Special Newsletter : Tipping and The Travel Insider

We are hoping to end the current annual Travel Insider Reader Fundraising Appeal this week.  At the time of writing, we have 307 people who have responded with generous support, leaving a gap of only 93 more supporters to reach our goal of 400 supporters this year.  Please help us bridge this gap.

In past weeks we’ve explained how we rely on reader support and use a ‘PBS’ type model to keep the lights on.  We’ve spoken about the value everyone receives from The Travel Insider each week, and we’ve created nine special incentives for supporters.

We’ve compared your weekly 5,000+ word free Travel Insider read to the cost of newspapers, magazines and books.  We’ve even equated your support of The Travel Insider in terms comparable to the cost of a single cup of coffee each week (I bought my daughter a Halloween themed Starbucks drink on Saturday that cost $5.65!).

As one last comparison point, may we compare supporting The Travel Insider to tipping.

How often do you tip people – not just the ones who positively add some discretionary extra element of quality to an experience involving them, but also the many who, in truth, do nothing special for you at all?  Sure, they do their job, but they don’t go at all above and beyond the call of duty to help you.  But you still generously thrust notes into their grasping hands as they briefly pass through your life, never to see them again.  If you happily tip people who do something special for you, and even many people who do nothing special for you, will you also consider tipping The Travel Insider today?

Add it all up, and every week/month/year most of us spend hundreds of dollars on voluntary/gratuitous tipping, in return for which our life’s experiences are almost completely unchanged.  So how about now giving a little something to preserve an experience that hopefully does mildly change and improve your life – The Travel Insider.

Here’s an interesting set of suggested tip levels for various types of service providers; although regrettably it doesn’t show a suggested level for The Travel Insider.

If you’re reading this, you’re clearly already a Travel Insider reader, and with the average reader having been doing so for more than seven years, the chances are you’ve been reading the newsletter for quite some time.

We don’t expect your life to have been profoundly changed by our weekly newsletters; although we do hope that some of the items you’ve read have not only entertained, interested, amused or annoyed you, but have also assisted you.  Perhaps they have helped you to travel more wisely and smartly, more aware of your rights and options.  Perhaps a review has helped you to spend your money more appropriately on electronics and assorted other things.  Surely it is appropriate to consider a ‘tip’ in return, once a year (or even once a quarter).

In a reader survey in 2011, 52% of Travel Insider readers said they tip hotel housemaids, up to as much as $20 a day.  But fewer than 4% ‘tip’ the Travel Insider.  We need only 93 more of the 10,000+ readers to send in a contribution/tip to close out the fundraising drive this year.  We need you and your help.  Please choose to be special and become one of these special people.  It only takes a few clicks and a few minutes to help make a big difference here.

Many thanks indeed.

And now lastly, I’m sometimes critical of pilots.  But did you hear the story of the clever pilot last week, who avoided the need to have a passenger dragged off a flight.  The passenger was a very blonde lady and somehow she formed the opinion she should be seated in first class, even though her boarding pass clearly had her seated in coach class.

When the passenger correctly assigned the seat boarded, the blonde refused to move, claiming she was entitled to the seat and was not leaving it until the plane reached its destination, Miami.  Discreet attempts and then more strident ones by the flight attendants all failed to budge her, while she increasingly assertively stated she wasn’t moving an inch until the plane landed in Miami – it was all the airline’s fault, and so they should fix it.

The purser went to the cockpit and conferred with the pilot about what they should do.  The pilot said ‘Leave it to me’, went back to the blonde, and spoke quietly to her for a minute, whereupon she got up, collected her things, and moved back to her middle seat in the rear of the plane.

‘What did you do?’ asked the amazed and impressed purser to the pilot.

‘I told her the front half of the plane wasn’t going to Miami.’

Until Friday, please enjoy Halloween, safe travels, and be sure to be seated in the part of the plane going to your destination

David.