This may just be my opinion but People who own their own businesses that provide services rather than goods sometimes deal with higher operating costs. And there is always competition!
There isn't a large corporation backing them up or a larger employee pool. I like the idea of a person that truly loves their work and I can TRUST. I have taken my "kids" to commercial type groomers and it was traumatic for all of us. I tipped the poor groomer but came to discover many employees handled my two dogs. The guy putting them in cages. The two that shampooed them. The guy that put them in the dryers. On and on. If something happened, there is no way of discovering who did what and when. Too confusing. Too many people handling them. Just too much activity. They came back stressed out and I was unhappy. Or, I would find the groomer I requested called off, got sick, had an emergency or whatever and could never find out who actually groomed my dogs and what they did.
If you are unhappy with the service do not tip. Say so. If you are pleased: TIP. It helps offset insurance, registration, license fees and on and on. I feel if it is the owner you are dealing with they will want to keep you as a customer - tipping shows you appreciate their work. If you have hard to handle dogs - tip more. It's just the right thing to do. I don't "tip" my vet but I try to bring goodies for the office staff at times around holidays. Just a token of my appreciation.
