How do you calculate tips?

[Alex Franke]

Edit: No so much "how much do you tip," but rather, "how do you do the mental math?"

I take 10%, round up, then add a number that's anywhere from half to double the result, depending on service, and round up again. So $42.85 = $4.285 (10%) = $5 (rounded up) = $7.5 (added half) = $8 (rounded up), for a bill total of $50.85, or about 18.5% in this case.

It gets me into a range of 15% to maybe 25%, once you figure in all the rounding.

Is there an easier or more accurate (but still quick and do-it-in-your-head-for-the-average-guy) way? Anyone have a good trick for this?

[pelligrini]

I usually do 20% for decent service. $2 for every $10 increment or $1 for every $5. My tab for darts Wed was $25, the tip was $5.

[Ed62]

I assume meaning in a restaurant? If so, and the service is good/decent, I generally figure 20% - 25% (easy enough). We have a daughter who has worked as a waitress for years, and I know how hard she works.

Ed

[LCHIEN]

so do you figure the tip on the taxed amount or the untaxed sub-total? I guess if you round up so generously like Alex then it doesn't much matter.

And one thing i always make a point, if i am using a coupon for free entree or $$$ off or if the place comps me a meal because the cook screwed up, I always tip on the amount before discount, figuring the restuarant is making the promotion, not the server.

I take 10%, and add half that again to get a base point of 15%.
Another way that works well - the tax in most TX metro areas is 7.125 or 8.125%. You can take the tax amount which is required by law to be itemized, and double it which gives you 14 to 16% of the pre-tax total amt.

[BadeMillsap]

I divide total by 7 and round up

That includes the tax so it gets me around 15%+ which is what I've always considered appropriate for good service.

[Alex Franke]

To be clearer, I guess I'm curious to know if there's an easier way to calculate it in my head, whatever the percentage is. (Not that my method is all that difficult, but I wonder if there's a more clever, easier, and more accurate way to do it without using a calculator.)

So I guess the question is really, "how do you do the mental math?"

Thanks for the input so far!

[Alex Franke]

And one thing i always make a point, if i am using a coupon for free entree or $$$ off or if the place comps me a meal because the cook screwed up, I always tip on the amount before discount, figuring the restuarant is making the promotion, not the server.

That's a good point!

[Alex Franke]

I usually do 20% for decent service. $2 for every $10 increment or $1 for every $5. My tab for darts Wed was $25, the tip was $5.

That's a good one. So for the $42.85 bill you'd end up tipping $8 (18.5%, the same tip amount that I end up with), and if the bill were $48.25 you'd end up tipping $9.

So it's "double the tens digit (and digits to the left), and add 1 if the one's digit is greater than 5." That's pretty quick. And the larger the bill amount gets, the closer you get to 20%.

[jackellis]

You mean your third grade math teacher stopped at 12 times 12?

My method is something like this. Divide the bill by ten. Add half that amount to the result. I've done it so many times and for so long that it's second nature.

But then again I still have a fistful of slide rules and use them when I get really lazy.

Doing the math in your head is becoming a lost art. Good for me in a negotiation over money. Not so good for someone on the other side.

[crokett]

I just move a decimal to get 10%, then double that to get 20%. After that I subtract or add as needed for bad/exceptional service. I don't do rounding. Addition is easy enough to add the tip to the cost of dinner.

[shoottx]

But then again I still have a fistful of slide rules and use them when I get really lazy.

Pickett?

Yellow or White?

Oh and for taxes the Sales tax in our area is %7.25 so twice the sales tax and round the bill to even dollars for regular service, use additional windage to adjust for really good or bad service.

[tuttlejr]

The easy way for us is to double the sales tax for the tip. If the service was exceptional or difficult we might add more. Tipping wit $2 bills gets attention.

[KLF]

I use the tip calculator tool in my phone. Check it out, you all probably have one, very handy.

[Alex Franke]

You mean your third grade math teacher stopped at 12 times 12?

Um.... what's a "12"? Is that some sort of greke cymbal or sumthing?

It wasn't my third grade teacher, but my fifth grade teacher that taught me to always seek a more elegant solution. So that's what I'm doing -- Mr. Lewis would be proud

Besides, all I can effectively think about after a good meal is sleeping.

[Knottscott]

Our tax is 8.25%, so I typically just double the tax...give or take to a good round number.