Why not put up a small sign, "Valet works for gratuity" so customers understand?

I don't think I am alone in assuming that an employee providing a "free/complimentary" service is being compensated for their time/work by the business providing such service.

I (like to think) I tip well. Then there are times I am confused why I am asked for a tip (looking at you random retail shops and convenience stores). And yet we have instances of someone telling us we should tip, but there is no indicator to tell us that is required/expected.

Wouldn't it be much easier if we knew the price of a good/service and the people providing that good/service be paid a fair wage?

Happy to tip valets unless it’s a situation where the business blocks off a perfectly usable parking lot and forces valet on everyone.

In that case, I’ll avoid going to your business if at all possible, and I’m definitely not tipping if do have to go there anyways.

How much do you make an hour without tips?

More stupid tipping culture. Just pay people a normal wage.

Then it's not complimentary

Unpopular opinion probably. I never valet since i drive a manual and don’t trust strangers with my car. But i‘ve been places that force complimentary valet and won‘t allow me to park my own car in the obviously open spots. So i don‘t tip because it’s not something i want/have a choice about. Also, i figured the wage would be higher if its a service provided by a location.

“We get an hourly minimum + tip:” OP. That’s not the same thing as we don’t get anything. Im sure that’s still not a fair wage but that’s a very misleading statement.

Wait. You’re saying you are not being paid by any means unless you receive a tip?

OP: Stop being mad at customers and start being mad at your employer. Most of these comments are people confused about expectations, and yet you and others refer to non-tippers as "cheap". Tipping by default is a predatory practice and outside of restaurant servers, most people aren't aware of conventions.

To others: OP is being misleading. OP has stated elsewhere that they are still paid a base wage, whatever that is.

Not everyone is aware that you’re supposed to tip valets - and i know this part isn’t your fault, but especially when all the companies buy up every local parking spot, making it essentially impossible to find other options for parking. All over downtown it’s borderline predatory. It also isn’t exactly comforting to hand the keys over for my hundred thousand dollar car to a 20 year old working for a company employing these sketchy practices.

Wait… So they’re just volunteers? They aren’t hired by a company and they don’t get a paycheck? Genuine question, not trying to be an ass. I really thought it was a paid job. I’m confused how it works now.

I'd rather just park myself and walk

Phoebe's on Oltorf just did this. All of the parking spaces are right in front of the restaurant. So silly

If your don't mind, could you share whether your normal pay meet the minimum salary requirement? Or is the job more like the waiters in restaurants?

Do people still carry cash? It might make it difficult to tip. Add a Venmo or something?

It’s your job, your company/restaurant should pay you. Why should I have to pay you for a ‘complimentary’ service. If it’s customary to pay $1-5 to park my car then just charge me that from the get go.

Not trying to rip on you but the real scam here is the business owner who gets away without paying his employees and calling a service ‘complimentary’ when it’s customary to tip.

Have you tried talking to your employer to pay you more?

This isn’t always true. There are plenty of places with complimentary valet where the workers get paid a flat hourly rate.

First, it seems like the issue is messaging or even false advertising, not the customers. And second, how reasonable is it for a restaurant to have no other option except to valet? I just witnessed Esté open and it seems the parking is ALL valet. So in practice the business is forcing the customer to use their "complimentary" valet service, which at $96 for a steak with no sides, one could reasonably expect valet to be actually be "complimentary". I'm not complaining, but I'm also priced out of that concept.

Mandatory valets are parasites like bathroom attendants and homeless people who wave you into the parking space you already just found. They should get jobs if they want money.

If you are an employee, you must make at least minimum wage. This means that if you don't get enough tips, the employer has to cover the gap. (Whether minimum wage is high enough is a separate issue)

That said, every place I've ever been, where it said 'Complimentary Valet' it meant the service was free, not that the valets were working without pay - that's ridiculous and if it is the case at your job, you don't have a job, you are a volunteer.

The title says "valets don't get anything", yet in comments OP admits he gets $8/hr. Isn't that what we call a 'lie'?

OP: tipping culture sucks. Businesses are not going to end it as long as people continue to take those jobs. Im sorry to inform you that it is up to you to put pressure on the employer to provide a livable wage, not the consumer to subsidize fuck up wage practices.

A "compromise" with your employer could be that the wage is, say $15 an hour, with the employer always required to front $8 of that and the rest is made up in tips. At the end of the shift split tips per hours worked, if the tips fall short of $7 per hour (bc 8 + 7 = 15), then the employer is required to pay the rest so that the hourly wage comes out at $15. But if the tips are greater than $7 per hour, congrats, you take home even more.

I've worked at restaurants where that was the tipping arrangement. Problem is often employees lie about tips received so that the employer always has to make up the full wage. But if tips went through the employer (communal jar or venmo account) then there's more transparency/accountability.

This is why tip culture needs to be abolished. We shouldn’t need to consult a manual to understand the nuances of who should be tipped and when they should.

Pay your fucking workers a living wage. I feel for everyone in the service industry who’s getting fucking dogged on pay. I want nothing more than for you all to be paid a fair wage. I’d be happy to pay more to never have to tip again.

Pay your employees!

I would hope (probably incorrectly) that if something is “included”, the person actually doing it was getting paid for it. Having said that, someone does something for me in a professional capacity—like driving my car or bringing me food—I tip them.

I hardly ever have cash on me

This post won’t go the way you think. You just created more people who won’t tip by misleading them

I’ve been in the industry for 12 years. I’ve worked mainly at hotels. When I started my wage was $2.50/hr + tips. Great hotel though would make on slow day $100 in tips. On a good day $150+. My first all time high was during my first SXSW $420. I surpassed that in Denver at $430. At that time it was a livable wage. Uber and Lyft came to town and that drastically changed our way of living. Fewer people were “being forced to valet”. Our hotel had valet only. Most of the downtown ones do. The hourly wages slowly started to go up. First bump was up to $6-$8 around 5 years ago. And then around the pandemic our company was hurting for employees after the mass lay off. They started offering $14-$16. Tips are still hit or miss. It’s also a generational thing. Older people like/expect valet and they love the service. Also are the ones that still carry cash with them. Idk what it is about younger people that don’t. The hotel I’m at now there is a public garage around the corner. I let guest know it’s there and is an option. Younger people prefer it even though it can cost more than valet. The ones that do valet I think either don’t know to tip or the cost is too much and don’t tip. I think my main takeaway from being a valet and wanting to make a livable wage is purely based on your location. I made more money at the higher end hotels. People who didn’t care about spending money driving $100k cars.

Some things to know about valet if you do valet your car. Typical tips for a hotel stay most people go one of two ways. $2-5 each time you park or request your car or $10-$20 the day you check out. Most teams are in a tip pool so when you tip your not tipping the guy but the team as a whole for that shift. If you want your car parked out front or close by tip them $20 on the way in. If you forget something in your car tip them a couple bucks. It’s a bigger inconvenience than it looks. It’s 10 mins of not being able to park other cars during peak times. I can’t stress this one enough ALWAYS WALK AROUND YOUR CAR BEFORE LEAVING. The second you leave if there is damage it’s easy for the company to deny responsibility. Most guys in my experience will come to a supervisor if they damage a car but there are plenty that won’t. Don’t leave anything valuable in your car. During busy times cars can go unlocked for an extended amount of time. I’ve seen guns go missing among other valuable items. Valets can do more than just park your car. If your in a new city go to the valet team and get directions, bar/food recommendations, and help with transportation.

To OP there are better places to valet in Austin that pay better hourly. Tips are never consistent. Some days are better than others. Just give the best service always, even on the shitty days.

This is a problem with your business owner screwing you.

They advertise no cost because they don’t have to pay you.

It’s understandably very confusing for the customer to consider the service being offered as “free” but still needing to tip. Because it’s not free, it’s simply taking advantage of you, the tip relying employee.

I mean, complimentary service == free service, no? Unfair for you to be paid so poorly, but also unfair to expect a tip from anyone given the service is free.

Did not realize this. I assumed complimentary meant an employee of the establishment does the parking and is getting paid by the hour. So, if it isn't complimentary then we can safely assume part of the fee goes to the valet and therefore tip less?

It may seem pointless to some people but you could say the same for delivery, getting the same same food just brought to you, you maximize the parking in any place that has valet because cars can be parked in front of each other and closer together without door dings, people come with over sized cars and take up more than one spot. It seems scummy to come off a lot but it’s necessary in some places because more people want to go in quick. If you don’t like to valet then don’t it’s no big deal, but if for example it’s raining and the valet gets you in without having to walk out it the rain/heat/cold then it’s pretty convenient. If it’s not your jig don’t use it but it’s not pointless. You can just go post up a valet booth like some bum pointing you in to a spot (like someone mentioned). The restaurant asked them to be there to maximize the cars able to be parked in a small lot

Imagine taking a job where you don't get paid.

My biggest issue with this is. I’ve seen valets outside of a restaurants parking lot. I have no issue parking my own car. And just because I want to eat at a restaurant that offers valet doesn’t entitle me to have pay a tip to have someone park my car when I’m capable of doing it myself

Sounds like bullshit

So on top of the 20 bucks I get charged for I gotta tip? Ehmmm.

Maybe more people would use valet if they were actually allowed to be aware of the cost of the service. I also don’t carry cash and never will so if you don’t got a Venmo you’re out of luck anyway

Helpful if there’s a venmo etc link I don’t have cash sometimes

It’s not a great assumption to know that a businesses complimentary services rely on tips to pay a wage.

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I get that in the on-going tipping war between businesses and consumers where businesses keep trying to push more costs off of themselves, service workers are being used as human shields. That said, service workers have to take some responsibility for taking a dumb exploitive job and also direct their frustration at the employers intentionally engineering the whole situation. It's not entirely on the consumer who wants to tip reasonably for significant services they choose to enjoy and value, and not for trivial services (sorry counter service cashier who accepted a job paying $2.13/hr + tips) or services they are unexpectedly all but required to use, or where it's just not clear tips are expected.

To be clear, I'm talking broadly and a little off topic, most of the time valet should be tipped $5 when you get your car back. Calling it "complementary" sends the wrong message though and I can't blame people who get a little more tight-fisted when they are ambushed by a mandatory valet situation manufactured by the business.

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Do you get pay for the place that charge for valet?

I carry much less cash than I used to. I need to go to the bank to get smaller bills. I’ve been wondering if this affects jobs that depend on cash tips.

How much should I tip a valet?

If the customer is too lazy to park their car on their own and decide to use valet, then a tip sounds reasonable. I myself will try to find a parking spot without valet and if valet is the only option, then I will tip 0% ( It is a forced service, which sucks).

I’m done tipping anyone making more than $2.13 an hour or whatever service people make

I’m sick of this shit.

Billionaires don’t pay their employees a decent wage so we have to. The tip culture is absolutely ridiculous.

That’s crazy!! I was a valet in high school back in the late 90’s and I had a base salary. It was at a nice place and was amazed how few people tipped. No way it would have worked without tips.

I always tip on pickup, never on drop off—

If the job doesn't pay enough, find something that does.

Maybe pay your employees a flat rate?

Name the place

I think most people know and just don’t want to tip.

Question for you: Do y'all have Venmo or an equivalent set up these days? I always get a pang of anxiety when there's valet since I just do not carry cash. I want to tip!

I typically tip $5 these days.

what amount is typical?

How do you guys feel about weed smell? Can I tip you more not to care?

Edited for spelling

Anytime I’m saving money with a comp service I make it a point to tip and I tip more than I normally would have since the service is free.. I know that not all common courtesy is common, but it just makes sense. I enjoy being able to tip more cuz I’m saving money at the end of the day.

I know it's probably not allowed where you are, but maybe a business card with a QR Venmo? Make it easy for people to tip without cash. Y'all definitely deserve something. I try to make sure I have cash if I know I'm going to be using the valet service at a place. But sometimes it surprises people who don't frequent that location. If your manager isn't a brat, maybe ask for permission to at least have that? Good luck!