Kennebec River Crossing

[BirdBrain]

Should I tip the ferryman and if so how much?

[max patch]

no

if you feel a "tip" is appropriate you should send a contribution to the ATC or MATC who pay for this service.

[Water Rat]

That sounds evil! I don't think he wants to be tipped...(over!) :D

On a serious note - Yes, I would tip the ferryman.

[BirdBrain]

Bumping this thread. I have 2 votes so far. I need to know what people have done. I want to do the right thing.

[DavidNH]

Why tip? 1) the ferryman is doing his job (for which I'm pretty sure he gets compensated) and probably loves it. who wouldn't love it? 2) If you really want to shell out money.. then give the money to the ATC or the Maine ATC to help take care of the trail.

Just be nice and appreciative to the man. I think kindness goes farther than loose change. This is a free service (to hikers) and should be KEPT FREE!

[Lone Wolf]

Should I tip the ferryman and if so how much?

no. he's paid well by the ATC

[Lone Wolf]

Bumping this thread. I have 2 votes so far. I need to know what people have done. I want to do the right thing.

i've taken the canoe once. didn't tip. the other 5 times i forded the river

[BirdBrain]

Thank you LW. I was looking for the voice of experience. I did not know his wages. For all I knew, he volunteered. That was not relevant to me though. I just care about doing the right thing. Your experience has given me that answer.

[Bucketfoot]

Who actually knows his wages other than the MATC or the ATC. I will bet that they are not all that great. Use your own best judgement on tipping for anything.

[Jack Tarlin]

The ferryman is paid, true, but whether or not he's paid "well" is debatable. I knew the old ferryman well; for the better part of a decade, I tipped him by giving him an annual cigarette (he claimed he didn't smoke!) and I'd usually cook him dinner that night. As for the present, sure, if you feel like it, give the guy a tip. He'll either laugh and politely decline it, or will happily take it and think well of you for it. Limo drivers get tipped tho they are presumably "paid well." Cabbies get tipped; so do the guys with horse carriages in Central Park; rickshaw drivers; gondola boatmen in Venice. I think if someone wants to tip the Kennebec Ferryman, more power to ya, nice of you to think of it!

[BirdBrain]

Who actually knows his wages other than the MATC or the ATC. I will bet that they are not all that great. Use your own best judgement on tipping for anything.

I honestly don't care what he makes. It is not my business. I was just looking for the voices of experience on what was proper. I do know that many volunteer and are worthy of some sort of reward for their efforts. The suggestion of donating to the MATC is valid. I am considering it.

[Lone Wolf]

Who actually knows his wages other than the MATC or the ATC. I will bet that they are not all that great. Use your own best judgement on tipping for anything.
the man agreed to a contract. he must be happy with the pay. he's not waiting tables for 2 bucks an hour

[attroll]

I knew the ferryman that ran the service for 10 years prior to the current ferryman and he was also a good friend of mine. He told me what he got paid at one time. In my opinion he was paid very good for the six months that the ferry service is open.

[BirdBrain]

I knew the ferryman that ran the service for 10 years prior to the current ferryman and he was also a good friend of mine. He told me what he got paid at one time. In my opinion he was paid very good for the six months that the ferry service is open.

I think I have my answer, but I remain curious about one thing: Do you know if people tipped him? I am glad this job pays well. I wish every job did.

[attroll]

I don't recall the old ferryman ever telling me that he received any tips. Knowing him, I doubt he would have accepted any tips if any were offered to him. As far as the new ferryman, I cannot speak for him because I don't know him. If you want to tip the ferryman then go ahead and make an offer. You have a 50\50 chance that he will take it.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

Whatever you do, I he calls himself Charon and asks for a gold coin, turn around, or you'll be crossing the wrong river. (There's a ferryman you DON'T want to meet)

[rocketsocks]

T.I.P.

To Insure Promptness

Now I wouldn't not tip if they're running slow, after all, paddling a canoe does take a little time...and you could always walk.

and for me tipping is always consumerate with what a service is worth.....a few bucks outta do it.



huh, who knew?

“To Insure Promptness” ("tip” false etymology)
"Tip” (and “tips") is often said (incorrectly) to be an acronym of:

. To Insure Promptness.
. To Insure Performance.
. To Improve Performance.
. To Insure Prompt Service.
. To Insure Proper Service.

The 1895 New York (NY) Tribune published an etymology of the wrord “tip” stating that an old time English tavern had box for coins, upon which was written the words “To Insure Promptness.” In a widely reprinted 1919 newspaper story, it was stated that the King’s Head tavern in London “100 years ago” had a box upon which was written ‘To Insure Prompt Service.” The false “tip” (or “tips") etymologies were frequently reprinted in early 1900s newspapers.

The word “tip” is cited since the 1700s as a form of the word “tip” (meaning “to give” or “to hand” or “pass” or “to let one have").


Wikipedia: Tip (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip)
A tip (also called a gratuity) is a payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction. The amount of a tip is typically calculated as a percentage of the transaction value before applicable taxes. Such payments and their size are a matter of social custom. Tipping varies among cultures and by service industry. Though by definition a tip is never legally required, and its amount is at the discretion of the person being served, in some circumstances failing to give an adequate tip when one is expected may be considered very miserly, a violation of etiquette, or unethical. In some other cultures or situations, giving a tip is not expected and offering one would be considered condescending or demeaning. In some circumstances (such as tipping government workers), tipping is illegal.

Etymology
The word originates from the 16th century verb tip, which meant “to give, hand, pass” and “to tap”, possibly being derived from the Low German word tippen, meaning “to tap.” The modern German term for a tip is the unrelated Trinkgeld, literally “drink money.”

The notion of a stock tip is from the same slang, and the expression hot tip, as in a sure winner in a horse race, also comes from the act of tapping. In the old days, during card games, gamblers would have an accomplice in the room. This accomplice would signal the player regarding the contents of an opponent’s hand by “tipping the wink” - that is, by “tapping” out a code with his eyelid. The Oxford English Dictionary states that tip is derived from the English thieves’ (which may be taken to mean “gambler") slang word tip, meaning “to pass from one to another” (cf. “to give unexpectedly").

The word “tip” is often inaccurately claimed to be an acronym for terms such as “to insure prompt service”, “to insure proper service”, “to improve performance”, and “to insure promptness”. However, this etymology contradicts the Oxford English Dictionary and is probably an example of a backronym. Moreover, most of these backronyms incorrectly require the word “insure” instead of the correct “ensure”.

Some claim that the origin for this term is a concept from Judaism, in that it was a chiyuv (obligation) for a seller to “tip the scales” in favor of the customer. The Torah says, ”Nosen lo girumov (Give to him a tip).” For example, if your customer has asked for three pounds of onions, you should measure out the three pounds plus one extra onion, tipping the scale in his favor.

(Oxford English Dictionary)
tip, v.
colloq. (orig. slang). To give a gratuity to; to bestow a small present of money upon (an inferior), esp. upon a servant or employee of another, nominally in return for a service rendered or in order to obtain an extra service; also upon a child or schoolboy. Const. with.
1706-7 FARQUHAR Beaux Strat. II. ii, Then I, Sir, tips me the Verger with half a Crown. 1
733 SWIFT Legion Club 134 Tipping him with half a crown, Now, said I, we are alone.
1747 Gentl. Mag. Mar. 147/1 T’wou’d have paid The reck’ning clean, and tipp’d the maid.
1752 FIELDING Amelia XI. v, He advised his friend..to begin with tipping (as it is called) the great man’s servant.
c1810 W. HICKEY Mem. (1960) x. 164 Joseph Polt..whom I had frequently called upon, and tipped at Eton School.
1848 THACKERAY Contrib. to Punch Wks. 1886 XXIV. 189 You..used to tip me when I was a boy at school.
1883 J. H. INGRAM in Harper’s Mag. July 231/2 He had..tipped him to the extent of a sixpence.
1939 G. B. SHAW Geneva II. 38, I havnt exchanged twenty words with the boy since I tipped him when he was going from Eton to Oxford.

tip, n.
A small present of money given to an inferior, esp. to a servant or employee of another for a service rendered or expected; a gratuity, a douceur: see TIP v.4 2. Also, a present of money given to a schoolboy by an older person.
1755 J. BAREBONES in Connoisseur No. 70. 417, I assure you I have laid out every farthing..in tips to his servants.
c1810 W. HICKEY Mem. (1960) ii. 38, I secured a handsome tip, the Westminster phrase for a present of cash.
1812 J. H. VAUX Flash Dict. s.v., To take the tip, is to receive a bribe in any shape; and they say of a person who is known to be corruptible, that he will stand the tip.
1818 Sporting Mag. II. 165 A handsome tip was demanded at the gate.
1825 T. HOOK Sayings Ser. II. Doubts & F. i, Sir Harry was liberal in his ‘tips’, and consequently a great favourite of Phillips [the waiter].
1855 THACKERAY Newcomes xvi, What money is better bestowed than that of a schoolboy’s tip?
1877 BLACK Green Past. xxx, Two sovereigns was the least tip to be slipped into the hands of the custom-house officer. Mod. The porter will expect a tip.

15 September 1895, Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, “Origin of the Word Fad,” second part, pg. 10:
New York Tribune: (...) The word “tip” originated, it is said, in that way. The story goes that in an old time English tavern a receptacle for small coin was placed in a conspicuos place over which appeared the legend, “To insure promptness.” Whatever was placed in the box was given to the servants. Other taverns followed the example, and soon the three words were written “T. I. P.,” everybody knowing what they indicated. Then the punctuation marks were dropped, and the word “tip” was born. “Fad” and “tip” are of the same class and kind.

13 January 1896, Morning Herald (KY), pg. 4:
THE word “tips” originated by having a box for contributions marked: “To insure promptness.” Some genius removed all but the initial letters and the pounctuation marks and hence came “tip,” with its plural “tips.”

Google Books (http://books.google.com/books?id=rCMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA540&dq=tip+%22to+insure+promptness%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=1776&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=1900&num=100&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES&ei=gqS4SZq0H5LmyQS2gqGWDg)
February 1898, Popular Science Monthly, pg. 540:
I suppose this appeasing perquisite for spirit drudgery was but a forerunner of the modern servant’s “tip,” an abbreviated form of “to insure promptness.”

25 September 1919, Wyoming State Tribune—Cheyenne State Leader (Cheyenne, WY), pg. 12:
nearly a hundred years ago the proprietor of the King’s Head coffee house in London placed a box by the door, on which he wrote: “To Insure Prompt Service.” His patrons dropped coins in it. Ergo—the word “tips” is taken from the first letter in each word of his phrase.

[Sampson]

The ferryman is paid, true, but whether or not he's paid "well" is debatable. I knew the old ferryman well; for the better part of a decade, I tipped him by giving him an annual cigarette (he claimed he didn't smoke!) and I'd usually cook him dinner that night. As for the present, sure, if you feel like it, give the guy a tip. He'll either laugh and politely decline it, or will happily take it and think well of you for it. Limo drivers get tipped tho they are presumably "paid well." Cabbies get tipped; so do the guys with horse carriages in Central Park; rickshaw drivers; gondola boatmen in Venice. I think if someone wants to tip the Kennebec Ferryman, more power to ya, nice of you to think of it!

I like this answer. Do whatever feels right. There's nothing wrong with being generous, even if it's unnecessarily generous. Nobody ever really killed anyone with kindness or a few extra bucks.

[Water Rat]

I like this answer. Do whatever feels right. There's nothing wrong with being generous, even if it's unnecessarily generous. Nobody ever really killed anyone with kindness or a few extra bucks.

I like this answer! Even if he chooses not to accept a tip, I bet the gesture makes him feel good. Besides, tipping doesn't necessarily have to come in the form of money. It's nice to know your efforts are appreciated. People seem to be more likely to let others know they are unhappy with a service, than they are to say "thank you" when they appreciate the service.

Have fun, HYOH (if that means tipping, then tip), and have a safe trip! :)

[bobp]

All things are relative, I suppose. I would be inclined to tip, as a small gesture of gratitude. Even if that ferryman is paid, I doubt that he will spend the trip discussing his dilemma in deciding to spend his ATC bonus on a Mercedes or on a BMW. "We'll paid" is relative.

[BirdBrain]

I have my answer and am closing this thread. I did a Google search prior to posting this question. I could not find a discussion on it. Many have expressed the general feelings of the choice of tipping in general. I believe the comments validate my asking. The 1st hand experiences is what I was looking for. I know what I will be doing. I would suggest to others UYOJ (Use Your Own Judgement).