FAQ: How To Tip Your Piercer?

Over the past several months I have been asked "what's an appropriate tip" and "how should I tip my piercer;" both in person and online. I recently made a TikTok video on the subject; but honestly I feel like I am a bit scatterbrained when I talk so I wanted to get something down in writing. At least it will be interesting to see if my thought process changes in the future. 

In order to answer these questions I do feel obligated to point out that I can honestly only talk about the studio that I work for and for myself. I can not talk about anyone else or clarify for them and how they work.

However I think the best way to know how to tip is to know how people get paid in this industry. Every piercer gets paid differently depending on the shop, the country they work in, the county they are from, what services they offer, etc.

Most piercers are paid in one of three ways:

Commission a piercer can get paid based on a percentage of the service fee and/or a percentage of the jewelry they sell. These piercers are usually considered independent contractors. Piercers who are paid this way generally do not need to do other shop related tasks outside of piercing and client interaction. 

Hourly (this is how I get paid) piercers who are paid hourly are considered employees. This means that outside of the act of piercing and their client interactions they are also responsible for other tasks involved in running the studio they work in. Regardless of the number of services that are preformed they will be paid the same amount of money within the hours they work. In most cases the only additional income they get from multiple services during their day comes from clients tipping. Based on my observations of the current market this is the least common way piercers are paid. 

A hybrid system of both in this case piercers are generally paid more like wait staff in restaurants. They receive a rather low hourly wage (often below the minimum wage) and will make some type of percentage based on services preformed and/or jewelry sold. In these cases usually they would still be considered an employee. The way this wage is set up incentivizes the piercer to preform as many services as they can within a given shift.  

Regardless of how a piercer is paid; the more services they preform during a shift (be it a piercing, jewelry change, or stretching) the more money they usually make due to tipping. Tipping is never a requirement; but it is always appreciated (I don't think a single piercer would disagree with me on that). Point blank: tips help pay the bills. 

Another thing to consider when factoring how you plan on tipping is how the service you are receiving is being broken down by cost. For instance at my studio there is a base service fee* based on the piercing or service (example: $40 for a single helix piercing, $60 for paired earlobe piercings, $25 for a jewelry change) the rest of the cost comes from jewelry purchased. My shop, as well as most others, have a range or jewelry to choose from made from different safe materials. Some are more simple in design and some are more intricate. Thus there should be jewelry to fit everyone's budget. 

Most shops have a point of sale system to take your payment. In our case we use square (this is a very popular choice currently), this system will automatically calculate tip percentages based off of your total. So if you had gone with a simple and more cost effective piece of jewelry for your piercing the percentage will read lower than if you had gone with a more extravagant solid gold piece for instance. You are not obligated to tip more because you chose a higher ticket piece. If you are looking to base things off of percentages, choose to base it off the service fee(s).

It's never a bad idea to ask the front counter staff about how the sale was broken down and what an appropriate percentage is. They should know generally how the piercer is being paid and can help you decide on an amount that suits everyone's needs. 

What's the best way for me to tip my piercer? Like I said above most studios have a POS system that will accept tips via card payment. Like any other service industry this way of tipping is taxed on before making it to the piercers paycheck. Its a perfectly acceptable and valid way of tipping; but if that is something that bothers you: cash is generally appreciated. In my case I also accept tips through applications like Venmo and PayPal. Ask your piercer if they have any of those options for a more direct and non-cash alternative.

In general; if you want to tip: Awesome! Tip whatever you are comfortable with. Tip whatever you can. Tip whatever feels right to you. 

*What is that service fee going to, if not directly to you? My studio is run on a disposable system. What that means is every tool we use during your service gets thrown away at the end. We do not share anything between clients or reprocess any materials. Part of the service fee goes to cover those tools. Other parts of the service fee covers general shop overhead (things like rent, electricity, general shop maintenance) and paying all the employees their hourly wages.