Tipping

Just wondering what the custom is for tipping in restaurants. Here in the US, 10-15% (before tax) is customary, depending on the service. Servers typically make a very low wage and depend on tips for a decent income.

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Tipping is not customary in Finland. Service is always included in the price (as well as taxes), so the price you see in the price tag - or menu in this case - is the price you pay. Of course if you feel that you have got very good service, you can give the waiter a tip, in which case 10% or rounding up the price to the nearest even sum is sufficient. But as said it is not expected.

Waiting staff gets monthly/hourly salary that has been negotiated between the labour and employers%26#39; unions.

This tipping guideline apply everywhere in Finland, as a general rule Finns do not give tips, so the barbers, hairdressers, taxi drivers etc. do not expect to get anything on top of the displayed price.

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Thank you, zam72. Very interesting. Something that%26#39;s always bothered me about restaurant pricing here is that the price you actually pay can be 20-25% over the price you see on the menu, once you add in tax and tip. Why not just include it so the price is really the price?

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Please DO NOT TIP in Finland. In other countries, tipping is based on the fact that for example waiters are not paid a living wage for their work, so they basically live with the tips. In Finland, however, like someone already wrote, this is not the case, and wages and salaries have been collectively agreed and believe me - this shows in prices already = the prices already include all charges, taxes and tips. DO NOT tip in addition, because it also makes it difficult for us Finnish people - when we go to restaurants, the waiters (who have become used to being tipped by tourists) start to wait for a tip on us Finnish people too. First we pay on service that is included in the price of the food, and then we are expected to tip too? The tipping culture does not fit an economy that includes the service already in the prices.

Tipping in Finland is also questionable from tax point of view, because the waiters pay tax for their salaries and if they get any tips they are obliged to report them to the tax authorities, which no one of couse ever does, so tipping just encourages them to tax evasion.

I know it might seem difficult to let go the tipping habit when in Finland, but I strongly advice to forget it when here, otherwise you%26#39;ll just for no reason pay double for everything.