Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

apnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

961–970 of 1001 posts

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

#961

Post by musingsole »

holistio wrote: post #958
musingsole wrote: post #939

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This or that restaurant or this or that regional manager could give them a fair wage They do... usually by way of appropriate schedules or other logistics of the job which delivers access to the richest streams of tips. This is why the good servers follow them. The conversation around tips and it's appropriateness is largely blind to the other aspects of the hospitality industry. Real people with real jobs respondi…

> usually by way of... How about by way of a bank transfer?

Are you mistaking restaurants for hedge funds?

Franchises never have much margin to begin with -- they're mostly real estate vehicles. It's why a Chipotle will operate at 20% staff like it's a normal thing.

A local restaurant might actually be profit seeking enough to have optimized a return on the food/drink service -- but that's usually reflected in the servers wages already.

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

#962

Post by mito88 »

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.

Hot Turmeric Latte!

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

#963

Post by LudwigNagasena »

kbos87 wrote: post #491
LudwigNagasena wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Do you think you have no ability to make a difference for them?

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

#964

Post by BuckyBeaver »

kibwen wrote: post #854
BuckyBeaver wrote: post #740

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also illegal if they give you the item before you pay. Cash is "legal for all debts.' So if they let you establish a debt (by, for example, drinking some coffee), they must let you settle it in cash,

"Contrary to common misconception, there is no federal law stating that a private business, a person, or a government organization must accept currency or coins for payment. Private businesses are free to create their own policies on whether they accept cash, unless there is a specific state law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in cents or dollar bills. In addition, movie th…

You're missing an important distinction: Cash is legal for all DEBTS. Nothing says the store can't refuse to take cash, as long as they also prevent you from establishing a debt. For example, a restaurant that doesn't want to take cash must force you to pay before you eat.

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

#965

Post by conductr »

tomcam wrote: post #640
conductr wrote: post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in process of opening an all you can eat pancake shop and doing the same. I’m thinking of charging a small ~$x per table fee for bussing tables. Refundable if they self bus. Probably would always refund it unless they wreck the table. Not sure I want to administer it, or if it would be perceived as a punitive thing and get bad reviews. Just an idea I had while coding the self checkout app. Also, pancakes are made…

Where? I’d love to hear more about this journey too.

Dallas area. Early days right now but I’ll post some content if it shapes up.

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

#966

Post by conductr »

Archipelagia wrote: post #710
conductr wrote: post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in process of opening an all you can eat pancake shop and doing the same. I’m thinking of charging a small ~$x per table fee for bussing tables. Refundable if they self bus. Probably would always refund it unless they wreck the table. Not sure I want to administer it, or if it would be perceived as a punitive thing and get bad reviews. Just an idea I had while coding the self checkout app. Also, pancakes are made…

If you want to go thay route, it might be better instead to add a % to all the prices, and then at the end give it back if someone left a clean table. Something like "as a small token of gratitude for leaving the place clean and saving us time, here's 1% of your price back!" One is punitive, other one is rewarding.

I agree and this is my main concern. Only issue I see here is the gamification only works if they know about it up front/before they make a huge mess. I guess I could put something at the table that explains why they should help out.

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

#967

Post by aagha »

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 thought accepting cash was mandatory, but I was mistaken:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm

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

#968

Post by LudwigNagasena »

paiute wrote: post #901
xp84 wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> none of these employees make anywhere near a living wage > the misery of minimum wage coffee shop employees. i don't know, TONS of people make way less than baristas and other counter-service workers. Lots of the customers of those baristas make similar wages as they do. Why does the barista deserve that money more? The maids at a hotel make less than a Starbucks barista, and there's no way they get significant tip…

Wow. this attitude is awful and sadly not that uncommon. I have a friend whose household income is around 400k, is an effective alturist, and tips 10% at restaurants because he thinks tipping is unfair. The only place you're really expected to tip is a restaurant - 15-20%. everything else is optional, but when you make a ton of money and have taken care of your own, you tip people well for the hard work they do for y…

What is awful about it?

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

#969

Post by carlosjobim »

photochemsyn wrote: post #269
hedora wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Review / feedback programs are terrible (5/5: would f*ck over soulless management again). If the whole point of eliminating tips is to treat the workers fairly, why not institute some sort of profit share, or monthly bonus based on YoY revenue growth? Either way, you should accept cash.

I think profit share is not a bad idea, but to make it fair, it should also involve some degree of risk sharing. Counting up the costs of opening a coffee establishment (is it a roaster as well?), it's not as high as some other businesses but there's rent, equipment, seats and tables, etc. If every employee and the owner was a member of something like a LLC, what would the buy-in be? I have no idea, maybe $10K each o…

Profit sharing can be things such as giving a bonus when sales are good. No need to make things as complicated as possible. Lots of other sectors give bonuses, restaurants/hospitality almost never.

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

#970

Post by ciupicri »

dragonwriter wrote: post #949
ciupicri wrote: post #947

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite the same thing if you take into account taxes. If tips are cash only and missing from the bill, the worker gets more money. There's no sales/VAT tax, no income tax, no social security tax and so on. So instead of getting something like €5, the worker gets €9. This is how things are most of the time in Romania.

> t's not quite the same thing if you take into account taxes. If tips are cash only and missing from the bill, the worker gets more money. Tips, cash or not, are subject to taxes usually where they exist enough to have been considered in tax policy. (E. g., in the US they are subject to both income and payroll taxes.) If you mean “it is easier to commit tax fraud/evasion with cash tips than other compensation”, that…

Yes, I meant tax evasion :-)
Post reply on HN