Tips for Tipping

For this issue of my newsletter, I spoke with Zach Colodner , a regular New Yorker living in a doorman building who was sick and tired of traditional NYC holiday season. Not because of the holiday, but for the tedious process of giving, something that we all can agree should be a pleasant experience.

Thanks for joining me, Zach. What's your biggest pet peeve with co-op living?

As a New Yorker, the entire holiday tipping experience was tedious and took 1-2 hours every year; it can sometimes take days to track down all the staff, depending on schedules! You need to go to the bank to get cash, to a Manhattan Walgreens to buy giftcards that then had to be filled out and sent with cards for each recipient. The recipients include the entire staff of a regular building, including the superintendent [aka super or resident manager], handymen, doormen, and porters. This is normally a very exhausting list of well-deserving individuals that work for all their residents throughout the year.

I hated going through this tiresome process, which didn’t stop at filling out the cards, but continued with then trying to track down the staff to hand them their envelopes. So, I thought that there must be a better way. Why spend 1-2 hours on getting the Christmas tip to the staff who it was intended for?

There is also the risk of money getting “lost.” It is not uncommon that holiday tips are collected by onsite managers or resident managers that never “make it” to the staff that it was intended for. For instance, those who spend time away from NYC in the winter who are unable to personally hand their holiday appreciation to the staff might need to send money to someone else who then may or may not hand it to the staff that it was intended for. [As a co-op and condo consultant who speaks with a lot of residents and boards, I can attest that this indeed happens.]

The solution…

Venmo! Or rather, Grazzee!

This app works very similar to Venmo , but it is set up and intended for tipping for co-op, condos and multifamily buildings. The app itself is free to the building, the staff, and to all users. It is 100% voluntary, so only those residents and staff who want to use it will. The building signs up, provides Grazzee with a list of the building staff, and then spreads the word to their residents.

With the Grazzee app, residents log in and search for their building. If the building is signed up, they can send money to the entire staff in one transaction either using their bank, Apple Pay, or credit card. The sender is charged a minor transaction fee for the convenience of saving 1-2 hours per year.

The coop or condo board needs to communicate with their residents that they have added an additional amenity to make their coop and condo living even more pleasant. One easy way to do that is to send out a notice on their building communication portal such as BuildingLink , Super · hiresuper.com or any similar building communications portal.

Want info on how much New Yorkers tip their staff? Brick Underground has for many years followed and tracked what others tip their staff for the holidays, here's last year's tipping guide.

I [Tina] found that the Grazzee app would help New Yorkers, which is why I wanted to share his story and service with all of you before the holidays. I’m happy to say that I plan on using Grazzee to tip the staff in my own building this year.

If you are new to my newsletter, please hit subscribe and read the last issue where I talked about why I wrote a book about coop and condo living. If you are a coop or condo owner and want to share your story, or problems with your building or board, reach out, my contact info is below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tina Larsson is the co-founder and owner of?The Folson Group and a published author of Living the High Life, How smart co-op and condo owners protect themselves and their investment, get the book. The Folson Group is New York City’s premier coop and condo consultant specializing in increasing property values by reducing expensed for clients’ buildings. At The Folson Group, we understand that volunteering to your co-op or condo is complex and time consuming. We enable and inspire co-op or condo board engagements to be filled with a feeling of accomplishment, excitement, meaning, happiness, and increased probability of success.

For other best practices for co-op and condo boards, get our?FREE Policies and Procedures Checklist?emailed straight to your inbox. Contact me directly at?[email protected]?or call (917) 648-8151.

Photo of me at my desk by Brett Deutsch at Deutsch Photography, Inc.

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