Tipping a fishing guide

[307]

You've never priced out a trip with all the operating expenses while trying to stay competative for a luxury service have you.

Especially when competitors can almost give trips away for whatever reason or another, and, they aren't guiding 7 days a week for 48 weeks out of the year either...

Free market economy

 

[JoshOR]

$600 a day is typical on my local river. $30 for the shuttle, $35 for gas, $30-$40 for lunch stuff, some # of flies etc…. So $500 ish give or take a few. Meet at 8am- off the water at 4. 1 hour drive each way, clean up, re-boot etc.. 10 + hours so $50 an hour to out a number on it. And that’s if it’s my own trip. Take $50- $100 off the total if I’m working for one of the shops in town. Tip on top of it. I love the work and the people (mostly). It takes time to build a base of quality, returning clients. Thank god my wife has a great job!

 

[roadrunner]

What point are you trying to make? Just say what you want rather than playing the “you’ve never” game…..

If you’ve got some inside information I’m unaware of that may influence the amount I’m going to tip then I’m all ears.

Just that guides aren't rolling in cash. Outfitters/business owners maybe. Guides, not so much.

You said you didn't believe the paycheck to paycheck comment....

 

[roadrunner]

Free market economy

Okay. And...?

 

[Stache Attack]

Good trip 100 per head per day

 

[307]

Okay. And...?

The profit/loss of the business is not the responsibility of the consumer. If the business improperly prices its product (too low to cover expenses with reasonable profit margins), don’t expect me to “bail them out” via social pressure.

 

[roadrunner]

The profit/loss of the business is not the responsibility of the consumer.

Never said it was. A business charges what they do to earn a profit. They pay employees based on their business plan and model.

There are inputs (costs) that WILL be passed onto the customer, what those are are what they are and to stay in business they have to be competitive. Staying competitive keeps them active in commerce and employees paid.

Not all businesses can operate the same.

 

[307]

So, we agree that tipping is optional and at the discretion of the consumer rather than an expectation.

 

[MNGrouser]

I worked on a charter fishing boat for a while in college. I sold myself on the "I get to fish every day" dream. Very little actual fishing, lots of hard work and long days. Not everyone is a dream fishing partner. I appreciated the tips I got. Now I'm in a position to take charter fishing trips instead of working on them. My problem with percentage tipping is that the cost of the trip doesn't necessarily reflect the toil of the guide. Fuel goes up, price of the trip goes up to cover the cost. Is the guide who is putting $1k of fuel in his boat working twice as hard as the guide who put $500 of fuel in his boat? Why would the tip increase?

I also have a negative gut reaction to the "Did you catch anything?" analysis. Some days the fish don't cooperate. If I take my own boat on the river walleye fishing, sometimes I catch fish, but other times I've gotten skunked. My level of competence didn't change. I'm still fishing out of my same boat with my same gear. If I was guiding someone it would suck to add insult to injury by not tipping just because a cold front moved in and the fish had lockjaw.

Reward hardworking effort and good personality.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I worked on a charter fishing boat for a while in college. I sold myself on the "I get to fish every day" dream. Very little actual fishing, lots of hard work and long days. Not everyone is a dream fishing partner. I appreciated the tips I got. Now I'm in a position to take charter fishing trips instead of working on them. My problem with percentage tipping is that the cost of the trip doesn't necessarily reflect the toil of the guide. Fuel goes up, price of the trip goes up to cover the cost. Is the guide who is putting $1k of fuel in his boat working twice as hard as the guide who put $500 of fuel in his boat? Why would the tip increase?

I also have a negative gut reaction to the "Did you catch anything?" analysis. Some days the fish don't cooperate. If I take my own boat on the river walleye fishing, sometimes I catch fish, but other times I've gotten skunked. My level of competence didn't change. I'm still fishing out of my same boat with my same gear. If I was guiding someone it would suck to add insult to injury by not tipping just because a cold front moved in and the fish had lockjaw.

Reward hardworking effort and good personality.

It’s like tipping the waiter, they do the same work weather I order the 20 dollar burger or the 60 dollar steak. Their effort dosent change, why should the amount I tip???

You think it sucks to not get tipped when you don’t get fish??? Imagine spending all that money then tipping after you don’t catch a fish.

Not saying I don’t do it but it stings. Last summer I was in Mexico. A cancellation came available but the catch was that it was a 2 person trip, to make it happen I had to basically pay the 2 person rate. It wasn’t terribly expensive so I did it. We spent a day poling a skiff around the backcountry and didn’t even see a bonefish, just a bunch of crappy small barracudas and black tip sharks. The rods didn’t even come out of their tube holder things. I still tipped the guy and he was happy but I wasn’t.

When I was at the tiki bar thing that evening all sorts of guys were talking about the fish they were on, seemed like everybody was on fish all damn day except for our boat.

It’s annoying when guides try to tell you “it’s all about fishing man, just enjoy being on the water bro, it’s not all just about catching fish dude, chill man….” Yes, yes it is all about catching fish, I could have paid half (or less) of what I paid you if I just wanted to ride around on a boat all day…