Tipping for Service

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nirtak

Train Attendant
Joined
Feb 28, 2017
Messages
27
What are the guidelines for tipping on Amtrak trains?

Who do you tip and how much?

I'm in a sleeper car in a roomette for my entire trip that spans 3 trains.

Thanks for the help.
 
Suggest you search this forum for "tipping" It's a subject that's been discussed extensively here. Bottom line: there is no rule about this, although many folks on this forum have strong opinions about it.
 
Although it's open for debate (some AU members say no), many tip the server in the dining car. Some tip a set amount (like $2 for breakfast, $3 for lunch and $4 for dinner) while others tip a % of what it would have cost if you paid for your meal. Remember that the same crew will serve all your meals for the entire trip - and they remember. So if you stiff them the first meal, you may not receive good service for each meal. Or if you tip well the first meal, your service may improve at later meals.

Never tip the Conductor or Engineer.
 
I most always travel in a bedroom. Usual tip for the sca is $5-10 per night never in advance. They mostly just make the bed. Ive had times when they introduce themselves and ask if Id like a glass of juice. Yes. And some empty my trash and keep the room clean with a little vacuum as I travel cross country. Also they ask if I need some ice for a little cooler I carry. That ups the tip to $10 per night.

I tip in the dining room $2-3 for breakfast or little more if staff is really friendly. More for lunch and dinner depending on service, etc. Everyone has different ideas and lots of info on this forum.
 
I usually tip the SCA $10 per night, more if there is two of us. I tip the SCA separate if he brings a meal to my room. In the DC, I always tip the first meal, especially if it will be a longer trip, unless the service is terrible. A bad server is still guaranteed a certain level of gratuity based on the revenue of the run. Obviously, the good servers want to make the most they can, so they always exceed the guarantee. Don't know if the there is any tip sharing (i.e. Cooks, LSA) like there is in some restaurants.
 
Maybe somebody ought to find the best one...and make it a sticky!

ETA: Or combine them all into a sticky, and call it, "The Ultimate Tipping On Amtrak Thread..."
 
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Thanks for the constructive tips. I did a search on tipping as some suggested, many of the posts were atleast 10 or more years old. Plus, it was a challange to weed through the non-tipping discussions about personal tipping opinions. So I thanks you for chiming in! I have an idea now of the expectations of what a SCA's job entails. From keeping the coffee, juice and slacks up, to keeping the ice stocked, etc. Its not just making and unmaking the beds each night. I didn't realize they take care of keeping the bathrooms clean too.
 
If the SCA does his/her job as I expect, $10/day is my usual gratuity. Better, more personal service/interaction with me will result in as much as $20/day.

In the Dining Car, I will tip as I usually do in a non-Amtrak restaurant. Expected service earns a 20% tip of what the the usual bill would be if I were not a Sleeping Car passenger.

I plede guilty to forgetting to offer a gratuity to the Lounge Car attendant at times. But, sometimes, the service received is nothing more than perfunctory. And, that does not really deserve a gratuity, I don't think.
 
What are the guidelines for tipping on Amtrak trains?

Who do you tip and how much?

I'm in a sleeper car in a roomette for my entire trip that spans 3 trains.

Thanks for the help.
I suggest you ask Amtrak directly if tipping is required rather than follow the self proclaimed tipping experts on the internet. Remember tipping is a 100% voluntary act in the USA.
 
Yes, it's voluntary.

I know there are OBS people who keep a mental file of the good tippers vs. the bad ones, and I know some of them adjust their subsequent service levels accordingly. Actually, throughout my long Amtrak career, I never wanted to clog up my brain with petty stuff like that, and I certainly didn't want to risk remembering incorrectly and giving second class service when "revenge" wasn't justified. Some people just can't afford a big tip, but they ought to get proper service just because that's what the job is. Some don't tip at all until the very end of the trip.

Life is too short to engage in such petty behavior.

Balance what you can afford against your perception of the effort the employee has expended on your behalf. I have received sleeper tips ranging from $2 per bed per night, to about $20 per bed per night. Even more on a few occasions. This is all according to the passenger's perceptions and ability to pay. Occasionally, the tip was zero either because the passenger was forgetful or unable to pay or in some cases upset. More often than not, the latter situation involved a late train which was out of my control.

In the diner, tip according to the service provided and the tipping standards for a comparable meal in a stationary restaurant.

Don't complicate it.

Tom
 
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Remember that the same crew will serve all your meals for the entire trip - and they remember. So if you stiff them the first meal, you may not receive good service for each meal.
Gotta love the passive aggressive angsty teenager attitude that results in deliberately poor service as punishment for paying customers.

Or if you tip well the first meal, your service may improve at later meals.
These days Amtrak meal service has been degraded and simplified to the point that there is almost nothing an Amtrak server can do to reward or penalize you regardless of how much you tip or not. What are they going to do? Make you a fresher meal? Upgrade your side dish? Make you a stronger drink? Their hands are already tied so reducing or increasing your tip isn't going to change anything of relevance.

Also they ask if I need some ice for a little cooler I carry. That ups the tip to $10 per night.
I usually travel by Amtrak in only one direction per trip. The other direction is usually a flight. That makes bringing a cooler a nonstarter for me. I don't generally need much from an SCA but I still tipped $10 each day just for making ice available overnight. When they got rid of the self service ice and cranberry juice cocktail I started running out of excuses to keep tipping.

In the diner, tip according to the service provided and the tipping standards for a comparable meal in a stationary restaurant. Don't complicate it.
Amtrak food seems to range from retirement home quality to sports arena quality. I don't normally tip in either of those situations so I'm not sure what sort of range to use. Maybe I'm just overthinking it? :ph34r:
 
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DA:

You say the server isn't able to improve the quality if the food. That's true to a certain extent. So ask yourself whether they served you promptly and pleasantly. Did they pay attention to you? Did they explain if there was any kind of problem or delay in service? Did they treat you as if they were happy to see you, or did they treat you like you were an unwelcome interruption? If you had any complaints, did they address them promptly and to your satisfaction? It's true that things aren't always perfect. The way the employee handles those imperfect situations says a lot, and really ought to be acknowledged when it's done well.

Tom
 
Money isn't the only tip that has value. If any Amtrak employee gives you especially good service, he/she will appreciate it if you report that to Amtrak. Here's a link to a page on amtrak.com for doing that.

And if your SCA is MIA, or you encounter other service problems, please report that to Amtrak, too.
 
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What are the guidelines for tipping on Amtrak trains?

Who do you tip and how much?

I'm in a sleeper car in a roomette for my entire trip that spans 3 trains.

Thanks for the help.
I suggest you ask Amtrak directly if tipping is required rather than follow the self proclaimed tipping experts on the internet. Remember tipping is a 100% voluntary act in the USA.
Also, service employees on Amtrak make an actual wage versus the "tipping wage" that restaurant waiters make in the US.
 
I'll say this about tipping in the dining car, make sure the server knows where the Rubles came from because their is a good chance its going to be the only tip left on the table. $5-7-10 is about normal for me+1for meals and usually if you are coming into the dining car from the same direction you will get the same server. $30/35 for the SCA up on departure. We are pretty self sufficient so as long as the beds get made up and changed back I'm good.
 
I know there are OBS people who keep a mental file of the good tippers vs. the bad ones, and I know some of them adjust their subsequent service levels accordingly.
I have seen this happen far too often on my Amtrak trips. This is nothing but entitlement on the part of the OBS. Restaurant waiters are paid less than minimum wage and customers are expected to make up for it with tips, but Amtrak OBS are full time employees who get paid decent wages and benefits, so technically there is no reason why they should expect tips.

Do you guys tip flight attendants on airplanes? They also serve food and drinks, so why not? Expecting tips just for doing your job, oh if only it worked that way in other industries. I am a software developer and I will deploy good code for you if you tip me, else I will deploy code with bugs... hmm doesn't work that way, does it?
 
So ask yourself whether they served you promptly and pleasantly. Did they pay attention to you? Did they explain if there was any kind of problem or delay in service? Did they treat you as if they were happy to see you, or did they treat you like you were an unwelcome interruption? If you had any complaints, did they address them promptly and to your satisfaction?
Honestly the number one thing that bothers me about the dining car isn't how they treat me but rather how they treat new customers. I already know the ropes because I've been riding Amtrak on and off for as long as I can remember. But brand new passengers don't know anything about the dining car setup and it's perfectly normal for them to be confused and unsure what to do. I really dislike it when the dining car staff snap and bark at people for not following a rule they didn't even know existed. I also hate it when the staff witness some minor mistake or misunderstanding and then take it upon themselves to shout at the rest of the car or even get on the PA and berate the entire train about it.

I know there are OBS people who keep a mental file of the good tippers vs. the bad ones, and I know some of them adjust their subsequent service levels accordingly.
I have seen this happen far too often on my Amtrak trips. This is nothing but entitlement on the part of the OBS. Restaurant waiters are paid less than minimum wage and customers are expected to make up for it with tips, but Amtrak OBS are full time employees who get paid decent wages and benefits, so technically there is no reason why they should expect tips. Do you guys tip flight attendants on airplanes? They also serve food and drinks, so why not? Expecting tips just for doing your job, oh if only it worked that way in other industries. I am a software developer and I will deploy good code for you if you tip me, else I will deploy code with bugs... hmm doesn't work that way, does it?
Compared to most jobs in the US today Amtrak staff are very well paid and receive extremely rare benefits that most industries and positions do not offer under any circumstances. I don't want to take those benefits away from them, but the idea that average Americans with typical American jobs should expect to tip Amtrak staff on top of their relatively high wages and exceptional benefits is a bit like a manager expecting to be tipped by his subordinates.
 
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Eagle:

I said I know it happens, but I didn't mean to suggest it dominates anybody's thinking. You can't compare an Amtrak OBS worker's long hours away from home with the working conditions of a worker in a stationary restaurant, or even a flight attendant who might spend a few hours in the air on a typical flight. Yes, Amtrak workers make a decent wage. That doesn't excuse other employers who pay their employees poorly and provide poor excuses for benefits. That's a completely different issue. The issue is whether rewarding good service is the sensible and decent thing to do.

Treating people decently and respectfully is always the best course.

Tom
 
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You can't compare an Amtrak OBS worker's long hours away from home with the working conditions of a worker in a stationary restaurant, or even a flight attendant who might spend a few hours in the air on a typical flight.
Why not? Flight attendants on long-haul flights also do up to 18 hours in a cramped plane, get a couple days break like the Amtrak staff does, and do another equally long flight again. What makes Amtrak OBS so special that they need to be tipped?

If rewarding good service is "sensible and decent thing to do" then why not go ahead and extend it to all professions? I provide excellent service to my clients as a software consultant, where is my 20% tip?

Like Devil's Advocate said, time and again Amtrak OBS goes on power trip and snaps at new customers, I have seen it far too many times to count and complain. They behave like they own the place, show respect only to sleeper car passengers because of the lure of earning tips. If this whole tipping/bribing to get good service practice is laid to rest, maybe they will finally be nice to all passengers.
 
Look, if you don't want to tip, just don't. You don't HAVE to, and I never said you did.

I'm tired of reading your rationalizations for not doing it. I'm tired of responding reasonably, and being answered with stubborn arguments. It's a matter of opinion and priorities. Yours are different from mine. Let's just leave it at that.

If this means Former OBS is going on a power trip and snapping at you, just as you think "Amtrak OBS" goes on power trips and snaps at customers, then make the most of it. It has happened, but it's not as common as you seem to think. Frankly, we all get to the point where our patience is stretched and tried, like now.

Lighten up, for crying out loud!

Tom
 
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Look, if you don't want to tip, just don't. You don't HAVE to, and I never said you did.
Sure I can not tip, but then I have to deal with grumpy OBS. My comment was not directed at you, it is for the newbies, like the person who started this thread- tipping is optional but if you want good service from the on-board staff, you will have to tip them. Go one day with tips and one day without tips and see how quickly the onboard staff behavior towards you will change!
 
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