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Bajatripper
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Tipping at grocery stores in Mexico
Many long-time residents of Mexico already know, but ocassional visitors may not be aware that most (if not all)baggers at Mexican grocery stores work
for tips only. While doing research on tourism in La Paz, one of the groups I interviewed were baggers, who reported that foreigners often didn't tip.
As I doubt most Americans would be so tight with a few pesos if they knew such information, I'm assuming that this oversight is simply a matter of not
knowing this detail.
Please tip the baggers, they need it more than we do.
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Woooosh
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I'm thinking it's those Canadian-type foreigners who don't tip them... 
[Edited on 6-7-2010 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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comitan
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Bajatripper
I'm sorry tripper but I think you got took, we all know to tip, I have a friend who's son is a bagger they make 200-300 pesos a day its a good job.
Lately there are many more older people bagging because it is a good job.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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BajaBlanca
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but you know what ? for a long time I didnt realize I was supposed to tip .... now I ALWAYS tip 
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Barry A.
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Well, I sure did not know. I have never even thought of tipping a bagger, assuming they were employees of the store.
Thanks for correcting that.
Barry
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BMG
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajatripper
...foreigners often didn't tip. |
Or tip too much. Seems to me there is quite often a scramble to bag the 'foreigners' bags.
I think the world is run by C- students.
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BMG
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| Quote: | Originally posted by comitan
I have a friend who's son is a bagger they make 200-300 pesos a day its a good job. Lately there are many more older people bagging because it is a
good job. |
The son of a friend? Admit it Wiley, you're moonlighting at CCC. Or is it Walmart?
[Edited on 6-7-2010 by BMG]
I think the world is run by C- students.
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Udo
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How much to tip?
My intuition is a peso a bag, or generally between 5-10 pesos in tips
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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SiReNiTa
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Good job pointing it out!
There are lots of people who don't know about this.
Usually the baggers are retired people (with little or no income) and/or children or young teens who want money for school, clothes, etc etc.
The same as the parking attendants at large stores.
Tipping also usually depends on the amount of things they bag, at least for me.
While it's true that sometimes the younger ones scramble to bag the foreigners bags, I think some of the markets (larger ones usually) have placed one
or two people per register, and they take turns and share the profit.
The tips (from my experience) usually range from anywhere between 1-30 pesos, the higher being when the load is pretty big.
Live life as well as you can,
don\'t regret the things that once made you smile,
learn from your mistakes,
and thank God for every second he gives you upon this earth.
Visit me at
Http://BajaScents.Scentsy.com.mx
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karenintx
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I too have witnessed Americans and Canadians that do not tip but what excuse do the locals have for not tipping? Lots of them...when they do tip it
is only centavos. Maybe they need to get the memo!
My tip is predicated on the service I am given.
1. When I speak to the "bagger" in Spanish...do they look at me and greet
me back. I am alway pleasant to them so respect goes a long way.
2. How do they bag my groceries...wine bottles on top of my bread is
an automatic deduction.
3. Do they double bag the heavy stuff when asked.
4. Senior citizens always get a bigger tip from me. What can I say,
I have lost both of my parents in the past two years and it breaks
my heart to see a elderly person having to work for tips.
Actually the best baggers are senoir citizen females. They too understand that after a person pays good money for food the last thing a customer
wants is a bagger that destorys the food before you can get it home.
Just food for thought...no pun intended!
.
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comitan
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If UDO is tipping I'll be there, either store.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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BMG
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M$5-10 plus coins of M$1 or less received in change is what I normally tip.
I think the world is run by C- students.
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Santiago
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I've noticed that one store in BOLA has a box label "tips for baggers" (in English). Always kids as far as I remember.
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DENNIS
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First, I have to say, I tip ten or more Ps each time I go through the checkstand.
That said, I cringe every time I do that. It's not the pittance of change, but the fact that the employer has turned over the responsibility of
paying his employees directly to the consumers who, for some reason, agree to this nonsense.
The employer has found a way to have people work for him and enhance his quality of service along with his reputation.....for nothing.
[we had a heated thread about this subject a few years back and I'll be happy to defend my solo position, as it was then, on the subject tomorrow]
G'nite.
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toneart
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I always tip varying amounts, depending on the change on hand. It is usually just a few pesos. In Mulege they all know me and acknowledge their
appreciation with a "Gracias! I go often, but usually buy a small amount of groceries; just what I am going to consume within that day or the next.
Furthermore, it is obvious that a tip is customary. There is always a plastic cup or glass right there in front of them.
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BigWooo
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Well...this is great information. Being relatively new to the nuances of living here, I didn't know they weren't store employees. Just the other day
we were trying to figure out why the store employed so many baggers, and why so many of them were waiting on the other side of the cash registers.
Now I feel horrible, since the store is so far away, we usually go shopping for enough goods to last several weeks. We never really did that much
grocery shopping during the many years we only came for short vacations. Thanks for the info.
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MitchMan
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I think Karenintx and Dennis have it exactly right. Karenintx said essentially to tip an appropriate and consistant amount related to quality and
care of bagging. That makes absolute and perfect sense from all perspectives.
Dennis recognizes the economic ramifications and I applaud that esoteric and very correct perspective.
When it comes to tipping for anything, I always look at it this way. How much should a customarily tipped service provider make for a day's work
(salary + tips) compared to other vocations that take either education and/or experience?
I don't think that a food server who takes about three days to train should make more money per hour than a recent grad accountant from a four year
college for the same 40-hour work week. I don't think that a waiter/waitress that works in an upscale restaurant where the food prices are very high
should make tips based on the total food/drink bill, That's economically unfair to the waitress who works at top speed and much, much harder for
every moment of time at Spires restaurant. That does not make economic sense and is an unfair distribution of wealth that for me is within my
control. Food servers should make a tip based on quality of service only and that should be consistant from upscale restaurant to down scale
restaurants and not just based on total bill. You know, some waitresses have to bus their own tables and that would be a lower scale restaurants.
So, for baggers, I pay about $.50 to $1 peso for each full bag of PROPERLY bagged groceries (I would cut off the tip at a max total of $6 pesos), and
it goes down from there depending on attentiveness and quality of bagging (the lack thereof) and proportion of fulness of a bag.
Dennis is right about the owner of the grocery stores getting free value from baggers who work only for tips, just like USA restaurant owners who get
away with paying food servers less than minimum wage. I do not believe that such owners should get this benefit, but they do. This situation may
result in lower prices, but only in certain circumstances and not in every case (for example, having only to pay food servers in very upscale
restaurants minimum wage has no reduction effect on the exhorbitant pricing reflected in their menu pricing).
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tiotomasbcs
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I agree with you, Dennis. CCC and Sorianna should pay them and not the customers! I do think the big stores train them, tho. I do tip, however!!
The cute, little kids at the local stores and the seniors, especially. How can we not?! Tio
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Natalie Ann
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Tipping the grocery bagger is not such an unusual custom... it is regularly done in the Midwest USA where seniors often bag groceries for tips.
First trip to the grocery in Baja, I watched how locals behaved. Most everyone tipped the bagger, so I did too. Took years to figure out I was
tipping way more than a reasonable amount. Now I generally tip M$10 plus those real small coins.
nena
(Ooops - edit to correct my tip amount)
[Edited on 6-7-2010 by Natalie Ann]
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Natalie Ann
those real small coins.
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Yeah...what good are those things. Personally, I feel it would be insulting to use them even for a tip and usually throw them on the ground where the
kids might find them.
Dinero es dinero, I guess, but I never see anybody paying with them. 
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