shakari;

Good posts.

I find this thread interesting also, as, frankly, I did not even know Down Under was a "tipless" culture.

As for the two-tiered pricing, I did not want to imply that I felt it was somehow morally wrong, only that it stings when you are being charged the higher price, which is most obvious to-be-sure!

As for non-resident fees in the US, you might be a bit confused. First, the guides typically charge the exact same thing for their services whether you live in-state or out of state. For example, if I want to go on a guided cougar hunt here in Idaho and I make use of the same service you might make use of if you came over here from SA, guide's price would be the same. The only thing different is the state hunting license fees. Those are substantially different and done so for a couple reasons. First, merely because they are the highest prices the market will bear. The states attempt to put the bite on those who can pay to raise the max revenue for the state. Also, these prices are somewhat driven and supported by resident hunters who do NOT want the state to encourage non-resident competition for the game BUT that pressure is offset to some degree by the guides and other business people who want to encourage incoming money. Politics, in short. But none of that has to do directly with tipping. {BTW: other states charge according to their own conditions; some states where deer are more-or-less vermin make their non-res license fees cheap}.

I personally hate tipping philosphically for all the reasons the Down Under mob states {quite well I might add}, but at home regardless, I tip heavily when I eat at a restaurant, etc because I know the gals carrying the steaks don't get paid much. Where it sort-of hits the wall for me is when an expensive activity like overseas huinting is concerned and a tip is "expected". In such activity there I am with Tatume 100%. The PH or his representative needs to be open and clear in what is expected {or in the case of Daryl's fellows, needed}.

I'm fully aware that the PH is not the owner under many circumstances. That doesn't matter. Whoever the contact is with the client needs to be clear in what is expected.

As for doing what the Romans do, that's fine. As stated, the Romans need to be clear in what is expected.

My only beef with any person would be/is when the service provider does not say or is not clear in what is expected and then as a result of their poor communication they don't get what they want, and then as a result of that they complain, stiff the client on a future hunt, refuse to take them, etc, etc.