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Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

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Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#101

Post by freedomben »

jankyxenon wrote: post #42
ecommerceguy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having owned a bar in the past I can tell you right now the most wealthy people either didn't tip at all or very little. Fellow service industry people tipped the best.

How can you tell? Most wealthy people - in my experience - don't dress the part.

In my case I delivered pizzas, and a person's house is often (though importantly not always) an indicator.

My experience was that wealth doesn't seem to matter much for tipping. When I first started I always hoped for the order to the big houses, but as I gained experience I realized it really doesn't matter. Some wealthy people gave generously, as did many poorer people. One of my favorite customers was an illegal immigrant living in a trailer park. Every time I delivered it was a $5 tip (which in those days was a great tip). On a side note, when an order for this guy came up I always made sure the cooks did a great job, and I took his order first.

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#102

Post by zeroonetwothree »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #83
focusedone wrote: post #53

Wait staff are not paid enough. At least in my state, the minimum wage for tip-accepting employees is horrific. I was a waiter twice and understand all of that so I always tip and try to be generous. Also, I'm pretty bad at math in my head so I usually guesstimate tips too high. A downside of tipping on the checkout systems I see is the baked in 15 / 20 / 25% options. OR tap custom and probably stand there like a mor…

In California, minimum wage for tipped workers is the same as minimum wage for any other employee. Tips are in addition to the state minimum wage. I have noticed that several checkout systems compute tips after tax instead of pretax, so I always end up computing tip myself anyway.

It's odd that you think it's super important to tip a very specific amount.

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#103

Post by 2fast4you »

ghaff wrote: post #94
freedomben wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your sentiment on tipping - I feel the same way. However I think the article did a pretty good job at answering your question of Why cant we just give employees dignity and a fair wage? . It's for economic reasons. To make it work you'd have to collude on pricing with all the other coffee shops (which I think would be illegal but IANAL), or you'd have to use government force to ban tipping (which would w…

>the status quo of expecting 20+% tip on an already expensive product is not good. Eliminate the expectation of a 20% tip and prices will basically go up 20% to cover an increase in base pay for the staff. So consumers probably won't actually save money if tipping were eliminated.

That is an acceptable outcome. Take out the social aspect and just pay people.

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#104

Post by freedomben »

hailwren wrote: post #99
Raed667 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we are not machines, if i'm paying more (or even less) than the person in front of me at the line: 1- I'll make a scene 2- I'll never come back 3- It is probably a discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen

I mean, this is what is happening with the dynamic tipping system and none of these things appear to be happening.

There's a critical difference between dynamic pricing and tipping: one is optional, the other is not. That makes a huge difference in the psychology.

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#105

Post by kdazzle »

I don’t know about the low-wage, high-tipping argument. Having worked at a chain coffee shop, I was paid minimum wage and would usually make less than $1/hr in tips by the time it was split across everyone else. So maybe it works better for like 3rd wave coffee shops

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#106

Post by strix_varius »

ecommerceguy wrote: post #24
lgessler wrote: post #11

Is there any empirical backing for this narrative? Some of this reads as pretty counter to intuition. Most suspicious in my mind is the core presupposition (not a contention, a presupposition--the article doesn't even argue for it!) that rich people will step up to the opportunity to fulfill their noble obligation to give more to the less wealthy. Having known some pretty stingy wealthy people (and some very generous…

Having owned a bar in the past I can tell you right now the most wealthy people either didn't tip at all or very little. Fellow service industry people tipped the best.

I'm curious how you determined whether or not someone was "wealthy."

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#107

Post by izzydata »

If there is no service then I am not going to add a tip. I think the most egregious one I've ever seen was at Panera Bread. The automatic machine where I didn't even talk to a person to enter my order asked me for a tip.

I'm not going to be guilted into this nonsense tipping scheme. If they need more money then they can raise their prices and I will evaluate whether or not that is worth it to me prior to purchase.

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#108

Post by pmontra »

The interesting point is why tipping as wage evolved only (or almost only) in the USA and in the rest of the world is a way to say thank you the few times that service is worth a thank you. It's not that businesses all over the world don't compete on price with nearby businesses or that their wages are so high that their staff would leave the tip on the table.

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#109

Post by mihaic »

Being slightly more cynical now, I'm wondering if this push is merely the payment processor realizing they could increase their cut by shaming the customer into paying more.

And I don't believe we can measure this purely financially, as simply not tipping in a coffeeshop with a tablet now comes with a bigger sentiment of shame, which is especially levied on the ones for which that extra 20% actually matters.

Re: Why Is Tipping Everywhere You Checkout?

#110

Post by xfitm3 »

2fast4you wrote: post #103
ghaff wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the status quo of expecting 20+% tip on an already expensive product is not good. Eliminate the expectation of a 20% tip and prices will basically go up 20% to cover an increase in base pay for the staff. So consumers probably won't actually save money if tipping were eliminated.

That is an acceptable outcome. Take out the social aspect and just pay people.

Tipping incentivizes good service. When I travel to countries without tips I always have to chase down someone for service..
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