Charge what is appropriate and get away from the tipping nonsense.

I don't tip my doctor, my lawyer, my plumber, my car mechanic, my kid's teachers .......... they are all professionals. Massage therapists are no different.

20% on some massages is just way too much in my opinion. I generally tip around $10 flat for an hour massage. If they are making $20 - $30 out of the price you are paying, plus the $10 tip, on an hour's worth of work that isn't too bad.

PLEASE KNOW THAT THE TERM "MASSEUSE" is no longer acceptable. We are MASSAGE THERAPISTS.

I read the massage therapist posts above,and feel badly for them. Before opening my Day Spa I worked likey did, fortunately I usually got 40% - 50%. But I know that is not usually the case. When I have more clients than I want to handle, and have to hire, my new hire will get 50% and will be responsible to handle all their own taxes as a contracted employee (that's not cheap by the way).

The reason I say owners should be tipped isbecause I am the owner and oNly massage Therapist at my day Spa. I have people say "I don't usually Tip the owner'". WHY NOT? All that means iS we have expenses to pay.
Don't get me wrong I don't EXPECT a tip. But I give an excellent 60 minute bamboo Massage, deep tissue when needed, hot cloth wipe down, and only charge $49 per hour. I give one of the BEST massages in town. If you take pride in what you do YOU do get tipped. Some people just don't know to tip, and yes I'm just going to say it "some" are just cheap.

Owners should be tIpped too. If you like your service don't you tip? We are no different than anExcellent waitress, excellent nail tech, excellent hairdresser...except foR the fact that we make you feel better (if we are doing it right). I look at it this way if you are doing it because you are in pain, don't tip if you can't afford to. If you are doing it to relax and destress, then it's no different than going out to dinner or going to the hair dresser!

as a massage therapist i just want to say very rarely does an LMT get paid 50% commission i work at a day spa and get paid 14$-21$ / an hour session. they charge 50-120$ i do not get an hourly wage for being at work: doing laundry and tidying up. if i have a slow day (2 appointments) lets say one swedish and one deep tissue i only get 35$ i pay my bills with tips. please understand that this is something i studied, practiced and mastered it also takes a lot out o f us physically we are taking away your stresses, aches and pains how is that not worth another 10$? same as a restaurant if you dont have enough to tip your waitress eat at home. when planning a spa day, plan to tip

I'm a Massage Therapist, I'd rather get better pay than tipped. However, some companies rip us off-they'll charge $85 for a massage but give us $10 for each client. it seems to be a rarity to receive 40% of what is charged, but that's not your problem. We understand times are hard, especially if you're making minimum wage it takes forever to save up $ a massage. I worked at jobs that you get paid per client, you can hang out for 9 hours at work at do 4 massages=$40, people cancel, you have no shows and that's when tips really matter and help us. $10 tips are always nice, some people pay in gift cards-you can get creative. I have a farmer who gives me a bushel of veggies and that means a lot to me. High end salons don't always pay their therapist that well, $12 per client at the low end, just keep that in mind. I had a $300 tip once, I worked on someone who was supposed to have surgery and after 3 weeks of massage he didn't need surgery any more. Some people are more generous than others. Also some therapist will hook you up if you are a good tipper (longer session, you get your full time if late, etc). Really just tip whatever you can afford.

You're not cheap. He owns his own business so he gets 100%. Not tipping is entirely appropriate in your case.

Interesting. The therapist I see owns his on business and states on his website that tipping isn't necessary and he asks you save that $$ for another visit. So because of this I never tip, but reading this I feel cheap.

It just depends on the setting.

I worked at a chain and made $12.00/hour plus tips. This was standard though there were a few supervisor type roles that paid a few dollars more per hour. Here, I needed tips to feel like it was worth my time and yes, hard physical work.

I worked at a wellness center and received 50% of the service cost which began at $60 an hour. I did not need or expect tips here because I was paid well.

Tipping is always optional, but if you're using a chain, chances are your tip is the primary source of income for the therapist. Should it be different? I think so. I'd prefer a no-tip culture where employers paid their employees a fair wage rather than pass that expense along to the customer. I agree with PP that you don't tip your acupuncturist and chiropractor and MTs should fall into the same category. However, the field is viewed differently in different settings and the salary varies wildly. Maybe some day we will just be viewed as professionals and paid accordingly, but for now it's sometimes a spa luxury and sometimes health care.

I loved my work and really enjoyed working at both places. I would never recommend it so someone who needed a full-time job though. It's a great second job or as a hobby job. For me, it was more of a hobby and I enjoyed it so much that I worked more than I should have and suffered a permanent injury. It's true that MTs should not work more than 20 hours a week. I tried to be an exception and despite a three year break and lots of physical therapy, I have been in pain since.

Side note for those who said MTs don't have the costs of maintaining professional credentials. Yes, we do. We buy our own liability insurance, we pay to be licensed by city, county, state and national boards and for continuing education.

I agree with the statement that tipping is getting out of control. When I see the acupuncturist I do not tip them. And they are doctors. When I work in a clinic myself or work with private clients I charge a fee for service and I do not accept any tips and I am a licensed professional. So why should I tip a massage therapist who works in the same field and gets paid more than these other clinical professionals who actually have higher degrees and more training?it is very convoluted and warped situation

20-100% I have been a massage therapist/instructor for 25 years. I stopped teaching massage because I have seen how wonderful people who have the intention of doing healing work and wanting to be treated as professionals are being treated as (I don't know what) by corporations. I cannot recommend this profession any longer. Massage therapists are professionals. They shouldn't have to be tipped. But they need to be paid for their professional work that they do. $10 an hour is not being paid as a medical professional. They are touching the temple of the soul, your body. You may want to abuse it and ignore it and they are suppposed to heal it on the spot. Each massage is like doing 3 hours of work. Anyone who questions that, try it if you can even begin to do it. Working for a corporation often means don't say a word to the client. This can be frustrating. Working for that long I have dealt with many unusual situations. Massage is easily worth $100/hour for a beginner. If you get an excellent massage 30% is due. If you pay less you are getting a bargain and your therapist is underpaid if you tip 20%. You are being touched and that alone is worth it. If you can't afford massage take a class and massage yourself. Obviously one pays a corporation $90/hour? for massage and in some cases alot more , why not the therapist? Spa Envy price $59, really, with tip 69 or 79 at least. And then they are beginners for the most part and beginners can be excellent if they have the touch and encouragement and what kind of encouragement is that to pay them less than what they ought to be paid just because they are really nice people or who need a job. The problem now is that if therapists are not being paid appropriately they don't last very long and so you as a client aren't going to get the benefit of a highly skilled educated fun-loving therapist as myself. Energy is transferred and if the therapist isn't being paid what she/he ought to be, well you as a client get a little less than bliss and good karma. If you get a bad massage considering what you are paying I don't think that you ought to complain. Ask for the work you require. You get what you pay for and what you can accept and I imagine that is enough for you who can't appreciate a healing touch. Much gratitude for my clients of long standing...who pay me with love and appreciation and never question me for what my work is worth. I love my work and am sorry for those who are not appreciated as they ought to be. Work for yourself if you can if all I can say. If not accept and always give the best massage you can and see a lawyer if you feel totally abused.

I go to the same woman once a month at Massage Luxe and she gives the best massages ever, so I usually tip $20 or sometimes $25 for 60 minutes, and no more than $30 for 90 minutes. I figure that since I pay the monthly member rate ($54 for 1 hour) I can tip her well and only am paying about $75 to $100, which is a fair price.

It actually ended up being $70 instead of $105 (friend rate I didn't know I was getting) so I tipped $30 for an even $100.