands of dollars. I realize that these forms of saying "thank you" generally would not be considered tips but they do speak to the issues of how well-paid people and some providing professional services are handled in America.

That form of saying 'thank you' to a professional, for their charged professional service, is not confined to the USA, nor is it confined to only the legal fraternity.

WW

[NorthernFocus]

I guess I have a little different perspective than most who have commented thus far. IMO tipping someone is intended to be a way of expressing one's appreciation for a job well done. Regardless of owner/employee, if I feel like someone has gone above and beyond my expectations of what was necessary to provide a service, I will tip them. That said, those expectations are set around what I may have already paid for the service, what was advertised, etc. Though I doubt I would go back after the fact and do so. To me it's one of those things that should be done in the moment.

Tipping wait staff, bellhops, etc. is a totally different thing. The wages for those types of jobs in the USA are set based on additional income being provided by tips. In those cases the amount of the tip can be adjusted to reflect one's opinion of the level of service. Having worked such jobs myself in my youth I tend to tip rather well for good service. However we've got that whole business model goofed up in the US. The theory is that better service will be provided if the server knows that better wages will come from it. But my experience when traveling abroad where tipping is not the norm has been that well run restaurants have excellent, professional service. And no mental math necessary to figure out what dinner is going to cost

[flashback]

If I need to call a plumber in on a weekend or holiday I will be paying a higher rate than usual (most likely) to compensate him for coming in on his days off. I'm not going to assume nor care if my job is his sixth that day or the only one he's had all week. He sets his rate and I pay it. Nor am I going to assume he's working for little if any profit, that's his business (literally and figuratively). Following this logic forward, I would make no assumptions about the owner of a photography workshop. It is up to him to develop a workable business model that allows for his business to make a profit. In fact, one way to get a profit is to be a one-man shop; no workman's comp, less liability insurance, no contributions to SS or medical coverage (this holds true for the owners of a B&B who make the beds, do the laundry, meals, dishes and serves and clears. It's their choice to run the business, the liabilities and expenses are their own, as are any profit they make.

As for the one-day workshop at ~$670 USD, I would have no issues assuming the person made and kept the profit. And while it could have been a one-on-one workshop it's more likely there were other participants, which of course increase revenue proportionally.

The above said, were an owner/operator to go above and beyond what was contracted for, to the extent that it's clear he's more interested in giving his customers the best possible experience even at a potential loss to his business, then likely I'd tip, and probably tip well. But if he stays within his defined parameters of what he offers, how he provides it and the time allotted to do so then I'd consider whatever he charged as the appropriate remuneration.

[drjuice]

I've never gotten a tip of any sort for teaching people "stuff" in a non-educational venue, for example, teaching people how to build websites at the place where their computer club meets. I never get a tip for any sort of task where I've volunteered to do some particular task.

For me, the practice of tipping does not appear to apply to the activities Ive participated in while I was in Oz, northern Europe, and Canada as well as at home in the US.

I'm jes' sayin'....

v