Anonymous wrote:We go to the Kingsmill Spa in Williamsburg a few times a year (family nearby) and at the end, the receptionist will say, "we've automatically added 18% gratuity, would you like to change it?" I usually just say its fine, even though I think it's a bit high. The masseuse already gets about half of the price too (so $60 of a $120 massage). That's not a horrible hourly rate. I don't get tipped for doing my job.
Anonymous wrote:Same as any service...between 15-20%...depending on how it went and the masseuse did.
Anonymous wrote:
IF you think that your therapist is making a LOT of money....ask the front desk how much your therapist is being paid.
As a therapist at a spa and a clinic and a chiropractor I can tell you generally the rate of pay IS LOW!
And yet schooling runs $10,000-$15,000 or more and requires at least 6 months and ALSO requires therapists to pay for continuing education classes every year, carry their own liability insurance AND pay for their own state licensing every single year! Figure $400 per year just to practice!
Additionally due to repetitive stress to the hands, wrists and joints a therapist can't/won't usually work more than 25 hours a week MAX!
Expected career span for a LMT is ONLY SEVEN YEARS! Due to repetitive stress injuries.
Additionally therapists are paid ONLY for the time that they are giving massage. If I am there 8 hours but work only 90 minutes, I get paid for 90 minutes!
Chiropractors pay between $18 and $33 per hour. Typically no tips. So even $5 is nice. I've seen chiro's pay as little as $15/hr.
Envy/Heights/Elements (membership base clinics) pay $15-18 an hour. Will max at $20 but therapists rarely stay 5 years.
Spa's usually it's like between 30% and 50% of the charge. but 50% is RARE. Where I work 50 minute Swedish is $90 and I get paid $22.
Every therapist appreciates the gratuity. Some therapists are counting on it to pay the bills. But it is rare to be tipped through a chiropractic office or PT office.
Otherwise here is how I feel and see others feel about tips for a one hour session (50 minutes hands on)
Zero: Shameful. If you leave me nothing and come back again, don't expect my best work. Good work, but not my best.
That said: I have had a LOT of bad massages out there. Communicate what you want. If it is that bad still, don't tip.
Very well said.
$5: Wow. You better be in a tough spot. But I won't give you my best work next time. Thumbs are the first to go. And I won't give you my thumbs.
$10: acceptable but nothing special or inspiring.
$15: I know that you appreciate my work, my education and my commitment.
$20: You get my very best every time. I am committed to you and your health and well-being. I may give you extra time, better lotion or other little freebies to let you know you are appreciated.
More than that and you got the massage of a lifetime and you really do appreciate it.
Awesome post. What goes around comes around. That said, here are some guidelines to tipping your doctor:
Nothing: Disgraceful and disrespectful. If he prescribes you the wrong thing and you die, your family shouldn't even have the face to show up at the hospital to ask for compensation. Zero tip? Seriously? The man went to med school for your health and you stiff him?! You know that $100,000 operation fee goes entirely to the hospital (if he were an idiot, he may enter into such an agreement) and your doctor survives on tips, right?
10%: Damn, I hate poor people. If you can't afford to tip the doctor properly, you can't afford to come to the hospital! Try a vet next time. Let's get this over with...
15%: Ok, not too bad; this is when the doctor starts to actually think about how to get you better. Nothing special, no late-night trips to the med library or anything, but he'll start to function at this level.
20%: OK, now we're in in the cool-people-who-deserve-good-care section. This 20% tip on your $5,000 1-hour visit is how you show your doctor that you appreciate him putting in all those long hours and paying $50K tuition for 4 years in med school
25%: I will do my very best every time for you when you show up to nurse you back to health. Now, I am committed to you as a patient and may give you little freebies like antiseptic wipes, pill containers, a fridge magnet with our logo on it, etc...
But more importantly, if you tip well, you are investing in your health and a life-long relationship with a doctor committed to your well-being, and you will appreciate better health as the years add on!
So next time you go to the hospital, remember how you like to be tipped for a massage, and tip your doctor the accordingly. Same goes for your garbage collector, doorman, supermarket clerk, the police, security guards, floor sweepers, laundromat, etc...
Excellent point. So true. Tipping outside of restaurant service people (who are paid by employer about 1/2 of minimum wage and work less than 8 hr shifts) is SO out of control now days.
Anonymous wrote:
IF you think that your therapist is making a LOT of money....ask the front desk how much your therapist is being paid.
As a therapist at a spa and a clinic and a chiropractor I can tell you generally the rate of pay IS LOW!
And yet schooling runs $10,000-$15,000 or more and requires at least 6 months and ALSO requires therapists to pay for continuing education classes every year, carry their own liability insurance AND pay for their own state licensing every single year! Figure $400 per year just to practice!
Additionally due to repetitive stress to the hands, wrists and joints a therapist can't/won't usually work more than 25 hours a week MAX!
Expected career span for a LMT is ONLY SEVEN YEARS! Due to repetitive stress injuries.
Additionally therapists are paid ONLY for the time that they are giving massage. If I am there 8 hours but work only 90 minutes, I get paid for 90 minutes!
Chiropractors pay between $18 and $33 per hour. Typically no tips. So even $5 is nice. I've seen chiro's pay as little as $15/hr.
Envy/Heights/Elements (membership base clinics) pay $15-18 an hour. Will max at $20 but therapists rarely stay 5 years.
Spa's usually it's like between 30% and 50% of the charge. but 50% is RARE. Where I work 50 minute Swedish is $90 and I get paid $22.
Every therapist appreciates the gratuity. Some therapists are counting on it to pay the bills. But it is rare to be tipped through a chiropractic office or PT office.
Otherwise here is how I feel and see others feel about tips for a one hour session (50 minutes hands on)
Zero: Shameful. If you leave me nothing and come back again, don't expect my best work. Good work, but not my best.
That said: I have had a LOT of bad massages out there. Communicate what you want. If it is that bad still, don't tip.
Very well said.
$5: Wow. You better be in a tough spot. But I won't give you my best work next time. Thumbs are the first to go. And I won't give you my thumbs.
$10: acceptable but nothing special or inspiring.
$15: I know that you appreciate my work, my education and my commitment.
$20: You get my very best every time. I am committed to you and your health and well-being. I may give you extra time, better lotion or other little freebies to let you know you are appreciated.
More than that and you got the massage of a lifetime and you really do appreciate it.
Awesome post. What goes around comes around. That said, here are some guidelines to tipping your doctor:
Nothing: Disgraceful and disrespectful. If he prescribes you the wrong thing and you die, your family shouldn't even have the face to show up at the hospital to ask for compensation. Zero tip? Seriously? The man went to med school for your health and you stiff him?! You know that $100,000 operation fee goes entirely to the hospital (if he were an idiot, he may enter into such an agreement) and your doctor survives on tips, right?
10%: Damn, I hate poor people. If you can't afford to tip the doctor properly, you can't afford to come to the hospital! Try a vet next time. Let's get this over with...
15%: Ok, not too bad; this is when the doctor starts to actually think about how to get you better. Nothing special, no late-night trips to the med library or anything, but he'll start to function at this level.
20%: OK, now we're in in the cool-people-who-deserve-good-care section. This 20% tip on your $5,000 1-hour visit is how you show your doctor that you appreciate him putting in all those long hours and paying $50K tuition for 4 years in med school
25%: I will do my very best every time for you when you show up to nurse you back to health. Now, I am committed to you as a patient and may give you little freebies like antiseptic wipes, pill containers, a fridge magnet with our logo on it, etc...
But more importantly, if you tip well, you are investing in your health and a life-long relationship with a doctor committed to your well-being, and you will appreciate better health as the years add on!
So next time you go to the hospital, remember how you like to be tipped for a massage, and tip your doctor the accordingly. Same goes for your garbage collector, doorman, supermarket clerk, the police, security guards, floor sweepers, laundromat, etc...
Anonymous wrote:
You do realize that most massage therapist only work 25-30 hours due to the more intense job we have. I for one ALWAYS tip $20 for an hour. We as therapist touch your body, even glutes, sometimes after a client has worked out without bathing, or sun tanned without bathing, you sweat during massage, etc. You think that's necessary to complain about tipping when a therapist who works at Massage Envy is only making $16 an hour, again, only working 25 hours a week. I use my tip money to feed my family and put gas in my car because my entire paycheck goes to my bills. Or for therapists who rent their own room, they have linens to clean, lotions to buy, again, etc...the money you pay for the actual massage goes to the rent, insurance and continuing education classes we have to take to stay licensed. You people need to come down off your high horse 'oh I don't get tipped for my job' and realize the real situation. I'm sorry I don't sit at a desk for 40 hours, I bust my ass for my money.
I've worked over 300 hours a month for 4 months straight as a satellite tech, carrying ladders, equipment, walking on houses, crawling under them.. in extreme pacific northwest winter rain/wind for less than $16 an hour. I did get tipped maybe once or twice a week, out of 30 or more homes I'd do. I never looked for it, and I had the best customer survey scores out of our office so it wasn't due to a poor job.
I detail all this, because this was work i 'chose' to do. I do not imagine anyone forced you to be a massage therapist? I think it is you who are on some sort of 'high horse.'
Anyone who is or isn't in the industry could speculate on the things you would have to do. Dirty bodies, sweat, etc. is a given. Why should you be paid more because you have to 'handle' that? I can crawl under homes with hobo spiders and dead animals, among other things..in a 18" crawl space in the dark...some guys cant. I don't insist I get paid extra.. and neither do the guys who cant.
Realize you are your own limit, and if you aren't happy with the industry average for pay, find a new industry.
Anonymous wrote:
i am both an employed massage therapist at a five star spa in a five star hotel - and - i also have my own massage practice. i have been practicing for 11 years - and i have a bit to say about all of this :
whereas - as a whole - massage therapy is very rewarding career - here are a few facts :
--the average yearly salary for a massage therapist is just over $35,000. .....
But this is a part-time salary...which equates more like to $45-50k/year if you find additional work to end up working full-time (like the rest of us do). I would say that's a pretty decent salary. I don't have a problem with tipping, but I don't quite get the notion that a masseuse, who is making about 6 times the amount that someone in the food industry is making, should expect the same percentage tip?
Anonymous wrote:i am both an employed massage therapist at a five star spa in a five star hotel - and - i also have my own massage practice. i have been practicing for 11 years - and i have a bit to say about all of this :
whereas - as a whole - massage therapy is very rewarding career - here are a few facts :
--the average yearly salary for a massage therapist is just over $35,000. .....
Anonymous wrote:Depends, um, on what extra services you get.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:At a spa, 20%. For a therapeutic massage, nothing.
why nothing? that seems really wrong and rude? tip 20% every time.