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Tipping grocery baggers in Mexico

ailin

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While checking out of a Chedraui supermarket near Playa del Carmen, a little boy (he looked about 10) started helping us bag the groceries. We were really confused as to whether he was an employee there or if we were supposed to tip. We didn't tip and now I feel bad because I just read a Newsweek article that they are unpaid. Apparently, this is pretty common in Mexico.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20056614/site/newsweek/?rf=nwnewsletter
 

johnmfaeth

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When I was growing up in Queens, NY, my firends and I would often go to the neighborhood supermarkets, then Bohack (RIP) and A&P, and bag groceries for tips. We were 9-12 at the time. But 1970 was a long time ago and the world was very different from today.
 

KarenLK

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Yes, tipping is appropriate for baggers in Mexico. Most get no salaries, and count on the small tips. My Mexican friends usually give the kids 20 centavos or so.
Mostly, the same kid works at the same checkout line. But in Puerto Vallarta I saw something different. There were kids and senior citizens, and they sat on benches and went in order, so everyone got their share of tips.
 

Fern Modena

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In Mazatlan there are young children, as young as eight or ten years old who "work" as baggers (school is normally only half days). They don't get paid by the store, only by what the customer tips. The usual "gringo" tip is your small change, a couple of pesos. I can't believe that a "gringo," especially one on vacation, would consider 20 centavos adequate. A peso is 8 cents, so 20 centavos would be less than 2 cents...

In general its proper to tip just about everybody who helps you in Mexico, including the houseman or front desk if they accept a delivery for you, the pool's towel man, etc. About the only person you don't tip is the taxi driver, but if he waits for you while you run an errand, makes a stop enroute, etc., then I would tip him, too.

Fern
 

Linda74

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We always give the baggers 10 pesos....a little more if they bring the bags to the cars, but that is not often they do that....
 

Fern Modena

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I don't know why, I just know that in Mazatlan at least it is not custom to tip taxi drivers. But as I say, if they do anything extra, such as waiting for me while I make a quick stop, then I do tip them.

Fern

Fern,

Why would you not normally tip a taxi driver in Mexico?
 

John Cummings

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In Mazatlan there are young children, as young as eight or ten years old who "work" as baggers (school is normally only half days). They don't get paid by the store, only by what the customer tips. The usual "gringo" tip is your small change, a couple of pesos. I can't believe that a "gringo," especially one on vacation, would consider 20 centavos adequate. A peso is 8 cents, so 20 centavos would be less than 2 cents...

In general its proper to tip just about everybody who helps you in Mexico, including the houseman or front desk if they accept a delivery for you, the pool's towel man, etc. About the only person you don't tip is the taxi driver, but if he waits for you while you run an errand, makes a stop enroute, etc., then I would tip him, too.

Fern

The peso hasn't been 8 cents since it was fixed at 12.5 to 1 many years ago. At the current rate of exchange, it fluctuates between 9 and 9.3 cents. I agree that 20 centavos is ridiculous.
 

John Cummings

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I don't know why, I just know that in Mazatlan at least it is not custom to tip taxi drivers. But as I say, if they do anything extra, such as waiting for me while I make a quick stop, then I do tip them.

Fern

Fern is right about not tipping taxi drivers unless they perform some extra service. This is true throughout Mexico and not just Mazatlan.
 

jschmidt

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Why would you not normally tip a taxi driver in Mexico?

I'm not sure why they don't get tips.

Here's how the system works. The Taxi Drivers rent the taxi from the company for a set amount of pesos for 12 hours. They get the taxi with a full tank of gas and need to bring it back with a full tank. All the fares they make belong to them.

Where we stay in Cancun, there is a sign in the front of the T/S that shows what the taxi rate from-and-to various locations should be. We are warned to ask what the price is before we hire a taxi off the street. The in town rates are lower than the Hotel Zone rates.

Mexican Taxi drivers also drive very fast and weave in-and-out of traffic.

_______________
Cerveza tastes just like beer!
 

John Cummings

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I'm not sure why they don't get tips.

Mexican Taxi drivers also drive very fast and weave in-and-out of traffic.

_______________
Cerveza tastes just like beer!

The reason they don't get tips is because they are essentially self employed and keep whatever fare was negotiated. The reason they drive fast is because they aren't on a meter so the faster they get you there, the more they make per hour. There is no incentive for US taxi drivers to drive fast because the meter charges for distance and time.
 

KarenLK

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I spoke to my Mexican friends today and I was incorrect. They give about 5 pesos to the kids. Additionally they give 3 to the guy who "watches" their carin the parking lot, plus the cost to park.
 

OCsun

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I have been traveling to Cancun annually for the past 15 years and have always added a 20% tip to the cab fare. Is it really the normal acceptable practice to not tip a cab driver? Pam
 

John Cummings

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I have been traveling to Cancun annually for the past 15 years and have always added a 20% tip to the cab fare. Is it really the normal acceptable practice to not tip a cab driver? Pam

Yes, it is normal not to tip cab drivers.
 

Joe L

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Taxi Drivers

I've been told every year, at the Sunday orientation at the Royals, that the tip is built into the fare. I still usually tip about 5 to 10 pesos. More, if the driver does anything extra.
 
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