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The bygone art of tipping

February 2008

The art of tipping appears to be in decline unless you’re a cabbie or a hairdresser!!

Excluding restaurant waiters who universally seem to be tipped, the findings from a survey by Budget Van Insurance discovered that 81% of UK households no longer tip tradesmen for a job well done, while just over half (56%) still feel obligated to tip a cabbie and 57% tip their hairdresser.     

Unsurprisingly nearly two thirds of women 66%, tip their hairdresser compared with only 38% of men. The big question is why 34% of women didn’t tip their hairdresser – was the outcome not to their liking ?

Reflecting the increased professionalism of skilled tradesmen, only 5% of plumbers and 6% of builders receive a tip.  Only 4% of electricians got a tip – shocking - and just 3% of plasterers. This compares to nearly a quarter of the public (22%) who tip bar staff, a rubbish 12% tip dustmen and 9% tip milkmen.

But why do we favour certain groups over others? The survey found that 42% of the UK tip because they think it’s ‘the custom’, with another 29% linking it to the perceived low wage earnings of the service provider. Overall women are more generous than men with 60% tipping compared with just 42% of men.

Lisa Corston, Budget Van Insurance:
“It appears that tipping is fast becoming a thing of the past as we no longer see it necessary to give a tip to all service providers. This does not seem to be the case for cabbies or hairdressers where ‘custom’ dictates that a tip is still paid, but for other sectors gone are the days of cash settlements – and it looks like the tips have gone with it!”

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For further information please contact:
Roland Cross/Joanne McGilway
Broadgate                                                                               020 7726 6111

Note to editors:
Survey carried out by Tickbox between 4.12.07 – 10.12.07 sample size 1395 UK adults

The BGL Group

The BGL Group, formerly known as Budget Group of Companies (the Group) was founded in 1992 and has grown to become one of the UK’s largest personal lines insurance intermediaries, through a combination of organic growth and a series of major strategic acquisitions (the last major acquisition was five years ago).

The Group now arranges and administers insurance for 1.9 million customers. It operates major contact centre operations (Fusion) in Peterborough, Coventry, Sunderland, Peterlee in the UK, and Cape Town, South Africa. The Group currently employs 2,255 people with its head office in Peterborough.

As an intermediary, the Group is able to access a wide range of underwriters, making it highly competitive in the marketplace, offering core products such as motor, home, commercial vehicle and motorcycle insurance.  The Group also offers a wide range of supplementary products, which include breakdown cover, legal protection, travel insurance, life assurance, pet insurance and mortgage payment protection insurance.

 In 2006 the Group received ‘Intermediary of the Year’ (Insurance Age UK Broker Awards) for its outstanding contribution to the insurance industry.  In April 2007, the Sunday Times’ PricewaterhouseCoopers Profit Track 100 rankings selected the Group as ‘one to watch’.

Budget Van insurance searches a panel of 12 insurers to offer competitively priced van insurance, in addition to exceptional product benefits. In 2006 Budget Van launched various innovative marketing campaigns including ‘it’s a van man thing’ and ‘flying traffic wardens’, which resulted in it being awarded ‘Marketing Campaign of The Year 2006’ (Insurance Times Awards). More recently Budget Van and News of the World have joined forces to produce the Dream Dates Calendar 2008.

BISL Ltd, part of the BGL Group s is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Registered Address: Pegasus House, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, PE2 6YS.
Registered in England no 3231094