Tipping

[clairebearinaus]

Hello, as an Australian the tipping culture is foreign to me.  

 

Do US tipping practices apply in Mexican ports?  E.g. a tip for drivers, bartenders, restaurant servers.  What about street food vendors?  Tequila tasting?  Tour guide?  I don't want to offend anyone by getting this wrong.

 

Any advice, and guidance on rough amounts we should expect to pay, would be much appreciated!

[pinto18]

I am not sure what Mexican protocols are but for us we always tip restaurant servers/bartenders, driver and tour guides , not street vendors..tequila tasting I feel like they are just trying to sell you bottles so no tipping but then I feel guilty if I don't buy anything..Ultimately I figure, if we can afford it, a few dollars tips would mean more to them than the loss to me

[CruiserBruce]

Mexico is a place where we meet at least standard American tips, maybe more. Particularly if dealing with locals.

[jcc1025]

I admit that being from the service industry I overtip for the front line people just trying to get by, especially in Mexico so we always tip drivers, and food service workers including street vendors. Given the exchange rate a few bucks helps and its not a big deal for those of us who paid a lot more for our cruise. I know everyone will not agree with my position and that is ok but we are going down there in June and I have already started to stockpile ones and fives for our trip. 

[clairebearinaus]

Thanks everyone, that's good to know.

[Ine]

Most workers in tourisme, bars and restaurants hardly have a salary and depend on tips. So yes please tip. (propinas) 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 5/7/2023 at 3:42 PM, clairebearinaus said:

Hello, as an Australian the tipping culture is foreign to me. Do US tipping practices apply in Mexican ports?  E.g. a tip for drivers, bartenders, restaurant servers.  What about street food vendors?  Tequila tasting?  Tour guide?  I don't want to offend anyone by getting this wrong.

 

For drivers, bartenders, restaurant servers and tour guides, yes. Tequila tasting, I'd say it depends on how it is set-up. Street food vendor, no.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

We live in MX and the worse thing for locals is to over tip.  We do no more than 20% and usually 10-15% at a sit down.  If a street taco stand there's usually a tip jar and we drop a $1 or two.    

Edited June 4, 2023 by ATSEAMYLIFE

[criticmytravel]

In Mexican ports, tipping practices can vary, but they generally follow a similar pattern to the United States. It's customary to tip drivers, bartenders, and restaurant servers. For street food vendors, it will depend on you, but small changes or rounding up the bill is appreciated. In tequila tastings, a small tip is appropriate. As for tour guides, I tip around 10-15% of the tour cost.  

[Hlitner]

We live in Puerto Vallarta, for part of the year, and deal with tipping issues on a daily basis.  I come at this from the point of view of an American who calls Mexico his 2nd home and has a lot of respect for the hard working locals.  As a general rule, Mexicans do expect tips and often depend on tipping to make a living.  When it comes to eating venues and bars we are always generous (and overly generous when we like the folks/service).  A few extra pesos or dollars will not change my life, but it can be very important to the Mexicans who depend on the tourist industry.  In restaurants we will usually tip 15-20% (although during the bad COVID years we were more generous).  We are also generous with bar waiters who give us decent service.  The waiters who work at beach bars are very poorly paid and depend on tips to survive.

 

As to taxis, that is a more difficult question.  The Mexican culture does not call for tipping taxi drivers (many Mexican give little or no tips when they use a taxi) but the drivers are happy to accept tips.  Drivers do expect tips from "gringos" and that is just the way it is!   When a driver is honest with us (charges close to the appropriate fare) we are often quite generous with a tip.  But when a driver charges us "gringo prices" we are not very happy and show it!  

[SelectSys]

On 6/19/2023 at 9:02 AM, Hlitner said:

A few extra pesos or dollars will not change my life,

100% agree.