Just walk along the train handing them out. Scatter gun tipping. One day you might give some money to someone that's actually done something extra for you!Tip a bill every time they do something. Change wake up call? $2. Change your room? $2. Bring your meal to you? $2. Set the beds for the night? $2.Other than for meals in the dining car, what types of service might one tip only $2 for? That is below the customary level of tips for sleeping car attendents, which per other threads tend to run $5-10-20.While I won't deny that there have been issues with people trying to use 2 bills, neither your sleeping car attendant nor the LSA toss you off the train. Especially for tipping them with a 2 bill. Only a conductor has the power to throw you off the train. Perhaps if one tried to pay for one's meal, they might have a case with the conductor if all were so uninformed about the bills, since that could be considered theft of services.but how many LSA or SAs will say that's a counterfeit bill and have you tossed off the train. there have been incidents like that.So, yes. $2 bills should be an integral part of your kit.
However a tip is a reward for service, not payment for service. If they don't believe that the bill is real, the only things that they can do is to throw it away and give you lousy service. Having a condcutor throw you off the train for possible false tipping is not an option.
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The Fed would very much like to eliminate the $1 bill, as would those who have vending machines and TVM's. That's why we keep reintroducing the $1 coin in differing sizes and styles hoping that it will catch on. So far the public at large is resisting that idea, preferring to hold onto the bills instead. I suspect that eventually one day the costs issues will eventually force the Fed to simply stop making $1 bills, which will force us to the coin.
A $2 coin isn't even on the radar at the moment, since we can't even get acceptance of the $1 coin.
AAARGH!
Conductor
TRhe US treasury would love to, but there is no support for it. We love our greenbacks too much. The acceptance of the Susan B. Anthony and the current $1 coins (or lack thereof) should be proof of that.
Coins cost less to make and last MUCH longer.
I do love the Canadian "looney" and "twoney". Much easier to deal with.
printman2000
Engineer
Whoa! Hold on! I believe they use special toilet paper on the trains that work with the special system they use. Seems I remember someone saying here before that normal TP could really screw up the system. I would certainly not want to be the one who clogged up the system on a crowded coach car.
Anyone else have info on this?
I'm not so certain about the Superliner cars, but I know that the Viewliner's use a special type of toilet paper. Even on the Superliners though if it's not special, it's also not a real thick TP, again most likely due to not wanting to gum up the works.
ALC Rail Writer
Engineer
Um okay. Then I shouldn't tip the SCA at all then? Because that's what you're suggesting as an alternative.Just walk along the train handing them out. Scatter gun tipping. One day you might give some money to someone that's actually done something extra for you!Tip a bill every time they do something. Change wake up call? $2. Change your room? $2. Bring your meal to you? $2. Set the beds for the night? $2.Other than for meals in the dining car, what types of service might one tip only $2 for? That is below the customary level of tips for sleeping car attendents, which per other threads tend to run $5-10-20.While I won't deny that there have been issues with people trying to use 2 bills, neither your sleeping car attendant nor the LSA toss you off the train. Especially for tipping them with a 2 bill. Only a conductor has the power to throw you off the train. Perhaps if one tried to pay for one's meal, they might have a case with the conductor if all were so uninformed about the bills, since that could be considered theft of services.but how many LSA or SAs will say that's a counterfeit bill and have you tossed off the train. there have been incidents like that.So, yes. $2 bills should be an integral part of your kit.
However a tip is a reward for service, not payment for service. If they don't believe that the bill is real, the only things that they can do is to throw it away and give you lousy service. Having a condcutor throw you off the train for possible false tipping is not an option.
Why does it matter whether you give the SCA $10 in the morning or $10 scattered throughout the day whenever s/he does something for you? If you're going to give money, I'd rather do it when I get something back.
T
Tony
Guest
I think they use the same t-paper that is used for camping trailers and outhouses; the type of t-paper that disintegrates quickly in a holding tank.
However, I always bring my own (soft, comfortable, absorbent, plush) t-paper on the Viewliners, and have never had a problem.
Tipping encourages performing seal behaviour. Don't pay them extra to do their job!
ALC Rail Writer
Engineer
Ah, so you would still say no whether I use a two-dollar bill or a ten-dollar bill at once... you just don't tip SCA.
I generally consider myself stingy-- but some SCAs are very nice, on and off the job.
AKA
OBS Chief
Same story in San Diego about the same time Same result. Sailors and dogs keep off the grass :angry: Up till then.
AKA
OBS Chief
Has anyone ever used $1 dollar coins for tipping?Two dollar bills are NOT rare. Over $1 Billion Dollars worth of them were printed in the summer of 2006. (series 2003A)
I've spent over 8,276 of them over the last 3 years. (Yes. I do keep track of them. www.wheresgeorge.com )
What happens is that people save them in their sock drawer thinking they are rare. Most merchants don't like them so they send them back to the bank. Banks don't like to deal with them so they send them back to the local Federal Reserve.
Ask for them at your local banks. If your bank doesn't have any ask them to order you a strap (100 bills, $200) If they say they can't, it simply means they don't want to. They need to understand at that point you are the customer.
So, yes. $2 bills should be an integral part of your kit.
Not $ 1.00 coins, but the $2.00 coins in Canada. [ Looneis? ]
Well, we've tried to hash this out in other threads before, but I'll bring it up again: if "performing seal" behavior works in my favor, why not? Tipping is so ingrained in American culture, for better or for worse, that regardless of your personal feelings about it, you're not going to change anything by not tipping or tipping stingily as a one-man protest operation. All you're going to do is further the reputation that foreigners are stingy and not worth providing good service to and therefore harm your fellow countrymen when they come over to visit, since they'll probably receive poorer service as a result of you and other folks from overseas not tipping. And yeah, an Amtrak SCA earning $40k per year may be able to survive without your tip (though my better-performing entry-level sales agents make more than one of them does--hardly a gravy-train job for such grueling hours!), but in the case of restaurant servers or hotel housekeeping or other low-paying jobs, you're hurting a working single mother's ability to put food on the table for her kid. You have no control over how much the restaurant owner pays his/her employees, and you staging your one-man protest does nothing but hurt the recipient.
When in Rome...
caravanman
Engineer
You guys seem to make tea with water that is warm.. BOILING water is just the job for a proper cuppa!
Caravan Man makes tea aboard Amtrak train!
Cheers!
Ed B)
Caravan Man makes tea aboard Amtrak train!
Cheers!
Ed B)
Rail Freak
Engineer
I tip, but I detest it with a passion.
caravanman
Engineer
I think it is awkward to know how to behave sometimes, when away from familiar shores. I never want to offend anyone, but I honestly don't want help to get out of a cab and walk into a hotel.. If I have traveled halfway around the world without a doorman, I am sure I can make it to the front desk unaided!
Perhaps it would be as well to give out "how to behave" leaflets along with the immigration and visa waiver forms aboard incoming planes?
Ed B)
Don't worry, I do tip aboard the train!
Perhaps it would be as well to give out "how to behave" leaflets along with the immigration and visa waiver forms aboard incoming planes?
Ed B)
Don't worry, I do tip aboard the train!
Intrigued, does your kettle work on 110 volts?
And just what did your fare include? Tips are bribes. Baksheesh.Tip a bill every time they do something. Change wake up call? $2. Change your room? $2. Bring your meal to you? $2. Set the beds for the night? $2.Other than for meals in the dining car, what types of service might one tip only $2 for? That is below the customary level of tips for sleeping car attendents, which per other threads tend to run $5-10-20.While I won't deny that there have been issues with people trying to use 2 bills, neither your sleeping car attendant nor the LSA toss you off the train. Especially for tipping them with a 2 bill. Only a conductor has the power to throw you off the train. Perhaps if one tried to pay for one's meal, they might have a case with the conductor if all were so uninformed about the bills, since that could be considered theft of services.but how many LSA or SAs will say that's a counterfeit bill and have you tossed off the train. there have been incidents like that.So, yes. $2 bills should be an integral part of your kit.
However a tip is a reward for service, not payment for service. If they don't believe that the bill is real, the only things that they can do is to throw it away and give you lousy service. Having a condcutor throw you off the train for possible false tipping is not an option.
JUST DO IT. (Sorry, hate to shout)
Whatcha going to do, tip $5 because you haven't got a one?
Since when did the toilets actually work.
Cardinal last month and two of three coaches had no toilets, CZ had the toilets out over the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. Lucky I had a bedroom on both trains - at least on the CZ I only had to smell my own :angry: .
Honestly--I originally liked the idea of a dollar coin. Now, though, I'm with those who are opposed (and I even have a stack of 25 Sacajawea dollar coins sitting six inches from my mouse!). I HATE CHANGE. All change I receive goes out of my pocket and in a jar at home. Once a year, I take the jar in to the bank and get a couple hundred bucks out of it--hardly enough to really waste my time hauling it around in my pockets. If I had dollar coins, though, I would probably end up with thousands of dollars in change! (Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea...forced savings and all...) And I would STILL hate hauling it around in my pockets, finding a place to put it every night and remembering to grab it the next morning.
As it is, I abhor having to carry any kind of cash around (I use my mileage-earning credit cards for everything possible, and often, if a place doesn't take them, I'll rather skip buying there than having to go to an ATM [especially finding one affiliated with my credit union so I don't get charged a withdrawal fee]). Hauling $20s, $10s, $5s and even $1s is hard enough...hauling a pocket full of heavy coins would be even worse.
As far as tipping with cash: I'm rarely in a position where that's necessary. At restaurants, I tip on my credit card, and I'm never in other situations where I need to tip. When I travel, I generally don't stay in places with bellhops (thus negating the need to tip them) and don't use taxis (preferring public transportation or rental cars...and some taxis in NYC are nice enough now to have a credit card swiper in the cab itself that you can put the fare and tip on!).
I prefer to think of a tip as a sales commission...but one that I get to decide the amount of. If the person sells himself or herself well to me, then I am happy to reward them with a commission in the form of a tip. Actually, most of the time, I'm quite happy to write an amount on my charge slip in the tip column, because if I've received good service, which I usually do, I feel good to reward the person for their hard work. I'm also not naturally stingy and have often been called generous, and so giving to others always makes me feel good, so that probably comes into play, too. Therefore, the whole concept of stingy tipping and tipping with a bad attitude is somewhat foreign to me.
I think this article, which I think has been mentioned before, does the subject well. I've enclosed some applicable excerpts:
And this one, somewhat applicable for this discussion!:
And on top of that, it's not like you're being forced to spend more money, because the food is often cheaper here as well. So the net result is that you're spending the same--you're just in control!
Oh, and here is the reputation that foreigners who don't tip are leaving with Americans:
Now, there are valid points to be made by those who are not in favor of tipping, such as the person posting two posts below the one in the above link who makes a reasoned argument (and one I wouldn't necessarily disagree with if the system in America were changed), but as much as you might disagree with the culture, it's part of the experience and you have no right to do it with "disgust." Southeast Asian culture isn't easy to get used to (you're constantly having to fight from getting lied to, ripped off, scammed, and taken advantage of), but it's part and parcel of the experience.
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$1 CAN coin= Loonie (loon bird on the reverse)
$2 CAN coin= Toonie
$2 CAN coin= Toonie
Hey, I do the same and i'm saving a fortune that way!
Have you ever thought of a burglar running away with 10 pounds of small change, that doesn't work if you put your change into a plastic bag which ist too weak.
In Europe it's very simple: You have to include taxes and service, no matter if it is a hotel, a restaurant an airline or a touris attraction.
Thus some europeans feel pretty ripped-off every time they see a price on a tag and then get another on the bill.
The first time I 've been to an amtrak dining car, my server also didn't get decent a tip, because I was riding in sleeper and thought that these things were included, like they are in europe. But as you can see, i'm able to learn.
I suggest you d' add a disclaimer to the immigration form:
"Taxes and wages of the servers not included"
or even among the immigration questions: "I will tip all servers in the US with 20%"
caravanman
Engineer
Kenwood make (or made) a dual voltage kettle. Now, by dual voltage, I mean there is a switch to select which voltage. Some kettles work on both voltages 110 + 240 without any changeover, but these latter types take forever to boil on 110..
I currently have a handy 110v travel kettle that I bought in America, just big enough to accomodate a nice bone china cup inside, together with 40 PG tips tea bags!
Cheers,
Ed B)
I currently have a handy 110v travel kettle that I bought in America, just big enough to accomodate a nice bone china cup inside, together with 40 PG tips tea bags!
Cheers,
Ed B)
I like this perspective on tipping from John Pitt, author of USA by Rail, and, I believe, a native of Great Britain. In his section for visitors to the US from overseas, he writes "You may think that tipping is a class-conscious anachronism inappropriate for a country where everyone has been proclaimed equal. This is not a good line to adopt with the average cab driver. He expects 10% to 15%, as do bartenders and hairdressers, and in restaurants, 20% is more usual. Follow the practice of other customers or you may notice an abrupt change in the standard of service...................Of course, you don't have to tip anyone who is rude or unhelpful. Amtrak service is free but attendants should be rewarded for exceptional assistance."
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