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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

#431
I think it's a symptom of a bigger problem. It's tied to shrinkflation.

The problem is that the cost of many things has just gone up, a lot. And the US has bent over backwards to ensure no one has to pay the real cost of gasoline.

If customers were really seeing the true cost of every good and service they bought with no manipulation, hidden fees, shrunken products, etc, demand would fall drastically and we'd go into a recession.

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

#432
post #252

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?

Because they can, and people with influence know they can. Then people with influence force the credit card companies to do it. Not hypothetical, in actuality

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

#433
post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are tracked, too, and can't be obtained without strong identity.

Disposable gift cards are widely available in the US that will run as debit/credit without any need for identity verification. They are disposable, though, and as the other comment mentions aren't very economical (~1% outright in fees if you buy in $500 increments).

Amex has gift cards with no expiry and no processing fees after purchase. The price on a $3000 card is $5.95. Which is about 0.2%.

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

#434
post #281
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should write a longer piece about your coffee shop! and the process behind it. If you do, you should submit it to HN - and if you do that you should email us (hn@ycombinator.com) because we might put it in the second-chance pool ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308 ).

I wonder if all these laid off engineers will end up opening small businesses and using their skill to cut one or two employees. Maybe we'll finally get a push toward real automation.

We only did it because the pandemic travel restrictions completely wiped off our previous (Bay Area-based) startup in just a few weeks, so I can see it happening.

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

#435

I recently saw a "3% cost of living" charge at a restaurant (in California). This same restaurant provided suggested tips of 18, 20, and (I think) 25%. At a certain level I think this is just dishonesty. They want to raise prices, but they know some people will stop coming, so they try to hide it in extra fees instead. I don't mind tipping per se, but the hidden fees and tip inflation make me think that if this keeps…

SF restaurants, when I last lived in CA, were rife with these hidden fees. (The restaurants were upset about a local mandate. I … don't care about your politics? I just want a burger. Be straight about how much that will cost me…)

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

#436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There are only 39.8 billion US banknotes in circulation, it can easily tracked in a Postgres database, banknote numbers when it exits the ATM, banknote numbers when they are redeemed by the baker, or by your drug dealer of choice, banknotes are only in circulation for one or two exchanges before coming back to a bank, it’s very possible that they are tracked to identify curious loops in circulation. In fact, if they…

Definitely need higher denomination coins. For now, coins of 1 and .50 work well for coffee shops.

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

#437

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…

A rare-interesting UX problem with people thinking the screen froze. I guess it’s easily solved, but there are surely many ways to solve it.

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

#438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am Canadian, can confirm... I do wish there was a way to tip the drivers who deliver my Amazon Prime stuff, though. I don't want to tip someone who presses a few buttons on a screen to take my food order, that they usually mess up and sometimes add on a free side of bad attitude. I would like an easy way to tip the guy who is trudging through the snow to deliver my 2KG jar of peanut butter at 9:30pm in January. I lik…

People used to give money at Christmas to the postman

We still do

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

#439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhat of a meta-comment but I’m shocked at how many people are complaining about you not taking cash. Has anyone ever walked out of your coffee shop because they only had cash on them? I can’t remember the last time I paid or even saw someone pay cash for anything.

I go to a bar that is cashless and still see people have to leave because they only had cash (or didn't want to use their card). To play devil's advocate, credit cards are another way to get tracked, a great way for a duopoly of companies to skim 1-3% off the economy, a way to be analyzed by the merchant, a way to get more explicitly prompted to pay a 20% tip, and more hassle than handing a $5 for a $4.73 coffee and…

>I go to a bar that is cashless and still see people have to leave because they only had cash (or didn't want to use their card).

I wouldn't patronize such a place because I'm not comfortable surrendering my credit card for an indeterminate amount of time, nor having any idea of how much money I've spent until I'm about to leave.

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

#440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhat of a meta-comment but I’m shocked at how many people are complaining about you not taking cash. Has anyone ever walked out of your coffee shop because they only had cash on them? I can’t remember the last time I paid or even saw someone pay cash for anything.

Cities are making it illegal, as they should. It's not always meant in bad faith, but it's also a form of gentrification that hurts the poor and unbanked by removing yet another service from them. https://www.nssh.com/2020/04/philadelphias-ban-on-cashless-s... I personally never use anything but cards since I have many of the high reward credit cards. But I've also had family members with tax liens or other problems…

It’s about getting robbed for drug money. The irony being that our huge population of visibly unhoused in our neighborhood (unlikely to have bank accounts) also correlates to the problem of being robbed for cash..leading to businesses not taking cash anymore for safety reasons.
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