How Much Are You Tipping This Holiday Season? Care.com Survey Finds Approximately 1 In 4 Plan To Spend More On Holiday Tips This Year

-- Who, When & Why People Tip (Or Don't Tip) are Revealed in the Care.com Holiday Tipping Survey of More Than 1,000 People --

News provided by

Care.com

Dec 01, 2014, 09:00 ET

WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- This holiday season, babysitters, housecleaners and hair stylists may have an extra reason to be thankful. A Care.com Holiday Tipping Survey found that approximately 1 in 4 people (24%) plan to spend more on holiday tips than last year. But for all that generosity, 21% don't plan to tip at all this season, according to the survey of more than one thousand members on Care.com (NYSE: CRCM, www.care.com), the world's largest online destination for finding and managing family care.

"From who and why people tip…to feelings of guilt about what they spend…to whether they fight with their partner about holiday tipping, we wanted to take a peek inside people's holiday cards to see what they're planning this season," said Katie Bugbee, global parenting expert and senior managing editor of Care.com. "Although it's clear that some people are overly-generous with holiday tipping – particularly New Yorkers – more than 1 in 4 people simply can't afford it; and sadly, the act of regifting continues to persist year after year."

Care.com Holiday Tipping Survey Highlights

How Much People Tip:

People Who Give Holiday Tips: 69%.
People Who Budget for Holiday Tips: 40%
How Much They Tip Overall: 1 in 4 spend more than $250 in total, 11% spend more than $400 in total.
How Much They Tip Per Person: More than half (52%) tip between $20 to $60 per person
Who Are Bigger Tippers: 52% of men spend more than $150 versus 44% of women. 22% think they give larger tips than others.

Who People Tip & Don't Tip:

How Many People They Tip: 1 in 10 tip more than 7 people, 46% tip 2 or 3 people.
The Three Most Popular People They Tip: Those in childcare (babysitters, nannies and daycare workers), home care (housekeepers, landscapers and handymen), and personal care (hairstylists, manicurists and personal trainers). Only 7% tip caregivers for seniors.
Who They Wish They Didn't Have to Tip: 14% say child caregivers and people who work with their kids, and 1 in 3 (30%) say delivery people.

Why People Tip & Don't Tip:

Why People Tip: 73% want to say thanks for a job well done, 17% tip because it's expected, and 6% are afraid they won't get good service next year if they don't tip.
Why People Don't Tip: 35% don't think it's necessary, 28% can't afford it, and 10% simply forget.

What & When People Are Tipping:

What Do They Tip: 62% mix of physical gifts and cash, 31% only cash
What Kind of Non-Cash Gifts Do They Give: 45% gift cards/certificates, 22% homemade food, 17% wine/alcohol
Most Popular Time to Tip: 41% tip in early December, 38% end of December, 9% before December, and 2% after the New Year.
Number of People Who Regift: 30%

Who Feels Guilty & Who Fights:

People Who Argue With Their Partner About Tipping: 15%
Who Feels Guilty About Not Tipping: 52%, with women feeling more guilt (54%) compared to 39% of men.

Interesting Regional Differences Between the East Coast, West Cost, Midwest and South:

Who's more likely to give holiday tips? New Yorkers (75%).
Who spends the most? 1 in 5 people in New York spend more than $300 on holiday tips, compared to 9% in Illinois.
Who's more likely to regift? Californians (36%) versus Texans (25%).
Who's less likely to gift cash? Texans (27%) versus New Yorkers (44%).
Who's spending less on tips this holiday season? 17% of Californians plan to spend less on tips this holiday season, compared to the national average of 8%.

Visit Care.com/holidaytipping to find more information on the Care.com Holiday Tipping survey, a guideline on exactly how much to tip everyone in your life, and an interactive, state-by-state Nanny Holiday Bonus Guide.

About Care.com
Care.com (NYSE: CRCM) is the world's largest online destination for finding and managing family care. As of September 2014, the Company had 13.3 million members spanning 16 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and parts of Western Europe. Care.com's web and mobile platforms enable families to connect to care providers and caregiving services in a reliable and easy way, while also helping care providers find meaningful work. Through its consumer matching platform, tools and resources, Care.com allows families to make more informed hiring decisions. The Company also enables families to pay caregivers electronically online or via mobile device and also subscribe to Care.com HomePay to manage their household payroll and tax matters. As a further extension of its marketplace for families, Care.com also sells curated products for children, through Citrus Lane, the leading social ecommerce platform designed for moms. The Company also enables families to connect with one another locally through forums via Big Tent, an online community platform with more than 1 million registered members nationwide and approximately 1,700 parenting groups. In addition, Care.com serves hundreds of thousands of families whose employers provide access to Care.com's consumer matching platform, as well as backup dependent care, as a corporate benefit through the company's Workplace Solutions unit. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Care.com has offices in Berlin, Austin, New York City and Mountain View.