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Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

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Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#61

Post by noodle »

bdhe wrote: post #46
hnsmurf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Groupon customers are definitely poor tippers. I've known a number of waiters to complain about it. The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be.

The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be. I am not intimately familiar with the tipping culture (at least in the US), but here are some genuine questions: Is there an inherent reason you tip on the full price? Is it a tax? If tipping is to support staff wages does that mean waiters who serve fancier higher priced food items are en…

this is something that probably isn't clear to people who don't live in the US -- wait staff in the US make around $2-3/hour. they aren't paid a living wage. they rely on tips as their primary source of income, and tips are usually shared with a bartender/busboy.

if a restaurant runs a groupon and all grouponers tip on the post-coupon rate, the wait staff will be taking a rather large pay cut for the length of time that people are grouponing. i know i'd be grumbling if something my company did resulted in me making 50% less for a month or two.

more expensive restaurants and meals mean more expensive tips because the wait staff is more experienced, better trained, higher quality, and do more work. one person at a higher-end restaurant can give high quality service to fewer people than one person at a low-end place, and meals at a higher-end place usually take much longer. yes, the average tip is larger, but the frequency in which they receive tips is lower. yes, they make more, but not that much more.

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#62

Post by [deleted] »

bdhe wrote: post #46
hnsmurf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Groupon customers are definitely poor tippers. I've known a number of waiters to complain about it. The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be.

The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be. I am not intimately familiar with the tipping culture (at least in the US), but here are some genuine questions: Is there an inherent reason you tip on the full price? Is it a tax? If tipping is to support staff wages does that mean waiters who serve fancier higher priced food items are en…

[deleted]

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#63

Post by jeffreymcmanus »

mikbetk wrote: post #50
petercooper wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's already common to not tip anyway. Sometimes I tip, sometimes I don't (though when I do, I'm more generous than the standard 10%).

FYI: 10% isn't standard: 15% is standard, 20% is good, and 25% or more is for great service.

Those are the norms in the United States, which has a tipping culture that is more or less unique compared to other countries.

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#64

Post by rb2k_ »

mikbetk wrote: post #50
petercooper wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's already common to not tip anyway. Sometimes I tip, sometimes I don't (though when I do, I'm more generous than the standard 10%).

FYI: 10% isn't standard: 15% is standard, 20% is good, and 25% or more is for great service.

(in the US, not Europe)

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#65

Post by kls »

contactdick wrote: post #22
tibbon wrote: post #4

I'm really curious to see which way Groupon goes in the long term. With things like Yelp reenforcing a feedback cycle which directly effects the eating establishment in the long term, it rarely becomes all that great of a deal for the restararaunt or the consumer.

I agree, in the internet age I was hoping searching would become more efficient so that 'find good restaurant in xxx' was a sensible thing to type into a search box. Currently there's too much noise so places like yelp are a much better option. Interestingly Yelp hasn't taken off here yet.

To me sites like Yelp and Urban Spoon have too much signal to noise ratio as well. I readily admit I am a food snob. And not the tasteless, this place is expensive so I have to be seen here type. I am very critical of food. I have a culinary degree and I have a refined pallet when it comes to food. I eat at hole in the wall joints as well as 5 star restaurants and the only thing I care about and judge a restaurant by is the quality of the food.

I am constantly depressed by the high ratings that establishments receive on sites like Yelp and Urban Spoon only to go in and find that they are average at best. I have been to places with 95% positive ratings on Urban Spoon and walked away very disappointed in the quality of the food. I have seen fast food restaurants like KFC and Taco Bell with 9x% ratings on Urban Spoon. Meanwhile I have went to places with a 60% to 70% rating and the food has been out of this world.

When those sites where small, unknown and mainly frequented by foodies, it seemed like the quality of the ratings where much better, now they are little guarantee of quality. Now days, I really only use them to tell me what is around and to weed out the really bad joints. If a place is below 50% positive review I avoid it above it and it is a crap shoot.

The problem is people go out for dining experiences for a variety of reasons and they rate a restaurant for all those varieties. Being a foodie, I could care less about anything but the taste of the food. If it has the explosion of flavor I am looking for, I don't care if I am eating it on a paper plate in a plastic chair. Ambiance has no value to me where others it does. The demeanor of the wait staff has no value to me (other than the amount they will be tipped) where others it does.

They really need multiple flags on these sites so that people can rate the different aspects accordingly (I have not been on Yelp in a log time, so forgive me if this has been done). For me the only flag that counts is quality of food the rest of the weight being put into the positive and negative rating is just noise for me. While others may value something totally different and want to see the ratings weighted based on that.

These sites are a great start, but they have a long way to go, before that can seat you at the table you want to be at, with any degree of accuracy. The only value I have found is that they prevent you from ending up in a place that is really really bad. Then again Taco Bell has 9x% rating in my town, so even that is not a guarantee.

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#67

Post by abraham »

bdhe wrote: post #46
hnsmurf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Groupon customers are definitely poor tippers. I've known a number of waiters to complain about it. The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be.

The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be. I am not intimately familiar with the tipping culture (at least in the US), but here are some genuine questions: Is there an inherent reason you tip on the full price? Is it a tax? If tipping is to support staff wages does that mean waiters who serve fancier higher priced food items are en…

Generally speaking more expensive restaurants have better trained and more experienced servers that are more attentive hence deserving in a better tip. The percentage is really just a hack as a rough estimate of how much work a server had to do. While not always true a meal costing $100 will probably require more work from a server then a meal costing $50.

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#68

Post by jeromec »

bdhe wrote: post #46
hnsmurf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Groupon customers are definitely poor tippers. I've known a number of waiters to complain about it. The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be.

The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be. I am not intimately familiar with the tipping culture (at least in the US), but here are some genuine questions: Is there an inherent reason you tip on the full price? Is it a tax? If tipping is to support staff wages does that mean waiters who serve fancier higher priced food items are en…

Is there an inherent reason you tip on the full price?

Yes, theoretically the higher your bill the better time you are having. (Think celebratory events as opposed to a lunch break.)

Is it a tax?

No, it's gratuity. You're showing your appreciation for the staff enabling you to have the best experience possible at that time (in theory).

If tipping is to support staff wages does that mean waiters who serve fancier higher priced food items are entitled to larger wages solely for the fact that their table happened to order a costlier meal?

Serving higher priced food usually means higher caliber of customers, in the tipping sense. For example, patrons of Denny's restaurants might tip well if the coffee refills are on time, but in a finer dining establishment, for example, service requests for something off the menu (like a newspaper) would not be out of the ordinary.

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#69

Post by rb2k_ »

snorkel wrote: post #11

No doubt waiters loathe serving Grouponers.

I know that waiters in the US rely on tips, but I think it's unprofessional to deliver bad service just because they think that they won't get a good tip.

Which is strange considering that people tip for good/professional service. Maybe there is a self-fulfilling prophecy somewhere in there :)

Re: Why I won't be using Groupon again.. A consumer perspective.

#70

Post by contactdick »

JeremyBanks wrote: post #60
bdhe wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is they tip on the Groupon price, not the full price, and are thus tipping something like 40% of what they should be. I am not intimately familiar with the tipping culture (at least in the US), but here are some genuine questions: Is there an inherent reason you tip on the full price? Is it a tax? If tipping is to support staff wages does that mean waiters who serve fancier higher priced food items are en…

This doesn't address your question about culture, but the one time I used Groupon the sheet we printed out with the coupon on it specifically asked that we tip on the full price.

Sounds like a pretty sensible practice.
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