Holiday Tipping: A Fraught Apartment Building Tradition

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/realestate/tipping-doorman-ask.html

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Q. After years of renting in a small building, I won an affordable-housing lottery and moved into a large building in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with 24-hour concierge service and a mix of market-rate and affordable units. What is the etiquette on holiday tipping? I could afford around $250, but spread across a large staff, that does not seem like a generous gift. What about neighbors in even lower income brackets? What is expected of them?

A. Tipping the staff at the holidays is a fraught tradition (and one that I have pondered before), partly because many of us do not know how much to give. No one wants to be the Scrooge. But the holidays are expensive, and all those little envelopes can strain a tight budget.

Your situation is further complicated by the reality that your full-service building caters to market-rate tenants whose pockets may be deeper than yours. But supers and doormen are not oblivious to economic constraints. “Holiday tipping is customary, but it’s not mandatory for people who can’t afford it,” said Gabby Warshawer, the director of research for CityRealty. “At the end of the day, a super is going to be doing their job,” even without a gift. Though the amount you suggested seems like an average tip for a large, doorman building.

In interviews with doormen to create a tipping calculator, the real estate brokerage Triplemint found that the “expectation of tips is more hinged on usage than other things,” said David Walker, the company’s chief executive. So someone who calls on the doorman for packages and assistance should give more than those who expect little more than a cursory nod.

There is, however, an egalitarian solution to your tipping conundrum. Management could arrange a tipping pool so tenants could give a lump sum that is then doled out accordingly.

Q. I own an apartment in Park Slope, but rent it out. When I lived there, I always gave out holiday tips to the wonderful building staff. Now that I have a tenant, should I still tip, or is it up to the tenant?

A. There is no rule against both of you giving. Use the holidays as an opportunity to show your appreciation for all that this staff does to protect your investment throughout the year. “You want your super to look after the place and go the extra mile to maintain it,” said Nathan Tempey, the senior editor at Brick Underground, a real estate website that provides an annual tipping guide. “So it’s a good idea to stay in their good graces.”

Send your tenant a list of building-employee names as a gentle reminder that the holiday tipping season is upon us.