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Here's how much Vancouverites think you should tip your barber or hairdresser

Do you tip at all? 15 per cent? 25?
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Standing hairdresser combs client seated in the hairdresser's chair to color her hair.

Tipping is an uneven practice.

In some industries, most notably food service, it's the norm in Canada to offer a tip when paying for a sit-down meal. Barbers and hairdressers are another of the most commonly tipped professions.

However, there's no hard and fast rule. It's not a tax where the amount is set by a regulatory body. It's a tip, meant to show appreciation for the work done.

So how much should one tip, if service is good? We asked V.I.A. readers and it seems like there's not really a consensus.

The majority of people who responded, both in the city and across the internet at large, picked the middle option, somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent; that's akin to what tipping food servers typically is.

However, only around 43 per cent of people picked that; that's solidly under half of the people who responded.

The second most common answer were those who tip, but not as much. The "less than 15 per cent" option got nearly a quarter of Vancouverites' votes, with the internet at large hedging a bit at 22 per cent.

Just behind second place are the group that tips 20 to 25 per cent, with around 17 per cent.

On the other end of things are those who don't tip at all, and around 13 per cent of people say they never do.

The smallest group by far are the big tippers, who tip more than 25 per cent. With just 3 per cent of people, it seems there aren't many out there.

Vancouver Is Awesome polled 1215 readers and asked the question: How much do you tip for a haircut?

The poll ran from 7/16/2023 to 7/21/2023. Of the 1215 votes, we can determine that 602 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:

I don't tip for haircuts 12.46 % local, 14.81 % total    
Less than 15% 24.09 % local, 22.14 % total    
15% to 20% 43.19 % local, 43.05 % total    
20% to 25% 17.11 % local, 16.54 % total    
More than 25% 2.66 % local, 3.46 % total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult Vancouver Is Awesome readers that are located in Vancouver. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.81%, 19 times out of 20.

Vancouver Is Awesome uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.

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