minimum tip to leave so SCA doesn't realize I'm a cheapskate?

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Are OBS railroad union members?
All Amtrak employees, sans-management, are union. And even some management continue paying their dues so they can go back on the road if something happens to their job
That is true for passenger-facing positions, but there are lots of Amtrak employees in technical, legal, real estate, marketing, financial and similar areas who are non-union. Most of those are not "management," as in people who manage the work of other people.
 
Cafe guy gets a tip too? It seems similar to the person who sells snacks at the movie theater. Never thought to tip that person.
If you go by advice from this forum, you gotta tip EVERYONE remotely related to your train travel because they do such hard work and need to be appreciated with tips.

Buy ticket from ticket counter - tip the person who hands you the ticket

Security guard directs you to your track - tip the security guard

Attendant greets you at the train door - tip the attendant

Cafe guy hands you a pre-packed snack - tip the cafe guy

Conductor checks your ticket - tip the conductor

Engineer drives the train - tip the driver

Co-passenger lets you use the power outlet by their seat - tip the co-passenger

You gotta tip everyone, man!
 
Cafe guy gets a tip too? It seems similar to the person who sells snacks at the movie theater. Never thought to tip that person.
If you go by advice from this forum, you gotta tip EVERYONE remotely related to your train travel because they do such hard work and need to be appreciated with tips.

Buy ticket from ticket counter - tip the person who hands you the ticket

Security guard directs you to your track - tip the security guard

Attendant greets you at the train door - tip the attendant

Cafe guy hands you a pre-packed snack - tip the cafe guy

Conductor checks your ticket - tip the conductor

Engineer drives the train - tip the driver

Co-passenger lets you use the power outlet by their seat - tip the co-passenger

You gotta tip everyone, man!
Com' on folks, tip your IT guy so Texan doesn't have to share a sleeper room with four strangers.
 
Cafe guy gets a tip too? It seems similar to the person who sells snacks at the movie theater. Never thought to tip that person.
If you go by advice from this forum, you gotta tip EVERYONE remotely related to your train travel because they do such hard work and need to be appreciated with tips.

Buy ticket from ticket counter - tip the person who hands you the ticket

Security guard directs you to your track - tip the security guard

Attendant greets you at the train door - tip the attendant

Cafe guy hands you a pre-packed snack - tip the cafe guy

Conductor checks your ticket - tip the conductor

Engineer drives the train - tip the driver

Co-passenger lets you use the power outlet by their seat - tip the co-passenger

You gotta tip everyone, man!
Where the heck did you get that impression? The advice has been consistently to tip OBS crew only (dining car waitstaff, sleeping car attendant, cafe LSA). That is consistent with tipping for the equivalent services off the train (restaurant waitstaff, hotel housekeeper/room service waiter, bartender/cocktail waitstaff/barista), which many, if not most, people do.
 
Actually at the end of the day it is just tradition that drives who gets tipped and who does not. The rest is just wildly flailing rationalization based on little. Otherwise what is the logic of tipping rail OBS while not doing so for air OBS? Just that it has been a long standing tradition to do so for rail and not to do so for air.

Similarly T&E staff are not tipped because that the way the tradition stands.

The Europeans do not tip beyond rounding up because it is their tradition that works out that way. The Japanese do not tip at all, because it is their tradition.

In India you have to tip ... er ... bribe the front desk clerk to get your paperwork to move from his desk to where it needs to go, a long standing tradition of bakhsheesh that people are trying to break mightily, with some success.

That's just the way it is.
 
Many, many years ago, the TV Show "Candid Camera" (sometimes funny, sometimes not) placed a tip jar on the counter at the checkout window in a doctor's office. They then filmed the reaction of patients paying their bill and seeing the pitch for tips. I think of that segment every time one of these "tipping on Amtrak" topics pops up.
 
You gotta tip everyone, man!
Where the heck did you get that impression? The advice has been consistently to tip OBS crew only (dining car waitstaff, sleeping car attendant, cafe LSA). That is consistent with tipping for the equivalent services off the train (restaurant waitstaff, hotel housekeeper/room service waiter, bartender/cocktail waitstaff/barista), which many, if not most, people do.
Relax folks, this was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek comment, after all the never-ending threads of to tip or not to tip. I don't think anyone would seriously believe they have to walk up to the engine and tip the engineer. If someone managed to do that, hats off to them!
 
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I tip recaps 2.00 per bag approx. so that's about 5.00. With SCA, it can go from zero to 20.00 depending on what they do and service. If he/she carries my bags into my room after boarding,(eg no recap), that's worth same as redcap. Same for helping with bags at exit. figure 5.00 for making the bed up. Remember, helping with bags is required in service manual. So if SCA does everything and is otherwise attentive I offering services I can do 20.00. (1 nite)

Only time I do zero if SCA ignores his job by not helping with bags and ignores me. Sadly, in 20 yrs of travels this is more common. I would rather get good service and give good tips than save money due to poor service.
 
I can move my own bags and I can make my own bed. I'd rather tip for the things I simply cannot do without the SCA's help. Like get some ice or coffee in the dead of night in the middle of nowhere.
 
I mostly ride the #5/6 train (California Zephyr), and that's been pretty much just once a year (round trip).

It's my understand the CZ has some 13 OBS crews.

Consequently I have not had the same TA-SC more than once.

On my last trip the TA-SC on my return leg was 'on the board' and not a regular on the CZ.

The point being, it has never occurred to me to ponder what a TA-SC may think about me relative to whatever tip I decided the TA-SC was worth.
 
I can move my own bags and I can make my own bed. I'd rather tip for the things I simply cannot do without the SCA's help. Like get some ice or coffee in the dead of night in the middle of nowhere.
Is this just an illustrative example?
 
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Let's forget the numbers for a moment. If you consider yourself a cheapskate tipper, you are acting unconscionably.

It doesn't matter what you personally think an employee deserves. If you think that Amtrak employees are paid plenty and don't need a tip, I can accept that. I disagree with you; I think people who earn gratuity for gratuitous work derserve respect; but I can understand your perspective.

Being labeled a cheap tipper generally means that others around you feel that you give less than you should. I am not here to remark on that debate; that is between the tipper and their own mental concepts.

However: if you feel you are a cheapskate as a tipper, that means that you feel you are giving the specific person less than you think they deserve. That's plain wrong. If you think your SCA deserves a gratuity of .05, $5, or $50, that is the minimum you should give them. Period. You would resent your boss giving you less than he thinks you deserve (especially since you likely, like almost everyone, think you deserve more than he does already!), so pay that forward.

There is a lot of lattitude in acting the way society expects you to. But there is nothing more unacceptable than failing to live up to your own personal standards. You did, after all, lay them out for yourself.
 
Sorry, but I can only afford to tip $5.00 because I live on a fixed income. I usually tip the day of my exit from the sleeper.
No need to apologize. Tipping is not required and there is no set amount for any service, on a train or elsewhere as far as I know (except when a "large" group of people dine together and a restaurant adds the tip to the bill)
 
Yes, trhere are many who do not tip. It is their option to tip. But also, I have found that a few think that tips are included since meals are included. I learned that a couple years ago when a couple questioned why I was leaving a tip when it was included in the Room fare. They were totally unaware that tips were not included. I think many option to save their money. Myself I tip according to the service I receive at each meal. Last summer, on my four train trip around the west I found maybe 50% tipped, could have been few more that I didn't see tip.
 
Yes, trhere are many who do not tip. It is their option to tip. But also, I have found that a few think that tips are included since meals are included. I learned that a couple years ago when a couple questioned why I was leaving a tip when it was included in the Room fare. They were totally unaware that tips were not included.
If people are telling you that they thought the tip was included it's probably to calm you down after you took it upon yourself to be a conspicuous tipper and forced the issue on them as some sort of guilt trip.
 
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Yes, trhere are many who do not tip. It is their option to tip. But also, I have found that a few think that tips are included since meals are included. I learned that a couple years ago when a couple questioned why I was leaving a tip when it was included in the Room fare. They were totally unaware that tips were not included.
If people are telling you that they thought the tip was included it's probably to calm you down after you took it upon yourself to be a conspicuous tipper and forced the issue on them as some sort of guilt trip.
You really like to get your knickers in a knot when it comes tipping, don't you? So...how do you draw the conclusion that Lonestar made a big deal about it, when he said that the other passengers questioned him about it?
 
I haven't been here long, but I get that tipping is a bit of an issue...

As an Australian, we do not have a tipping culture at all.

Having read a bit here, would it be appropriate to tip $5 if I see the SCA, and $0 if I don't see them at all?
 
I haven't been here long, but I get that tipping is a bit of an issue...

As an Australian, we do not have a tipping culture at all.

Having read a bit here, would it be appropriate to tip $5 if I see the SCA, and $0 if I don't see them at all?
As has been noted, you really don't have to tip at all; it's not like most (stationary) American restaurants where the server is essentially unpaid if you don't tip. However, $5 (per night) is certainly an acceptable tip if you feel comfortable with it and that the service has been worth it. That's exactly how much I used to tip up until just a couple of years ago; I usually left cash tips in the dining car that totaled about $10 per day and I decided that the service I received in my sleeping car should be considered comparable to the service I received in the diner.

As you note, though, there are occasionally Sleeping Car Attendants who are "Missing In Action" or who otherwise give poor service. That should earn not only a zero tip, but also a letter to Amtrak Customer Relations informing them of the lackluster employee. More often, though, you find onboard staff that do go out of their way to make your trip pleasant, and I hope that you encounter many such on your visit.
 
I haven't been here long, but I get that tipping is a bit of an issue...

As an Australian, we do not have a tipping culture at all.

Having read a bit here, would it be appropriate to tip $5 if I see the SCA, and $0 if I don't see them at all?
The discussion of tipping is like a reoccurring nightmare!

I tip the SCA $5 because I don't need anything extra, just for my bed to be made. As mentioned if they go an exceptional job, you may want to increase it to $10. But it would also depend on how many nights you're traveling too.

Now just as a sidenote, I am a cafe attendant, and during the touristy times of year I will get travelers from all over the world (just on Saturday I had multiple British and Chinese families/groups, and a family from Australia as well), and I try to be very recognizing about other cultures and tipping habits. I have said this many times and I'll say it again. I take no offense if I don't receive a tip, no matter the culture, provided you simply are friendly and thank me. I can't say we all are like this, but plenty of us are!
 
As you note, though, there are occasionally Sleeping Car Attendants who are "Missing In Action" or who otherwise give poor service. That should earn not only a zero tip, but also a letter to Amtrak Customer Relations informing them of the lackluster employee. More often, though, you find onboard staff that do go out of their way to make your trip pleasant, and I hope that you encounter many such on your visit.
As a specific example, on a trip from New Orleans to Houston five years ago an escrow check from a client fell out of my mother's purse while traveling in coach. I normally don't tip coach attendants at all, but I had spoken with this gentleman and had given him one of the business cards I use for my Streamliner Schedules site. He found the check after we left the train in Houston, gave me a call, and arranged to return it via postal mail. It was too late to tip him, but I did write a warm personal letter to Amtrak customer service letting them know that we were very pleased with the service we had received from Lloyd B.
 
Yes, trhere are many who do not tip. It is their option to tip. But also, I have found that a few think that tips are included since meals are included. I learned that a couple years ago when a couple questioned why I was leaving a tip when it was included in the Room fare. They were totally unaware that tips were not included.
If people are telling you that they thought the tip was included it's probably to calm you down after you took it upon yourself to be a conspicuous tipper and forced the issue on them as some sort of guilt trip.
You really like to get your knickers in a knot when it comes tipping, don't you? So...how do you draw the conclusion that Lonestar made a big deal about it, when he said that the other passengers questioned him about it?
Lonestar has previously informed us that he actively monitors and guides strangers into following his lead on tipping. Apparently it's very important to him that everyone know tipping is not "included." Except that virtually any functioning adult would already know that. Tipping is never included. That's what makes it a tip. If it was included it would be a service charge.

The only exception I can think of are cruise line packages, but even then you'd have to select and acknowledge your tipping plan before departure. There is no logical path which would lead a functioning adult to assume people are being silently tipped on their behalf at no specific cost to them. Perhaps Lonestar is referring to foreigners unfamiliar with America's arbitrary tipping culture, but even in that situation he's pushing a guilt trip where presumably well meaning people saw no reason to tip on their own.

I haven't been here long, but I get that tipping is a bit of an issue... As an Australian, we do not have a tipping culture at all. Having read a bit here, would it be appropriate to tip $5 if I see the SCA, and $0 if I don't see them at all?
Tip whatever you want or leave no tip at all. It's entirely up to you.
 
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