I've actually started avoiding places solely because tipping has been getting out of control. I stopped going out to eat. I now cut my own hair. I don't go out for coffee. Etc. All because I get so much anxiety when the flip those screens around and stare at me while it asks me how much tip am I going to give.
Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
511–520 of 1001 posts
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#512Earlier 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 know what you mean. When the cashier at Whole Foods asks you, it does feel somewhat petty to say no. I think there was a South Park episode on that. But if the POS asks you, it doesn't feel as personal to turn down the option to donate, don't you think? Anyway, not married to the idea, but I think there are some people that enjoy the endorphins that result from contributing to a charitable cause (especially when di…
I think of it differently. Ads pervade your experience. You cannot pump gas without since video blasting in your face. You cannot buy groceries without hearing about the poor, pathetic children who this billion dollar company decided to collect money for. Hell, I was sitting on the ski lift the other day and the bar across your lap someone has added little advertising signs saying which is the best pro shop.
My point is, we are surrounded by useless requests for more of our time and money. I go to the coffee shop almost exclusively as a place to relax. There should be less intrusion into my headspace there, not more.
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#513Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a European living in Canada, the tipping culture took some time to get used to. It's such a stupid/bad system.
In southern Europe, automatic 10% tips are often included. But the server will whisper into your ear that he doesn't see any of those 10%, owner takes it all for herself.
Well, unless those areas have worse laws than the US somehow, make sure the server knows that at the very least they should sue the day they quit or get fired.
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#514Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I delivered food A "token amount" is pretty reasonable if you take tipping at face value, no? It's supposed to be a reward for good service. Waitstaff engage with you many times over the course of about an hour, and every person at a table receives service. It's fairly reasonable in this case to tip in proportion to the total bill. On the contrary, it's roughly the same amount of work for a delivery driver to…
> It's fairly reasonable in this case to tip in proportion to the total bill. Someone who helps you at a $10/plate restaurant can be just as helpful as the person working at a $200/plate restaurant. Often less annoying, in fact.
$200/plate restaurants are weird and I'm not going to use them to decide anything about how I tip.
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#515I'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…
About 5.5% of Americans don't have bank accounts and pay primarily with cash. Most of these people are impoverished minorities, specifically blacks and Latinos. Not accepting cash is a pretty discriminatory practice.
Handling cash is a hassle. It carries risk in terms of losing it, and it takes time to count it and transport/deposit it into a bank. All things that eat into your profit margin, in an industry that has crazy low margin.
You a hater.
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#516Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you show the full price with taxes upfront, that's an astonishing level of integrity. It’s funny, what you see is what you pay doesn’t require an astonishing level of integrity in much (most?) of the world, it’s just standard practice; instead, tacking on hidden fees not on the price tag would be unthinkable.
It’s really complicated in the US because we charge about 4 different kinds of sales tax (federal, state, county, city), and differing rates depending on the type of good, or even the time of year. So like a chain store can’t include taxes in things like print ads because you could have two locations a few blocks apart that literally have different tax.
The US levies no federal sales tax.
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#517Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's difficult to explain the cause. You can't really account for it by a simple tipping/no tipping divide. In other countries that don't do tipping, you'll end up wishing they did because the service is so abysmal. You can't get decent service or expect a good waiter or waitress, because nobody is motivated to do the job well.
You must have not been to Japan.
He's never been outside the US.
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#518Earlier quoted context omitted.
There isn't any tip in New Zealand and Australia. Everybody get proper salary. The service is always exceptional. How is that possible?
I'm Australian, living in Canada for 10 years, just went back to Australia for 18 months, now back in Canada. I have some experience here. I love not tipping, and for me personally, the service in Australia is perfectly fine. I took my (Canadian) partner to Australia (her first time there). For her, the service was nowhere even remotely close to that of Canada. In Australia, someone might take your order (or you orde…
I had to read this a few times to make sure that, yes, you are actually implying that service in Canada is somehow particularly great.
I've lived here all of my life, but traveled very extensively. I would give the typical Canadian service interaction a neutral pass; they aren't openly rude, nor are they offering to wash my car.
Where are you going to eat that someone taking your order, bringing it to you and checking in to make sure that it doesn't taste like burnt plastic could be described as "bare minimum"? That sounds an awful lot like "pretty standard" to me.
Even in fancier places, there is a real art to achieving the perfect balance between attentive and annoying in service. Having someone notice that I need more water leaves me feeling cared for; having someone stop by on a 7 minute schedule to ask if we're "still okay" leaves me feeling violent.
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#519One thing I was surprised by recently as an American ex-pat (living in Australia for years) too was tipping housekeeping in hotels. I was told by an American colleague on a recent trip there that I was meant to leave $5 in the room every day for housekeeping. This was because it might be somebody different every day - and I was expected to directly recognise each one.
I have gotten used to not having to carry/worry about cash and the idea I need all these $5 notes whenever I stayed in a hotel in the States stressed me out a bit.
Is this a thing?
Re: Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes
#520Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a place doesn't accept cash, I leave. Cash is one of our last remaining bastions of freedom. I would gladly pay by card, if those cards were anonymous, refillable with cash. But these do not exist anymore, even for small amounts. They insist they must know your every last $0.50 transaction.
If a place doesn’t accept credit cards, I leave also. I just don’t carry cash anymore. To each their own. They mostly do it for safety reasons. Being a target for being robbed for drug money just gets annoying after awhile. Getting rid of cash gets rid of that risk. They might lose some customers, but losing workers to stress about being robbed is a bigger problem these days.
It also costs money to handle cash. You have to count it at the end of the shift. And store it. And transport it to a bank to deposit it, which takes time ($$) and resources (gas, etc)