Egypt4u

Tipping: If a person is paid to provide a service is there any need to give a tip? I believe that workers in the service and hospitality industry tend to be paid around the 'minimum wage' on the basis that their income will be supplemented by tips.
If it is not included as a service charge on the bill, I will tip for good service at around 10%. In places like restaurants I like to know that tips are pooled and shared among all staff. If a waiter simply brings your food to table but the unseen chef has prepared it, then I think the chef should also benefit from front of house tips.
We use private hire cars as opposed to hackney carriages so the fare is always in whole pounds. I will normally add a pound 'for HIS pocket' and a little more after the supermarket run when all drivers bring the bags to the door for us. My wife has a mobile hairdresser who also runs a grade 1 trimmer over my head. We have a window cleaner every 5 weeks and with both the window cleaner and hairdresser we just pay the amount asked.
Like many people these days, we do shop online, not least because we no longer have a car. Some of these items are quite expensive and in most cases we recieve up to date notification of when our parcel will be delivered within a one hour window, very good service. Would a tip to the delivery driver be appropriate?
What are your opinions on tips and tipping?

I personally don't like the practice, Grandad. We do it with certain services because it's expected of us, but it goes against the grain. In Australia, we went out for many meals and nowhere was tipping acceptable.

Here is I go to a restaurant and the service is good particularly if the server is walking about bringing coffee and doing fill-ups. If I go to restaurants where you now line up to order your food and coffee and do all the carrying yourself there is a TIP JAR at the cash register but I never tip there. Here I would never tip a delivery driver.

Hairdressers here have gone big business and are now in something of a luxury category and most haircuts (the basic trim for a woman) starts at $40. That is to have your hair washed, cut and dried. Takes about an hour. If you want any type of style, especially a new style, or colouring the costs usually start about $60 - $75 and can easily go to $100 - $140+ so at those prices I wouldn't tip however I usually only just have my hair cut.

IF I am in Mexico I do tend to tip more overall particularly taxi drivers as the fares are quite cheap and in many cases they're working really long hours to scrape out a living. I also tipped more when I was in Egypt in the hotels but I don't Trinidad as there tipping doesn't seem to be part of their culture.

I never 'tip' street people particularly the panhandlers who walk up and ask for change although I do sometimes hand $1 out the car window to older men usually with a "Vets" sign at Stop sign corners. They might be Vets and they might not be but for some reason I don't mind helping them. When I was in the States there were some very old men who presented as homeless who would hang in specific areas of the stores I shopped in. They were not panhandlers in that they never asked for money. I would sometimes buy them a coffee & donut and usually these were eaten and gulped down so I knew they were not about using them for drugs.

Years ago when we had a paperboy I used to give him a Christmas card with $5 and I know my parents used to do that with the Postman but I never did.

I have a girlfriend from Australia and she hates the practice of tipping as apparently it doesn't happen there.

I will tip in a restaurant if the service is good and not included as a service charge, I sometimes tip taxi drivers, never tip anyone else especially not delivery drivers.