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Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

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Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#411

Post by TylerE »

eredengrin wrote: post #337
csomar wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and give customers an option to donate to a charity if they still wish to part with additional money. Please no. That's how it usually starts. It was with small change but now McDonalds harasses you every time you make an order to round up for some charity I never heard about. I'd donate to charities on my own. Needless to say I avoid these places like the plague.

> I'd donate to charities on my own. But lots of people won't think to do so, and it can raise awareness too. And in terms of payment processing fees it is probably much more efficient to include a small amount extra in a larger preexisting transaction and pool it up across customers than if everyone were to go out and donate $0.50 or whatever on their own.

The problem is the store charaties are always awful. I donate to local charities that actually do good work with it (Non-affiliated-beyond-being-donor plug: https://www.nuci.org/), not to bloated “awareness” charaties like Komen.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#412

Post by ilyt »

parallel wrote: post #405
barbariangrunge wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish you would take cash. Every other method of payment gets tracked and is used to profile people

Is this where cryptocurrencies come in? The convenience of a cashless transaction without the tracking.

If any of them worked sensibly as currency, maybe. But end result would probably be "the crypto transaction processor" most companies taking crypto use getting all the info needed to link person with their money anyway.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#413

Post by parallel »

ugh123 wrote: post #385

On a recent Disney cruise, I was greeted at the end of my trip with a "receipt" under the door for over $250 in mandatory tips for our 5 night cruise. Even the "head server" (who only did so much as greeted us at the table each night) got $80 of that. Such BS.

I think "mandatory tips" is just another name for a bill.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#414

Post by exabrial »

teawrecks wrote: post #43
exabrial wrote: post #2

Yes. If you business wants to collect a "tip" up front, before services rendered, it's not a tip (Doordash, Instacart, etc). If 100% of the proceeds don't get straight to the employees, but some end up in the pocket of the business, it's not a tip. This last one is going to be to hear, but if you pay your employees below mimimum wage and allow for tips to make up the difference, well..... Always tip, in cash, direct…

Should the person greeting and seating customers get a tip? Should the people running food from kitchen to table? Cooks? If any of the above are a yes, then unless you want to tip each one in cash individually, you need them to split tips at the end of the night amongst themselves. The fact that tips technically need to be reported to the IRS and thus your employer aside, I believe it is a legally fireable offense to…

A lot of restaurants do that? If it's agreed up by the employees BEFORE the transactions are taking place or even the employment decision is made, then whatever system they choose is fair (cooks or no cooks, etc). The key here is the the cooks know what they're getting into as well as the servers.

The problem is when the restaurant tries to change the rules in the middle of the game (Like the girl in Bentonville who's manager tried to confiscate a $2k tip) OR the restaurant owner sees this cash left on the table and gets a little greedy.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#415

Post by TylerE »

parallel wrote: post #405
barbariangrunge wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish you would take cash. Every other method of payment gets tracked and is used to profile people

Is this where cryptocurrencies come in? The convenience of a cashless transaction without the tracking.

Uh? I got bad news for you. Crypto is by far the LEAST private method.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#416

Post by patrick451 »

tjpnz wrote: post #252
peterhadlaw wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please accept cash. We don't need to encourage credit card companies to track our purchases and give them the tools to control who can and cannot do business.

Why would a credit card company do that?

We can only speculate as to their internal motivations. But why doesn't really matter when we can watch them actively do it.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#417

Post by jmckib »

post_break wrote: post #261

I got asked for a tip at an automatic car wash, because the guy was there wouldn't let me put the card into it myself, he wanted to push the touch screen buttons. I looked at him and said no. I hate tips, they aren't tips any more, they are subsidized payroll. I almost never eat at sit down places any more. Pick up orders? No tip. I will tip for a pizza delivery though, it's the one time I feel like it's deserved due…

He may not have even worked at the car wash. That’s a pretty common scam among panhandlers.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#418

Post by bbarn »

The greatest scam perpetrated by tipping was the idea of it being a percentage of the cost of the product you ordered.

This is why tipping still exists in America. Because there are urban restaurant workers, and busy bartenders being tipped absurd prices not because of their stellar service, but because they are lucky enough to work in a place with high prices and the cultural percentage mindset benefits them so much they will fight against a "living wage" because they are making more than that, and most of the time, not reporting it as income.

It's inequality disguised as being the "hard worker" when in reality, the shitty diner selling 8$ meals has servers working just as hard, or harder, than the upscale place selling 50$ meals.

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#419

Post by SilasX »

patrick451 wrote: post #400
jacktribe wrote: post #99

I've just opened a coffee shop in Los Angeles last month, and we don't take tips. We only use self-ordering iPads (I've custom coded an iOS app w/ Stripe Terminal for it), and we don't accept cash either. We've had a few customers baffled by the no-tipping policy, and still insisting that they leave a tip. Some even left cash on the counter or on the table. We had to chase a few of them down to return their money. Al…

> and we don't accept cash either. I would not patronize your business.

Did you miss the six other comments that made a more substantive version of that objection?

Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

#420

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jacktribe wrote: post #182
bilsbie wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had a no tipping restaurant we used to go to and the service was reliably terrible. Hopefully the rating system will work but I’d say you do need some kind of system. On the other hand Chick-fil-A is able to make their employees act friendly. I wonder how they do it. Finally I do wish you’d accept cash just for people that want to preserve their privacy.

Cash will tie up an additional employee behind the counter. One of the reasons we are able to not accept tips and pay fair wages instead, is because we don't need a person at the register. And while you can use that person for other tasks when there is no one in line, they do need to glove up each time they may handle a food item. Also, in LA cash is a safety issue if you plan on staying open late when traffic is low…

Cash businesses tend to get robbed much more often than places that don’t take it. Cash-only businesses, like marijuana dispensaries, are notorious for being robbed here in Seattle.
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