Fresh currency

[Sideshow]

Ohoo he's opened THAT can of worms

 

[375Fox]

FYI - I find it mighty demanding……

“Pay my entire staffs wages in tax free cash and make sure you only bring the newest currency available from your country!”

“Of course tipping is OPTIONAL…. Now let me tell you how much to tip each of….. PH + trackers + federal rangers+ laundry girl + chef + camp manager + driver+ tribal ranger ++++

Seriously the most NON-Enjoyable part of the hunt was handing out cash like a father giving out allowances….

What would you like the new day rate to be to compensate for not tipping? They’ll keep 2/3 of their wages after taxes. Zimbabwe added a new 15% VAT that you’ll pay. I treat it as an unquoted charge. I’d rather pay $5000 cash than an additional $8500 to avoid tipping. Also, if service was actually poor or I had a bad experience, I do have option of not tipping. I’m not sure if you’ve discussed what your PH gets of the day rate. I think you’d be pretty shocked to find how low it is for a 24 hour job, providing your own vehicle, and trackers.

 

[MacJenkins]

This use to be a thing 10 ish years ago. Last few trips I just take good newish notes. Go buy something while you’re there and your change will be the most disgusting US bills you have ever seen. I was owed $5 change last month and what came out of the till was not going in my pocket!

 

[dogcat1]

Latest bills only. The Chinese and others have mastered couterfieting our older bills.
No marks, no creases. Get as new as possible.

BTW - the only tips that matter to the locals are cash tips. Don't insult them with knives or tshirts or leatherman tools. Cash speaks.

 

[leslie hetrick]

the worst tracker(plaines game) i had on six trips to africa would take very long breaks while hunting, pissing-shiting, bird watching ect. i had him for two days before telling the ph very forcefully to put me with another tracker who would work full time. he did give me another tracker and he was a good one who got a nice tip along with a good gerber pocket knife at the end of my trip.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I guess I am lucky, my bank here in So Dakota, Wells Fargo deals with quite a few So Africans that work farms here ever year and they know they need to have newer bills to give to them when they cash their paychecks and get ready to go home.

 

[deewayne2003]

What would you like the new day rate to be to compensate for not tipping? They’ll keep 2/3 of their wages after taxes. Zimbabwe added a new 15% VAT that you’ll pay. I treat it as an unquoted charge. I’d rather pay $5000 cash than an additional $8500 to avoid tipping. Also, if service was actually poor or I had a bad experience, I do have option of not tipping. I’m not sure if you’ve discussed what your PH gets of the day rate. I think you’d be pretty shocked to find how low it is for a 24 hour job, providing your own vehicle, and trackers.

You have valid points; however you know damn good and well Americans are paying tips while many European, Russian and Asian hunters are not or dramatically less.

 

[375Fox]

You have valid points; however you know damn good and well Americans are paying tips while many European, Russian and Asian hunters are not or dramatically less.

It’s not untrue, but the best outfitters cater the American market for a reason. They get better areas and attract better PHs. Most Europeans hunting with those outfitters are tipping. Russians are a different story from what I’m told.
Namibian and South African operations catering to a European market I’d suspect are a different situation. No tips expected I’d suspect, but also a different level of service.

 

[Tdruck]

My PH for Zim is based in SA. I can't tell you if his staff comes up from SA when he hunts in Zim.
Wondering, if I get back to the state and my PH gets back to SA. Will the 15% be applied to tipping?

TD

 

[375Fox]

My PH for Zim is based in SA. I can't tell you if his staff comes up from SA when he hunts in Zim.
Wondering, if I get back to the state and my PH gets back to SA. Will the 15% be applied to tipping?

TD

There is no 15% tipping custom on hunts. It’s more of a per day thing. On a DG hunt I’d generally plan $150 per day for PH and $100-$150 for staff. A South African has to use a Zimbabwe PH. Your South African PH might accompany you as a 2nd “PH” or acting “PH” but he’s not the legal PH in charge of hunt if it’s done legally. You can tip him to his bank account if you’d like but I’d highly recommend tipping everyone else directly if you want to know where it went. It’s highly unlikely he takes a South African camp to Zimbabwe. I’d suspect he’ll utilize a black PH from Zimbabwe and staff he organized.

 

[Rare Breed]

I just got back from my bank getting my tip money today. I told the lady the problem in Africa and she got me $100 bills with the new blue stripe so I will have no problems

 

[Rare Breed]

There is no 15% tipping custom on hunts. It’s more of a per day thing. On a DG hunt I’d generally plan $150 per day for PH and $100-$150 for staff. A South African has to use a Zimbabwe PH. Your South African PH might accompany you as a 2nd “PH” or acting “PH” but he’s not the legal PH in charge of hunt if it’s done legally. You can tip him to his bank account if you’d like but I’d highly recommend tipping everyone else directly if you want to know where it went. It’s highly unlikely he takes a South African camp to Zimbabwe. I’d suspect he’ll utilize a black PH from Zimbabwe and staff he organized.

@375Fox is spot on and is exactly what I got for my August Namibia hunt. I reached out to my operator and asked him number of trackers, drivers and staff that would be supporting me then built a simple spreadsheet (yes I can be anal) then added $500 in small bills as back up and got bills at my bank that are fairly new

 

[Rare Breed]

PG I go $100 per day PH and $200 per week trackers and drivers

 

[Rare Breed]

Minimum even for a 7 day hunt my PH gets $1,000 just me for PG.

 

[Corylax18]

I used to travel to Cuba a couple times a year and they always wanted fresh bills with no tears, stains or writing. You would even get a (very slightly) better exchange rate if you had all new(blue) 100s to exchange rather than the older, green ones. My buddy/fixer down there had very similar opinions to client country origins too. He prefers American clients. Despite the fact we are often more demanding, we pay/tip much better. He can only have so many clients, so more $ per client is more money for him. He pretty much stopped working with Russians and Italians, they never tipped at all.

 

[Quest#1]

They only want $100 bills and fresh bills means no damage and must have the blue strip on them. Just went through this recently. Don’t bring smaller bills they don’t want them….

 

[375Fox]

They only want $100 bills and fresh bills means no damage and must have the blue strip on them. Just went through this recently. Don’t bring smaller bills they don’t want them….

They very much want smaller bills in Zimbabwe because they operate in USD. There is no change for a $50 or $100 for small purchases. It’s just a question of how inconvenient is it to carry a large number of small bills. Anywhere else though, I agree. Small bills just means they get a lesser exchange rate for local currency.