Americans over tipping in developing countries can be a problem

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I’ve seen it happen and the heard stories about Americans over tipping for services they receive. In some countries like New Zealand or French Polynesia, you don’t tip the wait staff. In my experience of visiting developing countries that receive American tourists, the Americans tip well above what is expected in that country.
The question is why?
I think there are a few answers. Americans don’t do thorough research in the country they are visiting and when it comes time to tip they resort to the American standard. Some feel guilty with the poverty they are seeing and think that over tipping will compensate for it.
I like to know the average wage when visiting a country. In Bali we hired a man to clean and wax our hull. The marina put a cap on the wages the hired workers could charge which was double the manual labor fee you could get off the street. We paid $12 for the seven hours of waxing.
I mentioned this wage to my mother and she instantly reacted with, “You need to pay that poor man more, like double!” If we did this, the doctors and lawyers in that country may come out to clean boat hulls.
Now here is the problem with Americans that over tip, especially when traveling to the dense tourist locations, the prices for services and tips will go up. The travel savvy American will suffer for this.
The best advice I can give is find a local that can speak the language and tell you how one should tip or what fair prices should be. Of course in the end, when they see you are a visitor, you typically pay more than the local. The citizens of the country are savvy sellers and service providers.
What do you think? How have you tipped services in other countries?

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Indonesia Guide
Like this photo we printed for him more that the Tip