How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips • Hacker News Board

Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

#221

Post by 59nadir » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 7:13 AM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #161

ma2rten wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even worse in Europe, where a "mandatory tip" is already included in your bill by the time you get it. There is no "mandatory tip" in Europe. It's actually very simple: you pay for a service, the business pays it's employees. How much the employees get payed is not your concern as a customer. You can tip if you received excellent service, but that is totally optional as it should be. In general, the US is a cons…

Europe is not consumer friendly at all. Service is terrible, many places only accept cash, more accept debit cards, most don't accept credit cards. Store hours are terrible.

Sweden runs almost exclusively on plastic and technology, so much so that even a lot of older people don't even get physical bills anymore.

To say "Europe is..." about anything is a pretty broad statement. Your one or two trips to a couple of european countries probably doesn't qualify you to make this statement.

It's true about some countries in Europe. Bulgaria, for example, generally has bad service and you're lucky if you can use card to pay for everything you buy during a day. This is not representative of even a majority of Europe, though.

Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

#222

Post by 59nadir » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 7:43 AM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #136

parennoob wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I come from a culture where tipping implies "reward for good service". But in the US, I always feel that if I tip less than the expected 20%, practically I may be cutting into someone's wages. If they demand the difference, they may end up getting fired by their boss. Does anyone know if these workers are that helpless in practice? Or can they make a single call and get the restaurant owner in trouble if he/she…

It's even worse in Europe, where a "mandatory tip" is already included in your bill by the time you get it. The service in Europe tends to be of a much lower quality than in the US as well. In general, the US is a consumer paradise compared to Europe. In the US, it's better to be a consumer than an employee. In Europe it's the opposite.

> In general, the US is a consumer paradise compared to Europe. In the US, it's better to be a consumer than an employee. In Europe it's the opposite.

Yeah, that's why every time there is a TnC/EULA dispute european courts are the ones to throw out garbage conditions stated in EULAs and US courts are the ones who uphold them.

Sweden has a very consumer-centric mindset, to the point where I haven't in 26 years of living there ever felt like I was 'being fucked'. Even in this thread I see stuff in the US about being charged for using a card to pay. That's illegal in Sweden.

As an even better example, you have a 3 year right to return a product if it breaks, which overrides any signed contract or anything you might agree with in terms of guarantee with a store. It makes things like Applecare (that you apparently badly need in the US) useless, because everyone already has "Applecare for everything" as a consumer right.

Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

#223

Post by darkarmani » Fri, Jan 09, 2015, 6:49 PM UTC

jacalata wrote: post #162

darkarmani wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We've even got it ingrained into our laws. Minimum wage for servers is barely nominal, and much less than what anyone else in the restaurant is making. That's only if the tips don't make up the difference to get to minimum wage.

That's the "ingrained in law" he was talking about. The law assumes tipping, else it wouldn't make sense to have that exception at all.

Ok, i agree and don't agree at the same time. The law does make accordance for tipping, but it doesn't assume tipping or it wouldn't require at least the "real" minimum wage.

Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

#224

Post by hueving » Mon, Jan 12, 2015, 3:58 AM UTC

gaadd33 wrote: post #128

hueving wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>if you're willing to testify Most people aren't over $20, which is why the system is a complete failure.

I believe you can testify via a phone call and it takes roughly 10 minutes.

And how long does it take you to schedule that phone call and fill out the appropriate paperwork?

Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

#225

Post by gaadd33 » Mon, Jan 12, 2015, 3:41 PM UTC

hueving wrote: post #224

gaadd33 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you can testify via a phone call and it takes roughly 10 minutes.

And how long does it take you to schedule that phone call and fill out the appropriate paperwork?

Maybe about 10-15 minutes depending on your reading level and ability to fill out a web based form?

Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

#226

Post by nucleardog » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 3:22 AM UTC

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #220

nucleardog wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most places require the wait staff to tip out the kitchen a percent of their sales at the end of the shift to the tune of 2-5%. If you don't tip then you are actually actually taking money out of their pocket since they're now going to have to cover your 2-5% tip to the kitchen out of their own, rightfully earned, money.

That is illegal. Google it. A group of tipped employees (ie. servers and bartenders) may pool tips. But it is illegal to force them to include non-tipped employees (ie cooks, dishwashers, etc) in the pool. Servers may tip the cooks, etc themselves if they want. But they can't be required to.

Err, not in my province. Not only is it entirely legal, it's common and generally accepted practice.