Help me understand tipping the mate 15-20%

Buffet Trout

Twelve Pointer
Seems like a lot.

Assuming they’re also pulling in 10% of the $2200 base pay for the day, that gives him about $500 for a day helping at sea…seems like a lot to me.

Oh yeah…they want $ more to clean fish, too
 

dobber

Old Mossy Horns
I can see the benefit of a good mate, when the fishing is hot they are hopping, when the fishing is slow they are doing all they can to get fish in the boat. Am sure their 401k plan or medical benefit coverage is lacking

What bothers me more is tipping the wait staff in a restaurant - unless i know the tips are shared. Working in many restaurants i have seen both, where i slave away on a hot stove, doing all i can to ensure a good meal is prepared and get no tips, but have to listen to the wait staff counting a few hundred $$ at the end of the night.
 

Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
In short a mate is pretty much living off your tip money and not their share. That being said they work like their life depends on it bc it kinda does. Plenty of smaller captains out there who run the boat and mate if you don’t feel like their effort is worth it.
 

agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
I can see the benefit of a good mate, when the fishing is hot they are hopping, when the fishing is slow they are doing all they can to get fish in the boat. Am sure their 401k plan or medical benefit coverage is lacking

What bothers me more is tipping the wait staff in a restaurant - unless i know the tips are shared. Working in many restaurants i have seen both, where i slave away on a hot stove, doing all i can to ensure a good meal is prepared and get no tips, but have to listen to the wait staff counting a few hundred $$ at the end of the night.

Don’t forget rhe work you don’t see the mate doing. Making bait, cleaning, boat ice, etc

I agree on shared tips. I always divvied my tips with the chefs and the dishwasher.Washing dishes funded a big part of my life as a ski him.
 

agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
Plenty of smaller captains out there who run the boat and mate

I tip those guys too.

relatively to them I make a :donk:donk:donk:donk ton of money and those guys put me on fish, show me a good time, listen to my stupid tales, and generally make a great experience.

if there are 2 or more of us, the difference in our money to their money is even more extreme.

why not share?
 

Dick

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
kitchen get an hourly rate or salary. waitstaff get practically nothing per hour and they run their butts off and take all the gripes from customers. And you have to be nice to them to get paid.😄

Mates work their butts off, worth every penny. I usually over tip.
 

Buffet Trout

Twelve Pointer
There’s a lot of professions where someone works their butt off and doesn’t make $500/day

Captain’s boat
Captain’s gas
Captain’s tackle
Captain’s gear
Captain’s marketing
Captain’s bait
Captain’s fishing spots
Captain’s liabilities

I don’t understand why a mate expects a $300 tip on top of his 10% take… And “bc they work hard” isn’t overly convincing.

To each their own.
 

Birdman

Six Pointer
Most captains don't own nothing and are paid a yearly salary from the owner....I don't expect a 300 tip but it is greatly appreciated....I am going to do all I can to get as many bites as we can on each trip not knowing what the pay out from party will be at the end of the day....on sum boats the captain and mate split the tip...
 

Rescue44

Old Mossy Horns
I can see the benefit of a good mate, when the fishing is hot they are hopping, when the fishing is slow they are doing all they can to get fish in the boat. Am sure their 401k plan or medical benefit coverage is lacking

What bothers me more is tipping the wait staff in a restaurant - unless i know the tips are shared. Working in many restaurants i have seen both, where i slave away on a hot stove, doing all i can to ensure a good meal is prepared and get no tips, but have to listen to the wait staff counting a few hundred $$ at the end of the night.

A cousin was a bartender at a Irish Pub in Myrtle Beach for a couple of summers. He had a little leverage when it came to get tip money shared from waitresses. For the "greedy" waitresses, the drinks would be slow. Didn't take long for the waitresses to understand. lol
 

agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
kitchen get an hourly rate or salary. waitstaff get practically nothing per hour and they run their butts off and take all the gripes from customers. And you have to be nice to them to get paid.😄

Mates work their butts off, worth every penny. I usually over tip.

my hourly was minimum wage. $3.35/ht.
 

agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
There’s a lot of professions where someone works their butt off and doesn’t make $500/day

Captain’s boat
Captain’s gas
Captain’s tackle
Captain’s gear
Captain’s marketing
Captain’s bait
Captain’s fishing spots
Captain’s liabilities

I don’t understand why a mate expects a $300 tip on top of his 10% take… And “bc they work hard” isn’t overly convincing.

To each their own.

$220 for a 12/hr day?

I’m lit on scotch, but I think thats 4 hours of OT, so…

8 hours @ $10/hr
4 hours @ $15/hr

that’s less than he can make at Burger King.
 

Buffet Trout

Twelve Pointer
Do you gentlemen tip your mower’s helper 15% of the total? How about your roofer’s hand, your mechanic’s hand or your painter’s helper 15%? Maybe the #2 arborist? Does he get 15% of the total?

I have no problem tipping, it’s just that $300 tip for a day of work seems a bit much for a deckhand…and it’s certainly not automatic, but several act as if it is.

I value their work at $25/hr, which I think is generous. Someone above said they work 14 hour days. I don’t disagree. That said, I don’t understand how $350 isn’t sufficient for a day of this…that’s about a $130 tip.
 

Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
If you want to equate this to a standard job don’t forget to factor in roughly $12 and hour in traditional benefits paid by a traditional employer. So it was mentioned that their time is worth $25 an hour. A 14 hour day should mean $350 with $168 going towards benefits. Slice it any way you want for the rest. The “tip” would be like any other gig work and vary based on service.
Like I said earlier you can go on an smaller owner operator deal and pay the captain directly for the boat ride and his mating service and tip him directly if it makes you feel better.
 

HotSoup

Old Mossy Horns
Without that mate, your $2,200 fishing trip is just a boat ride.

I had one of those....WITH a mate, and a rough ride at that.

This is my opinion, when the guys paying you ask to switch things up and you don't, you don't deserve that big payday.....even if your boat says "tuna".

Yes, I'm still bitter about it.
 

HotSoup

Old Mossy Horns
If you want to equate this to a standard job don’t forget to factor in roughly $12 and hour in traditional benefits paid by a traditional employer. So it was mentioned that their time is worth $25 an hour. A 14 hour day should mean $350 with $168 going towards benefits. Slice it any way you want for the rest. The “tip” would be like any other gig work and vary based on service.
Like I said earlier you can go on an smaller owner operator deal and pay the captain directly for the boat ride and his mating service and tip him directly if it makes you feel better.

I've never been on a 14hr trip and I've watched alot of boats come in and 0 stay out that long.
 

agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
Do you gentlemen tip your mower’s helper 15% of the total? How about your roofer’s hand, your mechanic’s hand or your painter’s helper 15%? Maybe the #2 arborist? Does he get 15% of the total

I don't think this needed to go there.

since you asked, yeah.

I had some guys do my floors while I out of town. They worked long hours to finish in a day AND they primed,caulked, and painted the quarter round.

I tipped the helpers $150 each.

because they worked their asses off to make me happy

(edited because I'm lit)
 
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agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
I had one of those....WITH a mate, and a rough ride at that.

This is my opinion, when the guys paying you ask to switch things up and you don't, you don't deserve that big payday.....even if your boat says "tuna".

Yes, I'm still bitter about it.

yeah. That's BS.

however, I make it clear what I'm trying to do before I book.

If I want to fill the box first, then chase big fish or chase em on the fly, I say it up front. If that isn't his thing, no big deal, I'll find someone who wants to do that.

for me, fishing isn't about catching fish, it's about the hunt and the camaraderie. If we load the box or hook great fish, that's a bonus.

I can get much cheaper fish at the store, but the experience doesn't come with it.
 

Starfan

Eight Pointer
I've never been on a 14hr trip and I've watched alot of boats come in and 0 stay out that long.
I never said it was a 14 hour trip for the party. I get up at 4:00 am, get ice, rods out, throw lines at 5:30 am, fish until 2:30 pm, back the dock at 5:00 pm. Then I wash the boat and prep bait for the next day. At least a 14 hour day and that is if we didn’t tear any tackle up or I didn’t clean fish.
 
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