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Tipping in Dog Grooming: What Groomers Should Know
Tips are a big part of many groomers' pay. How they are given, split and paid out varies more than most people think.
For many groomers, tips are not a bonus. They are a meaningful share of what they earn each week. Yet tipping customs and salon tip policies vary a lot, and it pays to know how yours works.
What owners are usually told
Consumer advice often suggests tipping a groomer in the range of 15 to 20 percent of the service price, more for a difficult or matted dog, and a holiday tip for a regular groomer. Plenty of owners tip less, some tip more, and some do not tip a salon owner who grooms their own dogs. Whatever your clients do, it is useful to track it, because your tips per week tell you a lot about your book.
Cash, card and app tips
Cash tips are simple, but card and app tips are increasingly common. With card tips, ask your salon:
- When are card tips paid out: same day, or on your paycheck?
- Does the salon deduct card processing fees from tips? Rules on this vary by state.
- Do card tips show on your pay stub so you can check them?
Checking card tips against your pay stub
Card tips pass through the salon's system before they reach you, which means they can be missed, assigned to the wrong groomer, or reduced without anyone noticing. The fix is a simple record of your own. For each dog, write down the date, the client, whether the tip was cash or card, and the amount. At the end of the pay period, add up your card tips and compare the total with the tip line on your stub.
If the salon passes card fees on to you, expect a small, predictable gap. For example, $60 of card tips with a 3 percent fee taken out would show as $58.20, a difference of $1.80. A difference that is larger than that, or that changes from one pay period to the next with no explanation, is worth raising. A calm way to put it: "My log shows $60 in card tips for this period and my stub shows $45. Can we look at which tickets are missing?" Bring the dates and client names so the salon can check each ticket.
Tip splits
Some salons split tips between the groomer and the bather who washed and dried the dog, or pool tips across the team. Splits can be fair when bathers do a large part of the work, but the policy should be written down and applied the same way for everyone. Federal law limits who can share in employee tips, and in particular managers and owners generally cannot keep employees' tips. Check the U.S. Department of Labor and your state for current rules.
How a split works out in dollars
Splits are usually set up one of two ways, and they can produce different results for the same day.
- Per ticket. Each tip is divided at a set ratio between the people who worked on that dog. On a 75 and 25 split, a $40 tip gives the groomer $30 and the bather $10.
- Pooled by hours. All tips for the period go into one pool, divided by hours worked. If the pool is $300 and a groomer worked 30 hours while a bather worked 10, the groomer receives $225 and the bather $75.
Before accepting a job with a split, ask which method is used, who is included, whether dogs you bathe yourself are excluded from the split, and how you can see the calculation each pay period. A split you cannot check is a split you cannot catch mistakes in.
Tips and taxes
Tips are taxable income, and employees are expected to report them to their employer. Recent federal changes added a tip deduction for qualifying workers, and groomers are among the occupations covered. Our guide Are Dog Groomer Tips Taxed? explains reporting and the deduction. This is general information, not tax advice.
Why tips matter for your pay comparison
When you compare two jobs, include tips. A salon with a lower commission rate but a loyal, generous client base can pay more overall than one with a higher rate and few tips. In all three calculators on this site, tips are added on top of your pay so you can see the full weekly picture. Start with the commission calculator.
Putting tips into a job comparison
Here is how much tips can move the answer. Say both salons would give you a $1,500 revenue week.
- Salon A pays 45 percent, and its regulars tip well: $225 a week. Commission is $675, so the week is worth $900.
- Salon B pays 50 percent, but tips are lighter: $120 a week. Commission is $750, so the week is worth $870.
The lower rate wins by $30 a week. A useful way to see it: at Salon A, tips equal 15 percent of revenue, which is like adding 15 points to your commission rate. At Salon B they add 8 points. You will not know another salon's tips before you work there, so ask current groomers what a normal week looks like, and treat any answer as a rough guide rather than a promise.
For your own book, the most useful number is tips per dog. If you groomed 22 dogs this week and received $180 in tips, that is about $8.18 a dog. Tracked over a few months, it shows whether a change in clients, prices or schedule is affecting what you take home.
What you can influence
You cannot set your clients' tips, but some parts of the experience are in your hands, and they also help you keep clients, which matters more over time:
- Consistency. Clients who see the same groomer each visit get a dog that knows you and a result they can predict.
- A clear pickup report. A sentence on how the dog did, anything you noticed about skin, ears or nails, and when to rebook.
- Photos. A finished photo sent to the owner, with their permission to share, shows the work and helps build your portfolio.
- An easy way to tip. If card tips go to a terminal prompt, make sure it is set up so the tip clearly goes to the groomer. Never pressure a client. A clear option is enough.
Holiday tips and uneven weeks
Holiday tips and the odd large tip can make one week look much better than the rest. Log them, but when you budget, plan on an ordinary week. One simple method: list your weekly tips for the last three months, drop the highest and lowest, and use the average of what remains as your planning figure. If you are comparing jobs, use that ordinary figure too, not your best month.
Frequently asked questions
Can my employer count my tips toward minimum wage?
Federal law allows employers, under specific conditions, to count part of an employee's tips toward the minimum wage. Some states do not allow it, and the conditions are strict. The U.S. Department of Labor and your state labor agency explain the rules that apply to you. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do I have to report cash tips?
Yes. Tips are taxable income whether they come in cash, on a card or through an app. The guide on groomer tips and taxes explains how reporting works, and the IRS has the official guidance.
Can the salon take a cut of my tips?
Owners and managers generally cannot keep employees' tips under federal law, though rules on card fees and tip pools vary by state. If money is being taken from your tips, ask for the policy in writing and check it with your state labor agency.
Should I put out a tip jar?
That depends on your salon and your clients. A jar at the front desk is common in some places and unusual in others. If you work for a salon, ask first, and make sure tips from it are divided according to the written policy.