Concur Sam. Tauck should just pay them, include it in the tour price and if someone does get more (like bringing an extra bag) then they can add a tip. My understanding of what the coach driver, TD and CD do is way higher now than on our first tour. I'm sure yours is too but people on the forum who are fairly new might not know. All Good.
Noreen - I suggest you provide those tips you describe in quarters. You should call Tauck and see if they will increase your luggage allowance to allow you to transport 4600 quarters throughout the tour for tipping. 😂
Maybe Tauck will initiate bringing a Brinks truck along on tours to carry tip money, kind of like they bring along a porta-potty on the Northern India/Nepal tour. 😂
In Namibia and probably South Africa, they don’t like to have $50 bills because they are difficult to exchange even at banks because of possible counterfeits or fraud. So that’s a lot of paper even in $20 bills.
While we are discussing tips and how to include them in the pricing of a tour, I'd like to add another aspect to the discussion. One of the first Tauck tours we took was in 2012 to Spain and Portugal. It was led by Joe Pereira. He was an American with Portuguese roots brought up on Fall River, MA. He was about our age and single.
He and his bus driver had developed a great relationship over the years to the point that Joe would stay with the bus driver (sleeping on his couch) in between tours and was the godfather for the bus driver's two children. He became the de facto grandfather.
Joe explained to us the challenges faced by a bus driver who didn't make that much money and was striving to provide housing for his family and to pay for good schooling, with a goal of living in a two or three room apartment.
Joe make a very generous request of us. He suggested that we cut back on his tip and give some of it as an additional amount for the bus driver. This has remained with me over the years as we've continued to take tours with Tauck.
If more money is put into the base price of the tour, I wouldn't guarantee how much of it would go to the bus driver and how much would remain with the contracted company. The bus company would have to pay more to drivers who drive for Tauck tours than for those who direct for other companies and could get tips. If I ran the company, I would not want to have this type of pay structure.
I think we are all in agreement that the TD should get something, somehow, from the guests above the current cost of the tour itself. I'm not sure there is complete agreement on the CD. Be that as it may, the real question is how; cash; electronic payment; increase in tour cost; pre-paid debit card, etc.
Just thinking out loud here:
Maybe Tauck could facilitate something similar to what my local newspaper does for home delivery, that is, give the guest the ability of adding a tip in amount determined by the guest to the Tauck billing. Ideally, it would be allowed at anytime before the tour starts. Tauck could add a line item to the guest's online account, or phone it in. Tauck could then forward it to the TD/CD after the tour ends so they don't know during the tour who's "naughty" or "nice" . When the tour ends, if the guest wants to, they could always top-up the pre-paid tip but not rescind it.
Yes, it would take some setting up and bookkeeping on Tauck's part but this isn't rocket science to figure out. If Tauck wanted to do both the guest and TD/CD a favor, the system could facilitate currency exchanges at a small charge to the recipient. This might not work for the CD since (I assume) Tauck has no control over who the driver would be. Also, there might be tax implications since the tip is now "on the books" but maybe they can try it just on a few US tours as a trial.
There has to be a way for the guest not to have the need to schlep around hundreds or even a thousand plus dollars (or equivalent) in cash for a couple of weeks or more. Thanks for listening.
Kathy M - I love your story about the friendship between the tour director and bus driver. Once, in the countryside of Norway, our tour director asked us if it would be okay for the bus driver to stop along the route so he could say hello to his elderly mother who lived with him and his family. He had done several back-to-back drives and missed her. As the bus slowed, there was a younger man with the driver's mother standing on the side of the road. The man and driver helped her into the bus and she proceeded to walk the length of the bus handing out cookies she had baked earlier. Like your experience, this has stayed with me through the years.
Offering gratuities is a personal choice and one that really does not need to be debated in my opinion. Tauck's suggested amounts are just that—a suggestion. I offer gratuities based solely on what I believe to be fair and equitable, and they are my way of offering a sincere 'thank you'.
No they are not merely a suggestion. Yes the amounts are suggested but they clearly state that this is a majority of the TD’s compensation. My take is that they are poorly paid by Tauck and dependent on tips. From Tauck: Helpful Tips and InformationTauck Director and Driver GratuitiesYour Tauck Director is looking forward to meeting you!One of the highlights of your Tauck journey will be your professional Tauck Director. Our TauckDirectors are passionate about sharing their knowledge of local customs, cultural traditions andcontemporary topics with our guests. They choreograph and facilitate each day's activities,working tirelessly to ensure that you get the utmost enjoyment from your journey. We have chosen not to include Tauck Director gratuities in the price of your tour because wetruly believe that gratuities are an important way for you to express your appreciation and toacknowledge your Tauck Director's genuine, personal interaction and superior customer service. Unlike most other tour guides, Tauck Directors receive no commissions on your shoppingpurchases, nor do they earn additional income by selling options to you on tour. They take greatpride in their work and are committed to making sure that you have the best possible experienceduring your travels. We ask that you extend gratuities on an individual basis rather than as a group, and we offer thefollowing guidelines to assist you in determining an appropriate amount:USD $12 per traveler, per day for the Tauck Director, or the equivalent amount in localcurrency.USD $8 per traveler, per day for the driver, or the equivalent amount in local currency.Please note: Although gratuities represent the majority of your Tauck Director's compensation, ourpolicy prohibits Tauck Directors from directly soliciting gratuities.
We are on the same page, Folsomdoc. Only once have I given the "suggested" amount to a tour director. I have always exceeded that—to both the director and coach driver because I believe the amounts are too low given the extraordinary work they do, especially behind the scenes.
Noreen , ourTD in Namibia took Venmo. She lived in the US so dollars was the preferred currency and she was grateful not to have to deal with the cash also. I’ve done both of your trips, although separately. Enjoy!
Just think of the amount of cash a TD has to carry multiplied by how many people are on a tour. Also many TD’s do back to back tours many times before they can even deposit the cash in the U.S. There is also the issue of bringing (what is allowed 5,000.00 or 10,000) of cash into a country. One of our tour directors told me he had been stopped at customs or security for the amount of cash on him. I do not how they detect that. Of course, it is supposed to be declared but who knows if that actually happens.
It was a slight change to recently communicate on WhatsApp with a tour director while on a tour, so I see no difference tipping through, Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, etc. I sense this will change in the very near future anyway.
Having been on Tauck tours where the TD gratuity is included, and those where it is not, I strongly prefer not having to worry about having large amounts of cash at the end of the tour for gratuities. I don't know why Tauck can include the gratuities in some tours, but not in all tours. If it is not practical to include the TD gratuities in all tours, I would prefer a safe transfer option over carrying cash, or trying to get cash locally at the end of the tour.
The issue I'll point our about an app like Venmo is that if you're not very careful you can send your money to the wrong person. A friend of mine used to pay her rent by Venmo. One month - for whatever reason - she senr her payment to the wrong person. Venmo brought up a payee that was close to her normal payee and she clicked on that.
Luckily, the person she sent the money to was honest and he sent it back. But there's no recourse on those apps. If you make a mistake no one, not the bank, not the app people, will recover your money for you. It's gone.
That's good when Venmo is used to sell something because the buyer can't complain that you didn't send what s/he ordered. There are people on PayPal who do that. They buy something then claim that what was shipped to them was not what was ordered. PayPal will tell them to return it and they ship junk back to the seller, claiming that's what they received. Then PayPal takes the money out of the seller's account and gives it to the buyer. Not much the seller can do.
We typically get the local currency towards the end of a trip at an ATM to give to the TD. The TD can most likely use the local funds as he/she will do another trip in the same country/region (e.g. in France, we give euro's). This avoids having to bring a large amount of USD and have to worry about it during the travels,
I don't think it is fair to compare a first time traveller to Namibia with TD's. I am assuming this is not their first trip and they are aware of where ATM's are located and safe to use. This will be our fourth trip to South Africa so we are more comfortable, however, even in a large supermarket in Victoria Falls they don't like to accept large bills even twenties as they don't have any change and will offer candy to you instead. This happened on our last trip there. The tipping amounts have increased enough to get our attention and while I agree the TD's and drivers do a great job it would be a lot easier and more comfortable if you could pay it in advance or just add it to the trip amount.
I don't give the local currency to the tour director, unless they specifically live in that country. Otherwise, they get stuck paying the bid/offer spread on a currency conversion and quite often the third world countries currencies can lag the US dollar, so they get hit two ways. Euros would be a different story because it's a widely used currency.
Would be nice if Tauck created an interface in your account associated with your tour. Then, just like you enter your airline arrival information, etc. after the tour you could enter a tip amount for the TD, driver (whoever is recommended for each tour) and Tauck could charge our credit cards just like they do when we make payments and Tauck could pay the people. WiFi is usually available at the final tour stop.
I know that implies credit card fees and such, but it moves the burden of cash management from the customer - Us, to the provider - Tauck.
After all, isn't the customer always right? I know such an interface would be way easier for me. I'm sure there are probably lots of reasons why this isn't a good idea. But it's getting to the point where some solution needs to be found other than bringing a suitcase full of cash with you (ATMS are not always available on all tours).
Sam- I echo British, sounds like a great idea. I don't have an issue carrying cash or using Venmo, but I could understand why others may not want to do so. Perhaps its an issue that could be raised with the professionals at Tauck and see if it is something they could work into their process. Can't hurt to ask.
The tips are included on riverboats, and small ship cruises because there are multiple TDs and tipping is problematical. On our last trip we had three TDs and a cruise director. There are many TDs who do not live in the U.S., so I’m sure cash tips work better for them. We normally put the expected tip amount in an envelope for the TD before we leave home. We have AirTags on almost everything, so tracking our stuff is fairly easy. The tip money lives with my passport. Both of those items require some care. We have occasionally used the ‘hotel’ safe when we did not have a working safe in our room. We typically carry a pile of U.S. singles that we.use as ‘thank yous’ for small favors.
Will Tauck make changes to "My Account" tour info or email updates to those who booked a year or more in advance, like we always do, to provide the current "suggested" TD/driver gratuity amount? That is a real consideration.
But do you figure out the tip you will give a waiter in a restaurant before he/she serves you. I give extra if the service was extraordinary (and less if it was bad). If Tauck added to the overall tour cost, I lose that option.
I agree with PF606590 that we give tips based upon the level of service received. For those of you who want to designate a tip up front, you may never have had extremely poor (or great) service. We had one TD who was so poor that we contacted Tauck after the tour and discussed the situation. (They gave us a credit towards a future trip.) When time came to give the TD a tip, we gave half of the recommendation. She did not deserve the recommended amount.
Maybe a solution would be that we could go to the Tauck website at the end of the tour, sign on so they know who we are, and leave the tip at that time with a credit card.
We could also do the evaluation at that time - on line. It would be easier for everyone to read the evaluations if they were done on line, in any case. Easier to route the evaluations to whoever needs to read them, and it would solve the problem of unreadable handwriting.
Additionally, the paper evaluation form does not give you enough room to do a very extensive evaluation.
Now you mention the evaluation form, yes, no room to write anything meaningful. The other company we travel with sends theirs by email a few days after the tour. We’ve only had one very poor TD. Everyone complained. No compensation! Met people on other tours who had him and they thought he was poor and lazy too.
Meanwhile, this tipping thing sure has opened up some discussion!
Mike - About 9 posts above yours I suggested using the Tauck website, specifically an individuals account to do just what you describe. That basically is what I submitted to Tauck via the Contact Tauck interface suggesting they do just that.
Comments
Concur Sam. Tauck should just pay them, include it in the tour price and if someone does get more (like bringing an extra bag) then they can add a tip. My understanding of what the coach driver, TD and CD do is way higher now than on our first tour. I'm sure yours is too but people on the forum who are fairly new might not know. All Good.
Noreen - I suggest you provide those tips you describe in quarters. You should call Tauck and see if they will increase your luggage allowance to allow you to transport 4600 quarters throughout the tour for tipping. 😂
Maybe Tauck will initiate bringing a Brinks truck along on tours to carry tip money, kind of like they bring along a porta-potty on the Northern India/Nepal tour. 😂
In Namibia and probably South Africa, they don’t like to have $50 bills because they are difficult to exchange even at banks because of possible counterfeits or fraud. So that’s a lot of paper even in $20 bills.
While we are discussing tips and how to include them in the pricing of a tour, I'd like to add another aspect to the discussion. One of the first Tauck tours we took was in 2012 to Spain and Portugal. It was led by Joe Pereira. He was an American with Portuguese roots brought up on Fall River, MA. He was about our age and single.
He and his bus driver had developed a great relationship over the years to the point that Joe would stay with the bus driver (sleeping on his couch) in between tours and was the godfather for the bus driver's two children. He became the de facto grandfather.
Joe explained to us the challenges faced by a bus driver who didn't make that much money and was striving to provide housing for his family and to pay for good schooling, with a goal of living in a two or three room apartment.
Joe make a very generous request of us. He suggested that we cut back on his tip and give some of it as an additional amount for the bus driver. This has remained with me over the years as we've continued to take tours with Tauck.
If more money is put into the base price of the tour, I wouldn't guarantee how much of it would go to the bus driver and how much would remain with the contracted company. The bus company would have to pay more to drivers who drive for Tauck tours than for those who direct for other companies and could get tips. If I ran the company, I would not want to have this type of pay structure.
I think we are all in agreement that the TD should get something, somehow, from the guests above the current cost of the tour itself. I'm not sure there is complete agreement on the CD. Be that as it may, the real question is how; cash; electronic payment; increase in tour cost; pre-paid debit card, etc.
Just thinking out loud here:
Maybe Tauck could facilitate something similar to what my local newspaper does for home delivery, that is, give the guest the ability of adding a tip in amount determined by the guest to the Tauck billing. Ideally, it would be allowed at anytime before the tour starts. Tauck could add a line item to the guest's online account, or phone it in. Tauck could then forward it to the TD/CD after the tour ends so they don't know during the tour who's "naughty" or "nice" . When the tour ends, if the guest wants to, they could always top-up the pre-paid tip but not rescind it.
Yes, it would take some setting up and bookkeeping on Tauck's part but this isn't rocket science to figure out. If Tauck wanted to do both the guest and TD/CD a favor, the system could facilitate currency exchanges at a small charge to the recipient. This might not work for the CD since (I assume) Tauck has no control over who the driver would be. Also, there might be tax implications since the tip is now "on the books" but maybe they can try it just on a few US tours as a trial.
There has to be a way for the guest not to have the need to schlep around hundreds or even a thousand plus dollars (or equivalent) in cash for a couple of weeks or more. Thanks for listening.
Kathy M - I love your story about the friendship between the tour director and bus driver. Once, in the countryside of Norway, our tour director asked us if it would be okay for the bus driver to stop along the route so he could say hello to his elderly mother who lived with him and his family. He had done several back-to-back drives and missed her. As the bus slowed, there was a younger man with the driver's mother standing on the side of the road. The man and driver helped her into the bus and she proceeded to walk the length of the bus handing out cookies she had baked earlier. Like your experience, this has stayed with me through the years.
Offering gratuities is a personal choice and one that really does not need to be debated in my opinion. Tauck's suggested amounts are just that—a suggestion. I offer gratuities based solely on what I believe to be fair and equitable, and they are my way of offering a sincere 'thank you'.
No they are not merely a suggestion. Yes the amounts are suggested but they clearly state that this is a majority of the TD’s compensation. My take is that they are poorly paid by Tauck and dependent on tips. From Tauck: Helpful Tips and InformationTauck Director and Driver GratuitiesYour Tauck Director is looking forward to meeting you!One of the highlights of your Tauck journey will be your professional Tauck Director. Our TauckDirectors are passionate about sharing their knowledge of local customs, cultural traditions andcontemporary topics with our guests. They choreograph and facilitate each day's activities,working tirelessly to ensure that you get the utmost enjoyment from your journey. We have chosen not to include Tauck Director gratuities in the price of your tour because wetruly believe that gratuities are an important way for you to express your appreciation and toacknowledge your Tauck Director's genuine, personal interaction and superior customer service. Unlike most other tour guides, Tauck Directors receive no commissions on your shoppingpurchases, nor do they earn additional income by selling options to you on tour. They take greatpride in their work and are committed to making sure that you have the best possible experienceduring your travels. We ask that you extend gratuities on an individual basis rather than as a group, and we offer thefollowing guidelines to assist you in determining an appropriate amount:USD $12 per traveler, per day for the Tauck Director, or the equivalent amount in localcurrency.USD $8 per traveler, per day for the driver, or the equivalent amount in local currency.Please note: Although gratuities represent the majority of your Tauck Director's compensation, ourpolicy prohibits Tauck Directors from directly soliciting gratuities.
We are on the same page, Folsomdoc. Only once have I given the "suggested" amount to a tour director. I have always exceeded that—to both the director and coach driver because I believe the amounts are too low given the extraordinary work they do, especially behind the scenes.
Noreen , ourTD in Namibia took Venmo. She lived in the US so dollars was the preferred currency and she was grateful not to have to deal with the cash also. I’ve done both of your trips, although separately. Enjoy!
Yes, we've been worried about the amount of cash we have to carry, but the TD has to carry a whole lot at the end of the tour.
Just think of the amount of cash a TD has to carry multiplied by how many people are on a tour. Also many TD’s do back to back tours many times before they can even deposit the cash in the U.S. There is also the issue of bringing (what is allowed 5,000.00 or 10,000) of cash into a country. One of our tour directors told me he had been stopped at customs or security for the amount of cash on him. I do not how they detect that. Of course, it is supposed to be declared but who knows if that actually happens.
It was a slight change to recently communicate on WhatsApp with a tour director while on a tour, so I see no difference tipping through, Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, etc. I sense this will change in the very near future anyway.
Having been on Tauck tours where the TD gratuity is included, and those where it is not, I strongly prefer not having to worry about having large amounts of cash at the end of the tour for gratuities. I don't know why Tauck can include the gratuities in some tours, but not in all tours. If it is not practical to include the TD gratuities in all tours, I would prefer a safe transfer option over carrying cash, or trying to get cash locally at the end of the tour.
The issue I'll point our about an app like Venmo is that if you're not very careful you can send your money to the wrong person. A friend of mine used to pay her rent by Venmo. One month - for whatever reason - she senr her payment to the wrong person. Venmo brought up a payee that was close to her normal payee and she clicked on that.
Luckily, the person she sent the money to was honest and he sent it back. But there's no recourse on those apps. If you make a mistake no one, not the bank, not the app people, will recover your money for you. It's gone.
That's good when Venmo is used to sell something because the buyer can't complain that you didn't send what s/he ordered. There are people on PayPal who do that. They buy something then claim that what was shipped to them was not what was ordered. PayPal will tell them to return it and they ship junk back to the seller, claiming that's what they received. Then PayPal takes the money out of the seller's account and gives it to the buyer. Not much the seller can do.
We typically get the local currency towards the end of a trip at an ATM to give to the TD. The TD can most likely use the local funds as he/she will do another trip in the same country/region (e.g. in France, we give euro's). This avoids having to bring a large amount of USD and have to worry about it during the travels,
I don't think it is fair to compare a first time traveller to Namibia with TD's. I am assuming this is not their first trip and they are aware of where ATM's are located and safe to use. This will be our fourth trip to South Africa so we are more comfortable, however, even in a large supermarket in Victoria Falls they don't like to accept large bills even twenties as they don't have any change and will offer candy to you instead. This happened on our last trip there. The tipping amounts have increased enough to get our attention and while I agree the TD's and drivers do a great job it would be a lot easier and more comfortable if you could pay it in advance or just add it to the trip amount.
I don't give the local currency to the tour director, unless they specifically live in that country. Otherwise, they get stuck paying the bid/offer spread on a currency conversion and quite often the third world countries currencies can lag the US dollar, so they get hit two ways. Euros would be a different story because it's a widely used currency.
Would be nice if Tauck created an interface in your account associated with your tour. Then, just like you enter your airline arrival information, etc. after the tour you could enter a tip amount for the TD, driver (whoever is recommended for each tour) and Tauck could charge our credit cards just like they do when we make payments and Tauck could pay the people. WiFi is usually available at the final tour stop.
I know that implies credit card fees and such, but it moves the burden of cash management from the customer - Us, to the provider - Tauck.
After all, isn't the customer always right? I know such an interface would be way easier for me. I'm sure there are probably lots of reasons why this isn't a good idea. But it's getting to the point where some solution needs to be found other than bringing a suitcase full of cash with you (ATMS are not always available on all tours).
Call Tauck Sam and suggest it! Maybe they will give you a free tour!
Sam- I echo British, sounds like a great idea. I don't have an issue carrying cash or using Venmo, but I could understand why others may not want to do so. Perhaps its an issue that could be raised with the professionals at Tauck and see if it is something they could work into their process. Can't hurt to ask.
The tips are included on riverboats, and small ship cruises because there are multiple TDs and tipping is problematical. On our last trip we had three TDs and a cruise director. There are many TDs who do not live in the U.S., so I’m sure cash tips work better for them. We normally put the expected tip amount in an envelope for the TD before we leave home. We have AirTags on almost everything, so tracking our stuff is fairly easy. The tip money lives with my passport. Both of those items require some care. We have occasionally used the ‘hotel’ safe when we did not have a working safe in our room. We typically carry a pile of U.S. singles that we.use as ‘thank yous’ for small favors.
Will Tauck make changes to "My Account" tour info or email updates to those who booked a year or more in advance, like we always do, to provide the current "suggested" TD/driver gratuity amount? That is a real consideration.
But do you figure out the tip you will give a waiter in a restaurant before he/she serves you. I give extra if the service was extraordinary (and less if it was bad). If Tauck added to the overall tour cost, I lose that option.
British - I submitted something via the Contact Tauck interface. I’ll let people know if I hear anything from Tauck.
I agree with PF606590 that we give tips based upon the level of service received. For those of you who want to designate a tip up front, you may never have had extremely poor (or great) service. We had one TD who was so poor that we contacted Tauck after the tour and discussed the situation. (They gave us a credit towards a future trip.) When time came to give the TD a tip, we gave half of the recommendation. She did not deserve the recommended amount.
Kathy M - I did the same with a bad TD - 50%. I was tempted to put a single dollar bill in the envelope, but I refrained.
Maybe a solution would be that we could go to the Tauck website at the end of the tour, sign on so they know who we are, and leave the tip at that time with a credit card.
We could also do the evaluation at that time - on line. It would be easier for everyone to read the evaluations if they were done on line, in any case. Easier to route the evaluations to whoever needs to read them, and it would solve the problem of unreadable handwriting.
Additionally, the paper evaluation form does not give you enough room to do a very extensive evaluation.
Now you mention the evaluation form, yes, no room to write anything meaningful. The other company we travel with sends theirs by email a few days after the tour. We’ve only had one very poor TD. Everyone complained. No compensation! Met people on other tours who had him and they thought he was poor and lazy too.
Meanwhile, this tipping thing sure has opened up some discussion!
Mike - About 9 posts above yours I suggested using the Tauck website, specifically an individuals account to do just what you describe. That basically is what I submitted to Tauck via the Contact Tauck interface suggesting they do just that.
@Smiling Sam - What's that old saying? "Great minds think alike"?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/travel/how-to-avoid-pickpockets-and-street-scams.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
If you have access to The NY Times, this article more or less covers all we have been discussing, especially not carrying around lots of cash.