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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

#491

Post by kbos87 »

LudwigNagasena wrote: post #484
kbos87 wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am really of two minds about this. On one hand, yes, the suggestion that I leave a tip and the amount suggested has ballooned to a ridiculous level in some businesses. On the other hand, I recognize that there are plenty of businesses that still don't offer a way to tip at all (Starbucks until very recently), and more importantly, that none of these employees make anywhere near a living wage. Having worked service…

> Just one example is that their daily coffee is subsidized through the misery of minimum wage coffee shop employees. Your everything is "subsidized" by low wages of people living in third world countries. US coffee shop employees aren't quite near the bottom of that hierarchy.

100% true but doesn’t invalidate their situation. If we follow that logic to its end, there’s always someone in worse shape who is also further removed from those who have the ability to make a difference.

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

#492

Post by bradgessler »

jacktribe wrote: post #481
kqr2 wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guessing it's this: https://awakening.bar/

Yep. Didn't want to share it because it's embarrassing how taped together that page is, but I had to put something up in an afternoon, because in the absence of a website people were taking photos of the menu on the iPads to take home.

This is such a great example of how iterative design works.

Built it an afternoon—the fit and finish looks fantastic and 100% complete. It perfectly solves the problem that you described so simply and well.

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

#493

Post by kbos87 »

LudwigNagasena wrote: post #484
kbos87 wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am really of two minds about this. On one hand, yes, the suggestion that I leave a tip and the amount suggested has ballooned to a ridiculous level in some businesses. On the other hand, I recognize that there are plenty of businesses that still don't offer a way to tip at all (Starbucks until very recently), and more importantly, that none of these employees make anywhere near a living wage. Having worked service…

> Just one example is that their daily coffee is subsidized through the misery of minimum wage coffee shop employees. Your everything is "subsidized" by low wages of people living in third world countries. US coffee shop employees aren't quite near the bottom of that hierarchy.

I don’t disagree, but are you suggesting that we shouldn’t act to solve a problem just because it isn’t the worst possible problem? Feels like a convenient out.

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

#494

Post by pokepim »

thepasswordis wrote: post #483

I’ll offer some dissent. I like tipping because I usually tip a lot , and it causes the staff to remember me and go above and beyond. During the covid pandemic instacart times would go as high as several days, but if we would tip $100 or so, we’d get our delivery within hours. I like free markets, and I like being able to bribe service workers. In fact, I wish there were more people I could tip.

[dead]

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

#495

Post by Renaud »

bradwood wrote: post #472
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…

Japan has been doing it like this for years. And it's much better. Pay people properly, and encourage them to be the best they can be (even for jobs that are so-called "unskilled") and then everyone's a winner.

Not just Japan.

Basically most of the world except Noth America pay their waiters wages that don't depend on tips. Sure some places allow additional tipping, but it's not a mandatory fee and the workers don't have to get it to make a living.

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

#496

Post by pronlover723 »

It's somewhat infuriating. You use to tip waiters/waitresses. They took your order and brought it to you. Now they ask for tips when they do none of that. Every non-chain fast food joint / coffee stand where all they do is stand at the cash register, take your order, and hand it to you, they now ask for a tip. The bakery asks for a tip. The taco stand asks for a tip.

On top of that, in SF, prices are off the chart. Went to a bread store. One loaf of bread + 1 canele + 1 coffee + 1 sandwich, $47. Got chinese dumplings. 3 people 3 plates of dumplings and 3 side dishes, $135 (with tip). That same thing would have been < $30 in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei. Even Japan

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

#497

Post by Dylan16807 »

mhh__ wrote: post #298
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.

[flagged]

You can avoid something like a much worse thing, that's not a problem. Avoid being insensitive with your bad thing reference, but "the plague" is not insensitive.

Also the plague responds well to antibiotics.

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

#498

Post by hidden80 »

jacktribe wrote: post #427
dang wrote: 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 ).

Will do. If anyone is in the LA area and wants to check it out, it's Awakening Coffee in Inglewood. I'm there most days since we've just opened and there are many things to be sorted out. Come say hi.

Holy shit, I just got here (El Segundo) from DC. I may forgo The Boy and the Bear tomorrow morning for Awakening Coffee.

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

#499

Post by pronlover723 »

DrThunder wrote: post #122
tkuraku wrote: post #38

I think tipping should be outlawed. The price should be the price. Workers should not be subject to inconsistent pay for the same amount of work. In addition it gets rid of any bias in wages (more attractive people or people of different ethnicities might get higher tips for the same work).

I don't. For sit down restaurants, or many service oriented jobs it makes for a better customer experience. I agree for counter service it where they want tips BEFORE the service experience it makes no sense. You ought to try sitting down in a restaurant in the EU. They do the bare minimum to serve you. Tying a possible bonus to the way you act in customer service facing role has a lot of benefits. "In addition it ge…

I used to think that. Then I lived in Japan where not only do they not tip, they refuse tips. Haven't seen any issues with the service.

So no, tips do not promote a better customer experience.

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

#500

Post by xp84 »

8note wrote: post #460
Larrikin wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> that didn't allow them to get a bank account This sounds like the real problem to solve. It's unacceptable for people to be unable to get a bank account and whatever cards to pay cashless

In civilized countries they solved this decades ago by allowing the postal service to offer simple bank accounts.

It's totally a fake problem that untrustworthy people can't be trusted in modern times with bank accounts. The risk is check bouncing. People don't "need" checks anymore though to function in the cashless world.

We already have prepaid card accounts that don't allow you to spend money you don't have. The only catch is that they're run as profiteering machines which extract fees at every turn.

I guess what I'm saying is, let USPS run an operation (like Green Dot, Vanilla, etc.) but with a fee structure based on the true cost of the service only. And the government should give Visa and Mastercard the choice of:

1. antitrust suit to break them up.

2. the USPS cards will be a V/MC, and V/MC will give them very deeply discounted interchange rates

3. a new independent USPS card network with low fees will be built AND commercialized for any issuer to use, and a regulation that anyone who accepts V/MC must also accept that network.

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