How much do you tip at the commissary?

[Un4given]

My wife brought it up today and she said the going rate (in her circle of military spouses) is $1 per $50 spent on groceries. I usually just toss 'em a $5 bill.

Thoughts?

[Cerebroden]

that's about right, usually 2 or 3 bucks but here at gordon they don't take the bags out to the car for you so we'll see

[Aries]

umm.. isnt it the same as if you are at the grocery store? If you have enough shit that they actually have to take it to the car, its at least 3-5 bucks. depending on how much cash you have on you.

[cadet_scotto]

I never tip less than 4, but I also hardly ever have enough groceries for them to bring them to my car anyway. If they just bag 'em at the end of the checkout thing, I usually tip 2 bucks.

[Cerebroden]

well I'm living in a hotel with no oven and no stove so I doubt I'll have enough to test that theory so I'll check out for others but I'm pretty sure they just bag here.

[Jake the Skillet]

That's what we do too. usually about 4 bucks

[TheTokenGook]

My wife brought it up today and she said the going rate (in her circle of military spouses) is $1 per $50 spent on groceries. I usually just toss 'em a $5 bill.

Thoughts?

sounds like the spouses are putting too much thought into it, especially considering you and everyone else in this thread give them 3-5 automatically.

[Un4given]

sounds like the spouses are putting too much thought into it, especially considering you and everyone else in this thread give them 3-5 automatically.
Probably so. I was just wondering if anyone else actually put any thought into it, I know I haven't before the other day.

We do pretty good when we go there... $130 whereas the same groceries would've been about $160-$200 at Walmart assuming we would've bought name brand at Walmart but usually we just go with Great Value.

[Birddog]

Wife gives 3-4 bucks... I give 1-3, only because I load the car and all they do is stand there at the cart...

[kleinmi3]

Wife gives 3-4 bucks... I give 1-3, only because I load the car and all they do is stand there at the cart...

That makes me feel better. I usually give at least 20 coins(could be quarters, could be nickles, could be a mix) :-O but if I have a few bucks, I will toss that out there. What? Times are tight! But with that new Captain pay, I may be able to throw in some extra change. Oh, and I can't stand going to the Commissary because that keeps me at work longer. When the day is over or the weekend comes, the last place I want to go is back to Post.

[Sassy05]

I consider myself a SME being that I bagged groceries when I was 16. I got .50-$5 usually, if anything. Five dollar tips were rare. However, supposedly they don't make an hourly wage at the commissary. However, I have trouble feeling sorry for them since they could likely find a job elsewhere or doing a job at the commissary that does provide an hourly wage. With that being said, I don't buy much at the commissary, and when I do shop there, I typically go through self-checkout and bag ym own groceries. I'm also a grocery-bagging snob, being that I am a professional bagger, so I don't typically like the way other people bag my groceries.

[Rumple_Manskin]

I've worked at a supermarket (Publix) for the past 2 years and it's extremely rare for us to get tipped. It's company policy for some reason, even though we have to try to help every single customer out to their car.

The people at the commissary are much better off not getting paid a standard wage. I've made near minimum wage for almost 2 years (minimum wage seems to go up every time i'm supposed to get a raise, so they just don't give me an additional raise), and you could actually make way more with tips as long as you're nice and try to be helpful.

[Aries]

umm.. our policy when I worked at Publix was no tipping as well. Managers also told us to only say no to a tip once. Cuz customers actually got pissed. Used to have a lady just drop the money and say "you dropped something".

[Rumple_Manskin]

I had one ugly ass lady thrust her hand into my back pocket and gave me a dollar in change while squeezing my ass at the same time...scarred for life.

And yea, my team leader/coordinators told me the same thing. Say no once or twice and if they still want to tip you then let them. I never understood why we can't accept tips.... it would actually give us the motivation to want to provide good customer service like want us to. I live in a pretty affluent area where tips would be pretty decent if people thought they were allowed to tip us..

[Un4given]

Tipping... Truly the survival of the fittest. At a restaurant I'm all for leaving $0.02 simply to make a point regarding the service... I don't care if you need to feed your family, you better perform well then. In any other job (without tips) you'd simply be fired for under-performance. I also tip heavy for superb service. Just my take.

[TKOriginal]

2 bucks, unless it's the tiny Asian lady, she gets $4.

[Associate289]

$5 my ass. It just took you less than 2 minutes to bag my shit. Extrapolate $5/2 minutes out to an hour and that's ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS AN HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!! My math is solid. They don't deserve that much.

[TheTokenGook]

2 bucks, unless it's the tiny Asian lady, she gets $4.

$5 if its Ms Swan?

[Skull6]

It's rumored that Un4's been known to pass on the following advice at times:

"Ain't nuthin like a happy ending at the commissary!" ;)