How much to tip in Puerto Rico
Tipping is one of the few sums people do in public, in a hurry, right after eating. It's worth having two or three things straight before the slip arrives.
On the subtotal, not the total
The right way is to figure the tip on the subtotal, before sales tax. The tax isn't anyone's service, and computing on the total inflates the tip without you deciding to.
On a small check the difference is pennies and nobody minds. On a big one — a group, a celebration — it starts to show, which is why it pays to look at the bill rather than the round total.
Check whether it's already on there
Many restaurants add a service charge for large parties, and in tourist areas it shows up on small tables too. It's printed on the check, sometimes as “service charge” or “gratuity,” on a line that's easy to skim past.
If it's already there and you also write a tip on the line below, you're paying twice. That's the most common mistake and the most expensive one. Read it before you sign.
What's customary
At table-service restaurants the range used on the island is similar to the rest of the United States, and fifteen, eighteen and twenty percent are the steps almost everyone thinks in. The calculator has those buttons and also lets you type any percentage you want.
At a coffee counter, a bar or on a delivery, custom is different and looser. There's no rule, there's a range, and it depends on the service and the place.
If the service was bad, raising it with the manager does more than leaving a small tip, which almost always lands on the wrong person.
Splitting the bill without a fight
The fast way is even shares: the tip calculator gives you the total with tip and divides it by the number of people, with the rounding already handled so you're not short a few cents at the end.
When somebody ate far less than everyone else, even shares stop being fair. Then it's better to total each person's items, apply the same tip percentage to each subtotal and have everyone pay their own.
And if you want to know how much of the check is sales tax before splitting anything, the IVU calculator breaks out the state and municipal portions in a second.