The digital tip jar
-
You order a coffee, an ice cream, a salad or a slice of pizza and pay with your credit card or phone. Then, an employee standing behind the counter spins around a touch screen and slides it in front of you. The screen has a few suggested tip amounts -- usually 10%, 15% or 20%. There's also often an option to leave a custom tip or no tip at all.
The worker is directly across from you. Other customers are standing behind, waiting impatiently and looking over your shoulder to see how much you tip. And you must make a decision in seconds. Oh lord, the stress.
Customers and workers today are confronted with a radically different tipping culture compared to just a few years ago - without any clear norms. Although consumers are accustomed to tipping waiters, bartenders and other service workers, tipping a barista or cashier may be a new phenomenon for many shoppers. It's being driven in large part by changes in technology that have enabled business owners to more easily shift the costs of compensating workers directly to customers.
"I don't know how much you're supposed to tip and I study this," said Michael Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at Cornell University and one of the leading researchers on US tipping habits.
Adding to the changing dynamics, customers were encouraged to tip generously during the pandemic to help keep restaurants and stores afloat, raising expectations. Total tips for full-service restaurants were up 25% during the latest quarter compared to a year ago, while tips at quick-service restaurants were up 17%, according to data from Square.
The shift to digital payments also accelerated during the pandemic, leading stores to replace old-fashioned cash tip jars with tablet touch screens. But these screens and the procedures for digital tipping have proven more intrusive than a low-pressure cash tip jar with a few bucks in it.
You should almost always tip workers earning the subminimum wage such as restaurant servers and bartenders, say advocates and tipping experts.
When given the option to tip in places where workers make an hourly wage, such as Starbucks baristas, customers should use their discretion and remove any guilt from their decision, etiquette experts say. Tips help these workers supplement their income and are always encouraged, but it's okay to say no.
Etiquette experts recommend that customers approach the touch screen option the same way they would a tip jar. If they would leave change or a small cash tip in the jar, do so when prompted on the screen.
"A 10% tip for takeaway food is a really common amount. We also see change or a single dollar per order," said Lizzie Post. If you aren't sure what to do, ask the worker if the store has a suggested tip amount.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
@George-K said in The digital tip jar:
If you aren't sure what to do, ask the worker if the store has a suggested tip amount.
If there was little or no service, I suggest zero.
Getting an ice cream cone at the ice cream shop is not a place for a tip.
Our local ice cream shop does show us the spin-around screen tip option, I hit the skip button.
-
I hate the whole tipping thing.
Today, I picked up my dry cleaning, and saw a tip jar. I reached into my wallet and pulled out a couple of bucks, dropped it into the basket, then realised I'd given them a $10 by mistake, and had to take it out, hopefully without looking as though I'd just stolen $10. Very embarrassing.
It would be a lot easier if people just got paid decently, and we didn't have to worry about this shit.
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
-
@Doctor-Phibes said in The digital tip jar:
It would be a lot easier if people just got paid decently, and we didn't have to worry about this shit.
It's a crap system for being in line at a coffee shop, but it's better for both them and you if you're being waited on in any way.
Please love yourself.
-
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@Doctor-Phibes said in The digital tip jar:
It would be a lot easier if people just got paid decently, and we didn't have to worry about this shit.
It's a crap system for being in line at a coffee shop, but it's better for both them and you if you're being waited on in any way.
When we moved house, I was informed that we were supposed to tip the movers. I'd suggested $20, but was laughed at mercilessly.
If you're expected to tip somebody $200 to do the job you're already paying them for, it needs to be made clear. Or better still, include it in the charge.
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
-
@Doctor-Phibes said in The digital tip jar:
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@Doctor-Phibes said in The digital tip jar:
It would be a lot easier if people just got paid decently, and we didn't have to worry about this shit.
It's a crap system for being in line at a coffee shop, but it's better for both them and you if you're being waited on in any way.
When we moved house, I was informed that we were supposed to tip the movers. I'd suggested $20, but was laughed at mercilessly.
If you're expected to tip somebody $200 to do the job you're already paying them for, it needs to be made clear. Or better still, include it in the charge.
Dude, there's absolutely no telling how moving companies pay their employees. Some of them get paid a set amount per job, some of them get paid a percentage per job, still others just get an hourly.
But it's all shite pay, really. And expecting a moving company to pay an awesome wage is a little ridiculous. So the tips are under-the-table income.
Granted, moving isn't a great example of how tips make things better. Really it's best for when you have a good chance of seeing the person again as a return customer and the quality of the service can be highly variable.
Please love yourself.
-
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
ut it's all shite pay, really. And expecting a moving company to pay an awesome wage is a little ridiculous. So the tips are under-the-table income.
When Americans travel to parts of Asia, and discover they need to bribe everybody to get anything done, they often turn their noses up at the rampant corruption.
This is essentially what you're doing here, too. Except government employees and the police don't take "tips" in the US, at least officially.
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
-
@Doctor-Phibes said in The digital tip jar:
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
ut it's all shite pay, really. And expecting a moving company to pay an awesome wage is a little ridiculous. So the tips are under-the-table income.
When Americans travel to parts of Asia, and discover they need to bribe everybody to get anything done, they often turn their noses up at the rampant corruption.
This is essentially what you're doing here, too. Except government employees and the police don't take tips in the US.
And you still get your stuff delivered, even if you're a bit of a tightwad.
-
I know we have discussed this a few times, but I just see why there are tips. Other countries do with out them - just pay the people a wage that would include tip money.
I do not believe that tipping makes the service better.
And in reality, almost every worker is in the service industry.
Maybe @George-K @Jolly @bachophile should have a tip jar as you enter the surgery room. They are all providing a service.
-
@taiwan_girl said in The digital tip jar:
I do not believe that tipping makes the service better.
Because you've never been a waitress in the U.S. So you don't know.
Say you are and you have 2 tables. Table A you've had before. They never tip well. Absolutely never. No matter what you do for them. Table B tips variably between good and excellently, depending on the service.
If you're in any way a decent waitress, what you're going to do is provide bare minimum coverage for Table A and put all your effort in Table B. Table A still gets their food, no one's getting scammed. But both parties get exactly what they pay for. And in the end, you make a shitload more money for an hour's worth if work. You win, Table B wins, and Table A doesn't have to pay extra for services it clearly doesn't value.
If you "just pay the poor servers the same decent wage" then everybody gets the same mediocre service. You don't go above and beyond for great customers, you have to put up with assholes, and there's no incentive to go the extra mile with anyone.
-
Also, just curious:
For those who don't believe in tipping all that much for restaurants, do you even know what good service is? What's the best you've ever been waited on? Bet I could top you.
-
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@taiwan_girl said in The digital tip jar:
I do not believe that tipping makes the service better.
Because you've never been a waitress in the U.S. So you don't know.
Most likely she has dined in US restaurants (where tipping is the norm) and in other restaurants (where tipping is not the norm). That should be sufficient for her to opine on whether tipping correlates to the quality of service, no?
-
@Axtremus said in The digital tip jar:
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@taiwan_girl said in The digital tip jar:
I do not believe that tipping makes the service better.
Because you've never been a waitress in the U.S. So you don't know.
Most likely she has dined in US restaurants (where tipping is the norm) and in other restaurants (where tipping is not the norm). That should be sufficient for her to opine on whether tipping correlates to the quality of service, no?
The value of tipping lies in skills relating to social interaction and being receptive to the desires of others, so if there's anyone least qualified to discuss this matter, it's definitely you.
Please love yourself.
-
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@Axtremus said in The digital tip jar:
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@taiwan_girl said in The digital tip jar:
I do not believe that tipping makes the service better.
Because you've never been a waitress in the U.S. So you don't know.
Most likely she has dined in US restaurants (where tipping is the norm) and in other restaurants (where tipping is not the norm). That should be sufficient for her to opine on whether tipping correlates to the quality of service, no?
The value of tipping lies in skills relating to social interaction and being receptive to the desires of others, ...
If the others' desires are to not have to deal with tipping at all, what then?
-
@Axtremus said in The digital tip jar:
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@Axtremus said in The digital tip jar:
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
@taiwan_girl said in The digital tip jar:
I do not believe that tipping makes the service better.
Because you've never been a waitress in the U.S. So you don't know.
Most likely she has dined in US restaurants (where tipping is the norm) and in other restaurants (where tipping is not the norm). That should be sufficient for her to opine on whether tipping correlates to the quality of service, no?
The value of tipping lies in skills relating to social interaction and being receptive to the desires of others, ...
If the others' desires are to not have to deal with tipping at all, what then?
If you don't like tipping Ax, there's nothing preventing you from starting your own restaurant and forming your own tipping rules.
-
@Copper said in The digital tip jar:
@George-K said in The digital tip jar:
If you aren't sure what to do, ask the worker if the store has a suggested tip amount.
If there was little or no service, I suggest zero.
Getting an ice cream cone at the ice cream shop is not a place for a tip.
Our local ice cream shop does show us the spin-around screen tip option, I hit the skip button.
I'm with you.
-
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
Also, just curious:
For those who don't believe in tipping all that much for restaurants, do you even know what good service is? What's the best you've ever been waited on? Bet I could top you.
I once got a blowjob between the soup and the main course.
He was surprisingly good at it for such a burly man.
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
-
@Doctor-Phibes said in The digital tip jar:
@Aqua-Letifer said in The digital tip jar:
Also, just curious:
For those who don't believe in tipping all that much for restaurants, do you even know what good service is? What's the best you've ever been waited on? Bet I could top you.
I once got a blowjob between the soup and the main course.
He was surprisingly good at it for such a burly man.
See, you get it then! Can't get that kinda shit at your local Denny's!
(Actually that's precisely where you get that kinda shit. That and food poisoning.)
-
@Doctor-Phibes said in The digital tip jar:
Link to videoI hate the whole tipping thing.
Today, I picked up my dry cleaning, and saw a tip jar. I reached into my wallet and pulled out a couple of bucks, dropped it into the basket, then realised I'd given them a $10 by mistake, and had to take it out, hopefully without looking as though I'd just stolen $10. Very embarrassing.
