Say thanks to the lifties

[Smellytele]

Not sure how this got to tipping ski instructors but I never have. Yes I am a cheap jerk. Still not sure why anyone would want to earn minimum wage and have to deal with teaching people how to ski. I am glad someone does it. There are a lot of jobs I am glad people do for minimum wage but I don't tip Mcdonald's employees either.

 

[ss20]

^^ says the ski instructor :-D (i tipped when my kids took lessons)

Doesn't everyone think they're underpaid in their field? :grin:

 

[joshua segal]

Just out of curiosity, something I've wondered for years..

What is the commonly acceptable/average amount to tip a ski instructor? Besides a round if you see them in the bar after...

A lot depends on the area, but rule of thumb is: Ski Instructors are service employees and tipping is appropriate (if you are satisfied with the lesson). I would suggest that percentage of lesson cost is a good starting point, just as in a restaurant.

I rarely get tips on group lessons and don't expect them, but on private lessons where a specific instructor is requested, tip should be at least 20% of the cost of the lesson - less if it is a good lesson, but given a random instructor from the line-up.

 

[Cannonball]

I was going to post the Mr Pink "I don't tip scene". But after the Ascutney fire thread I think I'll stay clear of that one.

 

[MadMadWorld]

Just out of curiosity, something I've wondered for years..

What is the commonly acceptable/average amount to tip a ski instructor? Besides a round if you see them in the bar after...

Depends I suppose. I taught kids for a number of years.....it was always based on: did the kid have a blast? How much did they improve? How much money do mom and dad have?

At the end of the day when the parents asked what the kids learned I would tell them "we need left and right turns across the fall line". Of course I also gave a visual aid by drawing it in the snow. After I was done it looked like this: $

 

[Smellytele]

To be honest I believe the ski areas are charging too much for lessons and not paying the instructors enough compared to what they are charging. Charging 100 for a private lesson when the instructor is making minimum wage is a travesty. What does it cost beyond the actual cost for the instructor to teach a lesson. They make the student buy a lift ticket as well.

 

[ss20]

To be honest I believe the ski areas are charging too much for lessons and not paying the instructors enough compared to what they are charging. Charging 100 for a private lesson when the instructor is making minimum wage is a travesty. What does it cost beyond the actual cost for the instructor to teach a lesson. They make the student buy a lift ticket as well.

The mountains try to dissuade privates because they make more with groups. Why would the mountain want to charge one person 100$ when they could charge 8 people 50$ and make 4x the profit?

 

[Quietman]

Working as a liftie can really suck or be a lot of fun, most of the time it's what you make of it. When I worked, I would never sit down. I'd chat with the customers, give the kids fist bumps, give them snowballs to throw at the top attendant, shovel lots of snow, make snowmen and all kinds of other things out of snow, crank 80's rock as loud as I could, and mostly have a good time. On slower days when the trail under the lift wasn't open, I'd have snowmen riding the lift and the kids and adults loved it. I will say that working at the bottom of a high speed lift is generally more boring, and I couldn't crank the music, but I would still do my best.

Not bumping a heavy fixed grip quad is bad, but bad mouthing a customer or employee is inexcusable. Heck I'd tackle or pelt fellow employees with snow balls, but never tell them to F*** off!

 

[witch hobble]

Mountains can't pay employees less than the minimum wage like a restaurant can its servers (though they would no doubt like to). So the tip is not an essential part of their income. That said, it is good form to reward hard working service sector employees who go above and beyond.

 

[witch hobble]

Always be kind to a liftie properly bumping chairs. It is a dying art.

 

[gmcunni]

dancing liftie @ sundown is great. terrific attitude and always has something nice to say to customers.

 

[Smellytele]

The mountains try to dissuade privates because they make more with groups. Why would the mountain want to charge one person 100$ when they could charge 8 people 50$ and make 4x the profit?

Right so that is even worse 400 while only paying out <10

 

[joshua segal]

Mountains can't pay employees less than the minimum wage like a restaurant can its servers (though they would no doubt like to). So the tip is not an essential part of their income. That said, it is good form to reward hard working service sector employees who go above and beyond.

$7.25 per hour (annualized for 40 hour week = $14,500 per year with no benefits) is not a livable wage. Most instructors are receiving less than $10 per hour but can at most get 6 hours pay for their day. Premium pay is given for "request private lessons." And there are a few instructors at the large resorts who have (wealthy) clientele who hire them for the full day every weekend (or many weekends); for the benefit of a guide, coaching and line jumping. These few instructors do very well financially and routinely report receiving tips for a full day between $100 and $500.

No area that I know of discourages private lessons in favor of group lessons. However, unless there are extenuating physical circumstances, I think that the group lesson is generally a good way to go for a first lesson. If the student isn't getting it and hasn't given up, 2nd lesson should be a private, because the instructor has to aim for the middle of the class and out of fairness to the entire group, can't give the weakest student(s) the individual attention they really need.

And getting back to lifties, I suspect the improving economy is making it harder to hold on to lifties. I hear that many areas are having difficulty with staffing their minimum wage positions.

 

[joshua segal]

To be honest I believe the ski areas are charging too much for lessons and not paying the instructors enough compared to what they are charging. Charging 100 for a private lesson when the instructor is making minimum wage is a travesty. What does it cost beyond the actual cost for the instructor to teach a lesson. They make the student buy a lift ticket as well.

+1.

But the cost to the mountain of a lesson isn't only the instructor. The director of the school, the supervisors, the trainers and even the sales staff; all are overhead on the sale. And small areas, especially on weekdays, give a lot of private lessons that are billed as "group lessons" but the group size happens to be "1".

 

[VTKilarney]

At the end of the day when the parents asked what the kids learned I would tell them "we need left and right turns across the fall line". Of course I also gave a visual aid by drawing it in the snow. After I was done it looked like this: $

Had you done that with me I would have put your tip money right back in my pocket. Could you imagine a waiter pulling a stunt like that?

 

[C-Rex]

Had you done that with me I would have put your tip money right back in my pocket. Could you imagine a waiter pulling a stunt like that?

Or maybe draw a cent sign and say, "you should have taught them this one" and give him a penny. Haha!

My friend was an instructor at Northstar for a couple years. He was saying most instructors do lessons for the mountains basically to build a client base. The idea being to get them to come back and ask for you buy name, or even better, get them to call you personally. He was saying some guys get in with wealthy families that pay for them to come on trips to give lessons/babysit.

 

[joshua segal]

...

At the end of the day when the parents asked what the kids learned I would tell them "we need left and right turns across the fall line". Of course I also gave a visual aid by drawing it in the snow. After I was done it looked like this: $

Lots of jokes like that. After a pole planting lesson, the explanation to the parent: "This is the shaft, this is the handle" and pointing the bottom of the pole at one's hand, "this is the tip." Never believed anyone really used either of these!

 

[witch hobble]

$7.25 per hour (annualized for 40 hour week = $14,500 per year with no benefits) is not a livable wage. Most instructors are receiving less than $10 per hour but can at most get 6 hours pay for their day. Premium pay is given for "request private lessons." And there are a few instructors at the large resorts who have (wealthy) clientele who hire them for the full day every weekend (or many weekends); for the benefit of a guide, coaching and line jumping. These few instructors do very well financially and routinely report receiving tips for a full day between $100 and $500.


And getting back to lifties, I suspect the improving economy is making it harder to hold on to lifties. I hear that many areas are having difficulty with staffing their minimum wage positions.

Obviously, a "living wage" and minimum wage are not the same. But your server at the diner that you hit up before your day of skiing is making less than half of the minimum wage ($3.26/hr in NH) to take your order, bring you food and keep your coffee warm. The tip is an implied part of the wage. And nobody eating there is thinking in the back of their mind that this person is somehow "living the dream".

as far as lifties, I think the proliferation of detatchables has made bumping chairs a dying art. And turn over has always been high at that job. The monotony.

 

[BenedictGomez]

$7.25 per hour (annualized for 40 hour week = $14,500 per year with no benefits) is not a livable wage. Most instructors are receiving less than $10 per hour but can at most get 6 hours pay for their day.

It's a good thing none of them choose to be ski instructors to "seek a liveable wage" then.

Had you done that with me I would have put your tip money right back in my pocket. Could you imagine a waiter pulling a stunt like that?

He was joking.

 

[MadMadWorld]

Had you done that with me I would have put your tip money right back in my pocket. Could you imagine a waiter pulling a stunt like that?

I was 16 and it was always a joke. I looked innocent at the time and I don't think anyone really thought I drew it on purpose. Plus, I only did it with people I felt owed me a tip because their kids were douchers.