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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

#651

Post by harvey9 »

gymbeaux wrote: post #467
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…

I saw one of those “mind blown!” sorts of posts on Facebook the other day that I haven’t been able to really reconcile in my head because it both makes sense and doesn’t make sense. The gist was that if everybody is paying with credit cards, $50 will eventually whittle down to $0 because AmEx, et. Al. got $50 worth of fees after so many transactions (accountant pays grocer who pays dentist who pays hygienist who pays…

Those transactions are usually taxed too. And in my experience cash discounts come from off the books transactions, ie tax evasion. Handling cash in business has a non zero cost too.

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

#652

Post by s1artibartfast »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #358
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in the cafes I worked in as an undergrad we split tips between the waitstaff and kitchen, which of course also sort of shifts around the "rewarding good service" aspect, but I think then you feel like you're letting down your coworkers if you piss off customers enough for them to tip badly.

How do you determine which labor there is a point to leaving a tip for and which labor there is not a point to leave a tip for?

Why does it matter? That isn't some kind of gotcha.

I wouldn't mind if 100% of customer facing jobs were tipped. At worst, is an optional lower price to pay if you are dissatisfied or light on cash. Normally it is just I'm part of the price. I'm not sure why people would be so much happier paying 120% the price instead of 100% and then a 20% tip. It's all the same in the end

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

#653

Post by FrontierPsych »

I like paying tips at restaurants, but I agree - tips everywhere are maddening, especially the digital tipping at places where you are not served at your table by a wait staff or other places where tips are normal - like tipping a bell hop and people at hotels, bartenders, dealers at casinos. The normal classical tipping jobs.

For all the other places like coffee shops, I never pay, I take pleasure in not paying a tip on the digital pad, because don't try to jam me up. I so when there's a tip jar at those places, but now I make it a point never to tip on digital. And when it does happen, I start looking for an alternate location where they don't have that crap. I might not find one this month, or for six months, but I'll be low-level looking for alternatives.

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

#654

Post by midasuni »

hgsgm wrote: post #278
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see the point of leaving a tip when a server has done a really good job (of course they should be paid a decent wage too). For me the annoying bit is being asked to tip before I have been served - I don't know yet if I would like to leave a big tip or a small one.

So you tip the cook when the cook does a really good job?

Or plumber, or mailman, or pilot, or cop?

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

#655

Post by lynx23 »

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…

I am blind. Would I be able to use your iPad setup to order something in your shop, or is the "lets make everything fancy" setup maybe exclusionary?

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

#656

Post by kelnos »

seanhandley wrote: post #504
tsmarsh wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the UK. Tipping has gotten weird in the last decade but the service culture is just missing. The service industry is what you do in high school or college because it’s the first cost that the food service industry wants to optimize. Consumers don’t expect or demand good service, so we don’t get it.

No - we expect adequate service and no obsequiousness. It makes us uncomfortable to be pampered or if the serving staff are overly friendly or chirpy - it feels insincere to a Brit and puts us into a defensive mode. If serving staff are polite (or at least not surly) and we get served in a reasonable amount of time then that's all we ask for and we'll tip 10% if there was nothing wrong with the meal, or put some chan…

> it blows my mind how different "normal" can be across English-speaking cultures who share a hell of a lot of history and culture.

Is that really true, though? The US is such a mix of cultures at this point (and even the more dominant cultures have diverged so much), that I'm not sure it's accurate to say that Brits and Americans generally share all that much culture. History is there, yes, but it's been over 200 years, and history fades.

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

#657

Post by tomcam »

peteforde wrote: post #518
grecy wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 checkin…

I find the service in Victoria to be top notch. And tons of gorgeous waitresses, not that I care because I’m a highly evolved man ;)

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

#658

Post by underdeserver »

Contrarian opinion: Tipping could be good if you look at it the right way.

I always consider tips part of the entire price. If dinner is $30 and the customary tip is 20% then the dinner costs $36, not $30. Yes, it's annoying that the price you see is not the price you pay, but then in the US there's tax you're adding anyway.

This makes tipping good: If there's some sort of problem - someone's rude, they took their time, something's wrong with the food and they won't replace it - you can actually just legally pay less.

By the way - 10%, 15%, 20% are easy calculations to do: divide by 10 and multiply. Let's say your order is $35. For 25% halve twice.

10% = 35/10 = $3.5 15% = 35/10 * 1.5 = 3.51.5 = 3.5 + 1.75 = $5.25. 20% = 35/10 2 = $7 25% = 35/2/2 = 17.5/2 = $8.75

It's easy math once you get used to it.

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

#659

Post by mdrzn »

jacktribe wrote: post #443
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 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…

Related South Park reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsPHa8RG1pI

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

#660

Post by kelnos »

autoexec wrote: post #542
tsmarsh wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the UK. Tipping has gotten weird in the last decade but the service culture is just missing. The service industry is what you do in high school or college because it’s the first cost that the food service industry wants to optimize. Consumers don’t expect or demand good service, so we don’t get it.

> The service industry is what you do in high school or college most people working in the service industry are not teenagers and college kids. For restaurants and fast food joints adult workers are more common. https://datausa.io/profile/soc/fast-food-and-counter-workers https://www.epi.org/publication/wage-workers-older-88-percen... The average retail worker is over 40. These aren't "summer jobs" for pocket money o…

The GP poster was referring to the age of service workers in the UK, not the US. No idea if they're accurate for the UK, but I don't think US data can be used to refute what they're saying.
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