Lower rent=lower tip expectations?

"but none of them addressed some questions pertaining to my situation. "

Not true, the link to the guide to tipping I post does exactly that, it gives like 20 different scenarios for tipping.

Narwhal, $1250 seems like a very fair to generous amount to tip for an alcove studio. And based on what I've read on the various tipping articles, the doormen are well aware of the varying situations of people in the building, and would not see it as a slight if the tenant of a low priced units tips less than the tenants of the fancier units. For instance, they expect that the rent-controlled 80yr old who has lived in the building for 40yrs will likely tip much less than the wall street family that moved in 3yrs and renovated a multi-mm unit.

printer...you're right...in talking with the rent stablized tenants in my bldg. they tip....Zero...yes...0..i was shocked...they give nothing to the doormen, mantenance guys..One couple live in a three bedroom, two bath with two terraces for $1800 and told me they don't feel the need to tip. I'm in an alcove studio and pay much more that $1800 but that doesn't mean I can afford to tip big...I tip the doormen $50 each and the maintenance guys $25 each. It's the best I can do.

$1250 in tips, wholly cow. how many months of maintenance that adds up to?

i lived in a doorman bldg with 4 full time doorman, super, porter and a p/t porter. tipping was expensive (50-100 per doorman, 100 for super, 50 for porter and 20 for pt porter = about $4-500). yours is just nuts.

I never tip peoople for the holidays. If a maintenance person does a job, I tip him after the job.

Thanks guys for the dialogue. I didn't think I would be tipping this much half a year ago when I moved in. I grew up in a full service building and have lived in a couple others. These guys are far friendlier, volunteer to help whenever possible, they generally run a tighter ship, they're more responsive, and there's more staff. I feel like very fair to generous is exactly where I want to be as a single tenant in a studio.

can you give the breakdown of the staff. i just can't imagine that many people being staffed by a building.

I'm just estimating, but there are two towers, there's doormen at two entrances and a concierge desk. There's a bunch of porters, handymen, plumber, and there's 2 or 3 shifts for most positions. I'll get more clarity when they post something with all the names and years of service.