DME Tipping?

[Mickey_Man]

DW and i will be using DME for the first time next week. (We usually use "A Step Above" transportation). Is it appropriate to tip the DME driver?

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Would like to know this as well. We will use ME 1st time in August.

 

[CleveRocks]

If the driver doesn't touch any of your bags, and if he/she doesn't provide you any other sort of personalized service for you (for example, answering questions for you), then a tip is not necessary.

 

[jagafen]

Just another point of view.....(as a formerly tipped employee who will tip just about anyone)

It's a free transfer...is it going to kill your budget if you throw the driver a fiver??? How much would it cost you to book your own transfer, plus a tip on top of that??? In my mind, a $10 tip each way (for our family) is still saving us at least $75 over the cost of round trip transfers plus gratuity.....depends on your outlook I guess....

 

[goofy4tink]

Just another point of view.....(as a formerly tipped employee who will tip just about anyone)

It's a free transfer...is it going to kill your budget if you throw the driver a fiver??? How much would it cost you to book your own transfer, plus a tip on top of that??? In my mind, a $10 tip each way (for our family) is still saving us at least $75 over the cost of round trip transfers plus gratuity.....depends on your outlook I guess....

While I understand where you're coming from, while it certainly wouldn't kill my budget to tip the DME bus driver, I don't automatically do it. He is being paid to drive a bus full of people. Basically, he/she is not providing a personal service for me. But...I always have some cash in my pocket, ready to hand over as a tip, if the driver warrents it. Sometimes they do, sometimes not. If the driver handles my bags, yes, there is a tip coming. If I get on the bus, sit down with my tote bag on my lap, then ride to my resort, and get off the bus...all with no interaction from the driver..no hello, no conversation, no thankyou....then no, there will be no tip.
But..I have had drivers who really started my trip off on the right foot...they were pleasant, talked to us, kept up a running commentary about what we were seeing along the route, things to do in WDW. Those drivers got tips from me even though they never touched a bag.
A tip is never automatic..it is not up to me to subsidize anyone's paycheck. If someone feels they are not paid enough, they need to take it up with their boss...not depend on me to tip enough to even out the paycheck. But, if they go the extra mile, making my bus ride a good one, then sure, they have something extra at the end.

Oh....and if that driver asks for a tip, nope, nothing is forthcoming from me. There is signage at the front of the bus telling me gratuities are accepted. I don't feel it's appropriate for the driver to make an announcement that all gratuities are gratefully accepted. And yes, I have had that happen several times.

 

[polineedyan]

Our driver did nothing more than load baggage (which I couldve done had I been ALLOWED) and drive the 40 minutes. If each person on that bus tipped 5 bucks, he wouldve made like 200 bucks plus his hourly for a 40 minute trip. I didnt feel it was necessary to tip. I wont tip unless they go out of their way. He didnt even speak. I was waiting for a countdown into MK, nope nothin. If he wants to just be a bus driver, he can make a bus driver's wage. And I'll let MEARS decide what that is..
I did tip our limo drivers though, because they were especially kind, and helpful. And I tipped them each 20 bucks.

 

[OKW Lover]

I was all set to write a big response here, but I found Goofy4Tink had read my mind.

Good answer.

 

[Disney Ron]

Why tip taxi drivers then? If one takes a taxi from their hotel to Hoop De Doo wouldn't one tip that driver? He's not handling luggage or going over the finer qualities of WDW with his passengers, but most feel the taxi driver should be tipped.

The only way we DON'T tip the DME driver is if he asks for one, other than that, he/she receives a tip from us.

 

[Lewisc]

The "normal" tip for a free shuttle bus driver is $1-$2 per bag. Remember most of the bags we carry on the airplane get stowed under the bus.

The fact that we're not allowed to stow our own bags is irrelevent, we're not allowed to drive a taxi and we tip the driver. You can use DME luggage deliver and only carry on small bags.

Passengers that only have small personal items that they carry on the bus have no reason to tip.

 

[CleveRocks]

Why tip taxi drivers then? If one takes a taxi from their hotel to Hoop De Doo wouldn't one tip that driver? He's not handling luggage or going over the finer qualities of WDW with his passengers, but most feel the taxi driver should be tipped.

Personal opinion ...

I tip for personalized service. A taxi driver is driving only me (and my party), so I tip. I food server is serving me personally, so I tip.

I think tipping is important, and I tip generously when I tip. But in my own personal opinion for my own life, I tip only when there is some sort of personal service, not service to the crowd to which I belong.

OR ...

I've also tipped when the person has gone above and beyond their normal job in being helpful, informative, funny, and so on, even if it was for the crowd and not for me personally.

Quick example .... I live in a casino town. I don't gamble much, but I go with friends when they visit. I was with my friend when he was playing craps; I wasn't playing, but I had some chips in my pocket. The stickman at the table was just about the funniest guy I'd ever heard in my life. He made my time standing there very very enjoyable. He was talking to the crowd, not to me personally, but he went out of his way to show everyone such a good time. That sort of "extra" service is not in his job description. When my friend was done playing, I leaned in and told the stickman how much I enjoyed his presence and I flipped a $5 chip on the table (in A.C., you aren't permitted to hand chips or cash to a dealer, it must go down on the table) and thanked him. He looked genuinely surprised. The boxman (the boss of the craps table) called out to me thinking I made some sort of mistake or accidentally dropped the chip or something, so I explained the tip to him, too.

So it's not like I'm cold or cheap when I don't tip the DME driver if he/she doesn't handle my bags or provide any other personalized service to me or went out of his/her way to do things beyond his.her job description.

I know, I know, the driver had our lives in his/her hands and brought up safely to our destination ... but that is the job description, and was a service to the whole crowd, not to me personally. If that same driver were driving me and my family in a taxi, car service vehicle, or rickshaw, I would tip for the personalized service.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Our driver did nothing more than load baggage (which I couldve done had I been ALLOWED) and drive the 40 minutes. If each person on that bus tipped 5 bucks, he wouldve made like 200 bucks plus his hourly for a 40 minute trip. I didnt feel it was necessary to tip.

Okay, I'm relatively certain you/we are not allowed to load luggage under the bus for insurance liability reasons; it is customary to tip any service person who handles your luggage; and, as with all other tipping situation: It is not my or your or goofy4tink's business to determine HOW much any such service person earns unless that service person IS us, or is employed BY us.

 

[CleveRocks]

Our driver did nothing more than load baggage (which I couldve done had I been ALLOWED) and drive the 40 minutes. If each person on that bus tipped 5 bucks, he wouldve made like 200 bucks plus his hourly for a 40 minute trip. I didnt feel it was necessary to tip. I wont tip unless they go out of their way. He didnt even speak. I was waiting for a countdown into MK, nope nothin. If he wants to just be a bus driver, he can make a bus driver's wage. And I'll let MEARS decide what that is...

But what you left out is that you MADE A CHOICE to bring your luggage to the bus, rather than allow DME to deliver your bags for you. You MADE A CHOICE to have the driver stow your bags rather than have DME deliver them. The driver had to do more work FOR YOU because of a choice you made. In my world, that earns a tip.

 

[Teacher510]

Just another point of view.....(as a formerly tipped employee who will tip just about anyone)

It's a free transfer...is it going to kill your budget if you throw the driver a fiver??? How much would it cost you to book your own transfer, plus a tip on top of that??? In my mind, a $10 tip each way (for our family) is still saving us at least $75 over the cost of round trip transfers plus gratuity.....depends on your outlook I guess....

Actually it's not free. If you book air through Disney it's built into the price. I know this because I booked my own air to save money on our Land/Sea and I am paying $69 each for DD and me for transfers. The CM subtracted that amount from the total I would have paid so that I could determine whether or not I'd be saving on my own. That being said. I always tip ME drivers $3 for the 2 carry-on bags that they handle before and after the ride.

 

[Cee]

I usually give the driver a "Lincoln" regardless.

 

[clkelley]

What's funny is you are not allowed to load your luggage under the bus, but if you bring an ECV, and don't use a lift bus, you must load and unload the ECV under the bus yourself.

 

[CleveRocks]

Actually it's not free. If you book air through Disney it's built into the price. I know this because I booked my own air to save money on our Land/Sea and I am paying $69 each for DD and me for transfers. The CM subtracted that amount from the total I would have paid so that I could determine whether or not I'd be saving on my own.

DME is free and included. What you are talking about is a Disney Cruise Line (DCL) transfer, which Disney charges for.

Please don't confuse Land/Sea transfers with DME and incorrectly tell others that there is a fee for using DME when booking airfare through Disney.

 

[Teacher510]

As I stated I didn't book the air through Disney. I was given the impression in the past that airfare booked other than through Disney would require a separate fee for ME. I certainly didn't intentionally mislead anyone (if I did). I would simply suggest that anyone booking their own flight verify the inclusion of ME. The first year of ME a cast member told me that it would be free for the first year and then would be approximately $35 per person each way. Since I have booked my WDW trips (including air) through Disney or AAA since ME began I hadn't had the need to deal with ME separately.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

The first year of ME a cast member told me that it would be free for the first year and then would be approximately $35 per person each way.

There was a lot of speculation -- by guests and cast members -- during the first year of Disney's Magical Express (DME) that there would be a charge after "The Happiest Celebration on Earth" marketing campaign ended.

People didn't understand that DME makes more money for Disney than it costs for Disney to provide the service. DME yields higher on-site spending per guest by making it much more difficult to spend money for off-site attractions, shopping, and dining. And DME increases the perceived value of WDW on-site resorts for higher REVPAR (revenue per available room).

Disney has never published that there would be a charge for DME.

DME provides complimentary transportation and inbound luggage transfers for any guest listed on a room reservation at a Disney-operated WDW resort and using Orlando International Airport. It doesn't matter how the room was booked -- Disney package, travel agent package, room-only, DVC, Interval International, private DVC rental. And it doesn't matter how the airfare was booked; in fact, the guest doesn't even have to arrive at the airport on an airplane.

 

[Evil Queen 2]

As I stated I didn't book the air through Disney. I was given the impression in the past that airfare booked other than through Disney would require a separate fee for ME. I certainly didn't intentionally mislead anyone (if I did). I would simply suggest that anyone booking their own flight verify the inclusion of ME. The first year of ME a cast member told me that it would be free for the first year and then would be approximately $35 per person each way. Since I have booked my WDW trips (including air) through Disney or AAA since ME began I hadn't had the need to deal with ME separately.

Okay I used ME for our trip in November and had booked our airfare myself not through Disney. There was no addition charge for using ME. When I made our Disney resort reservation they asked if I wanted to sign up for ME at that time. I didn't but did call back a couple of weeks later and added it with no problems. They just needed to know my airline and flight numbers so they could include on the tags send for our bags.

And we were booking room only as we had unexpired park passes from a previous trip.

We always tip (usually $2 per bag) for service provided by the driver of loading/unloading our bags from the bus. And if we get some extra service (good conversation, helpful hints, etc) along the road to the resorts we make sure to get the driver's name and pass along to supervisors what a great job the driver did.

And along those lines the one time we had an absolutely horrible time with a Mears van driver we made the point to call right back to Mears to let them know that driver needed to "re-trained" and/or have a helper ride along. Short version of that story ~ my son had to "suggest" he might want to turn on the headlights after we left the airport area for the interstate, DH and another passenger had to give driving directions after the driver got confused about which roads to take and started going wrong direction from airport, and there were numerous curbs we jumped along the way. (Luckily DH had been in Orlando recently and so was familiar with the interstates and local roads) We departed the airport at about 10:30 p.m. and finally arrived at our resort shortly after 1:00 a.m.

One of the passengers suggested that maybe we had gotten on the Rocking Rollercoaster.

 

[Brian Noble]

If the driver handles your bags loading onto/off of the bus, then it would be appropriate to tip $2/bag, with a $5 minimum. Otherwise, it is not necessary.

And, as others have observed, the very last thing Disney wants is for you to have a reason to get a rental car. I believe ME will be "free" for the foreseeable future; any cost increases will be made up in other ways.