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Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

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Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#11

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

xscott wrote: post #6

The other one I'm seeing lately is a semi-stealth "service charge" on the bill. Something like 18% to 20% added to the bill without really standing out. This used to be something they'd do for "larger parties", but now I'm seeing it even when I'm eating solo. This makes for an uncomfortable situation where I now have to ask the waiter or bartender if they receive this as a tip. Then I need to decide if I want to tip…

Six months ago I was at a burrito place and saw as I was paying that there was a new 3% fee for paying with a credit card. I have not gone back there since.

Asking $11 for a burrito was already iffy and by then I'd started to curtail fast food purchases. I can't even imagine paying an 18-20% fee that isn't meant to be the entirety of the tip.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#12

Post by woodruffw »

Karupan wrote: post #7

I dread the day I have to eat at US restaurants, or even get something delivered. Part of the reason is cultural: I’ve never lived in a country where a tip is mandatory and you’ll be called out if you don’t. The other reason being it involves a degree of social pressure and shame, if one doesn’t tip enough. Both don’t sit well with me. But I can attest that if I’m forced to tip, I’ll not return to that establishment.

In my experience, it's uncommon to be called out for not leaving a tip, at least on the East Coast of the US. At worst, you might get a nasty look depending on the context (unlikely at a cafe, maybe at a nice restaurant with good service).

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#13

Post by BurningFrog »

Karupan wrote: post #7

I dread the day I have to eat at US restaurants, or even get something delivered. Part of the reason is cultural: I’ve never lived in a country where a tip is mandatory and you’ll be called out if you don’t. The other reason being it involves a degree of social pressure and shame, if one doesn’t tip enough. Both don’t sit well with me. But I can attest that if I’m forced to tip, I’ll not return to that establishment.

I also used to be nervous about this, but it's really not complicated when you know how.

Just add 15% to the price. If you pay with credit card, you just write it on the field on the receipt. No words need to be said.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#14

Post by Der_Einzige »

woodruffw wrote: post #12
Karupan wrote: post #7

I dread the day I have to eat at US restaurants, or even get something delivered. Part of the reason is cultural: I’ve never lived in a country where a tip is mandatory and you’ll be called out if you don’t. The other reason being it involves a degree of social pressure and shame, if one doesn’t tip enough. Both don’t sit well with me. But I can attest that if I’m forced to tip, I’ll not return to that establishment.

In my experience, it's uncommon to be called out for not leaving a tip, at least on the East Coast of the US. At worst, you might get a nasty look depending on the context (unlikely at a cafe, maybe at a nice restaurant with good service).

You run the risk of people spitting in your food if they recognize you when you return.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#15

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

muzika wrote: post #2

Let’s have restaurants raise prices to cover employee salaries, and make it illegal for them to ask for tips. Customers who want to tip need to do so without solicitation. (Not sure how this would work with credit card terminals though).

The terminals are the problem. If people would abandon a cashless lifestyle they can tip normally without the electronic shame box.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#16

Post by Der_Einzige »

speakfreely wrote: post #10

Customers actually do have a way to retaliate against establishments they feel are abusive: leave a bad review. Businesses depend on the organic traffic they get from Google and Yelp listings, so sustained feedback against abusive tipping pressure will get noticed if people start to make a point to write reviews about it.

It’s trivial to have reviews removed

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#17

Post by TheDong »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #11
xscott wrote: post #6

The other one I'm seeing lately is a semi-stealth "service charge" on the bill. Something like 18% to 20% added to the bill without really standing out. This used to be something they'd do for "larger parties", but now I'm seeing it even when I'm eating solo. This makes for an uncomfortable situation where I now have to ask the waiter or bartender if they receive this as a tip. Then I need to decide if I want to tip…

Six months ago I was at a burrito place and saw as I was paying that there was a new 3% fee for paying with a credit card. I have not gone back there since. Asking $11 for a burrito was already iffy and by then I'd started to curtail fast food purchases. I can't even imagine paying an 18-20% fee that isn't meant to be the entirety of the tip.

A 3% fee for a card makes perfect sense to me.

That's not far off from what the merchant is losing for credit card customers, so their options are:

1. Charge the same for credit cards as cash, and make cash paying customers effectively pay more, thus applying a regressive tax to the poor (who are less likely to have credit cards)

2. Charge more for the credit card paying customers, and they can avoid this extra payment by paying with cash.

2 is obviously better, and I would rather go to stores that take 2 than ones which choose to charge everyone more, effectively to the detriment of those worse off.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#18

Post by tomatotomato37 »

I've always wanted to ask for those who worked as a cashier or waiter in those restaurants with the ipad style payment platforms if they actually receive the tips on those things. It always seemed like such a generic default option that was always left on in those apps that I wondered if the business even acknowledged them

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#19

Post by jaco6 »

I work at a Dominos and we of course accept and expect tips on delivery, because without tips the drivers would make But at checkout for carryout orders the card terminal also now opens a tip menu. I would never tip on this screen because the employees are already paid a true hourly wage, albeit a low one, not a server rate that is below minimum wage.

Furthermore there is no way for the customer to know if the employee they are tipping is even one of the bottom paid line cooks or a manager or driver who are already making $20/hour at my restaurant—what most servers make after tips. I am a driver and sometimes accept payment for carryout orders and end up receiving credit card tips that should really go to the line cooks. When we aren’t busy I make an effort to reach over and click “no tip” for the customer, as checkout employees at other restaurants sometimes do for me, but sometimes it’s busy and I get tips anyway.

As others have said I think doing away with tips altogether would be best but it seems unlikely that will ever happen. A compromise would be to somehow ban “customer facing” tipping for things other than delivery—no tips at cash registers, only for “pay at the table” establishments.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#20

Post by acdha »

xscott wrote: post #6

The other one I'm seeing lately is a semi-stealth "service charge" on the bill. Something like 18% to 20% added to the bill without really standing out. This used to be something they'd do for "larger parties", but now I'm seeing it even when I'm eating solo. This makes for an uncomfortable situation where I now have to ask the waiter or bartender if they receive this as a tip. Then I need to decide if I want to tip…

Check your local laws about that - in some cities you can report those non-tip charges since as they are basically fraud.
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