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For years when tips of 15% were considered the norm, I tipped 20% on tax, and more if we kept asking for things. What I object to is being asked to tip at the counter before minimal "service" is even received.
The other night we went to a Panera-like chain restaurant where payment was made at the time of the order. They were using one of the new square credit card readers that "suggested" large tips. I hit "no tip." The man at the register craned his neck to watch what was being entered, then glared.
The customer places their order at the counter. Finds a table, not waits in an organized line for a hostess to show them to the next available table. Wipes down the table. Gets their silverware. Buses their table. Refills their own drinks. Returns to the counter for condiments etc. Turns out we did not have to wait for the food. I gave the young girl who dropped it off a $1 thank-you tip.
These employees do not fall within the tipped-minimum wage category that is less than the base wage. Our local minimum wages are far above the Federal base. Pressuring customers like this to extend where they should tip is unacceptable. The square credit card readers up the psychological pressure. Instead of ignoring the "tip jar" it's now necessary to hit "No" in front of the cashier.
Using cash will save you hundreds of dollars a year vs using a debit or credit card.
No automatic tip amounts on CC receipts to try to guilt you into tipping more than you should or someone who shouldn't be a tipped employee.
And you're more aware of how much you're spending when you use cash.
I also attempt to give cash tips directly to the wait staff member who served me vs just leaving it on the table.
Using cash will save you hundreds of dollars a year vs using a debit or credit card.
No automatic tip amounts on CC receipts to try to guilt you into tipping more than you should or someone who shouldn't be a tipped employee.
And you're more aware of how much you're spending when you use cash.
I also attempt to give cash tips directly to the wait staff member who served me vs just leaving it on the table.
I used to always leave cash, thinking it better for the server. But with the tip pools, the daughter who works in the restaurant tells me the cash needs to be turned in each night, counted for distribution. Their system is 50 percent credited to the server; 50 percent to the tip pool. It's time consuming, with the office clerk (one of her good friends) stuck at the restaurant late until its done. As for CCs, no need to derail the thread but I'm the queen of churning them for thousands of dollars in benefits.
Don't understand. Are you saying the restaurant wants employees to start pressuring customers for tips to offset owner paid salaries? That would be an easy way to lose customers. There may well be reasons for the business owner to start using the square card readers other than (or not at all) to pressure customers to tip. IDNK.
A wonderful upscale chain (full table service) just switched to pads used both to take orders and process payments. Their servers are careful to step back so they can't see the tip selected. Pre-technology, of course, the customer simply wrote the tip onto the credit card slip then returned it to the folder.
Who wants to start what's meant to be a relaxing meal with a negative interchange with an employee sending a message that the customers is a "cheapskate."
The decision to use a Tipping Prompt rests solely on the merchant. Those merchants that include this feature, typically use it to recruit and retain employees.
I've heard of examples where customers are literally pursued out of the restaurant by the owner demanding a higher tip
In the U. S. the restaurant industry would quite strongly lobby against raising the min. pay of restaurant workers to everybody else. It's not fair how min. pay for restaurant workers is much less than local min. wage. At least it isn't the custom to tip fast food workers, probably because they make minimum wage or better.
The decision to use a Tipping Prompt rests solely on the merchant. Those merchants that include this feature, typically use it to recruit and retain employees.
The Tip Prompt does seem to encourage people to tip for self serve.
I don’t tip at self serve places. If the cashier gives me the stink eye, I assume he/ she has gas.
Thanks for the article. That was spot on. Interesting read. This I object to:
"ShopKeep, one of the industry’s leading cloud-based point-of-sale providers, says about 23 percent of its merchants have enabled a tip screen for their businesses. Among its “quick serve” clients, like cafés and bakeries, about 49 percent have the tip options turned on. But even 12 percent of its more traditional retailers — which include everything from clothing boutiques, flower shops and liquor stores to beauty salons and barber shops — have enabled that functionality."
No issue with beauty salons and barber shops since there tips are part of the customer payment. Don't stylists often work as independent contractors where they pay the salon owner for a chair but then make most of their income from the tips? That distinction is where the idea that you don't tip owners (not they say) comes in.
American tipping is confusing. Recently read that manicurists in nail salons do not receive minimum wage but live on tips. (Never used one in my life.) But I had no idea. OTOH, hotel maids receive minimum wage (or more depending on the market, hotel). There I tend to leave a set number of dollars a night. But then I don't tip for anyplace that breaks out the cleaning fee (AirBnbs).
Oh boy........ a new tipping thread....... It's been ages since the last one. There has already been a poster boasting of tipping minimum 30%, and his wife tipped 50% the other night, for good service, and the thread has barely begun.
Time to move on ... one last glance at the article middle-age-mom attached. From the Square reader data, "average tip percentage" for heating, plumbing, AC is 14%. What? That sounds like its the average tip on the total payment, not that 14% percent of people are tipping their plumbers.
I have never in my life tipped a plumber. Where is this coming from?
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It's been ages since the last one. There has already been a poster boasting of tipping minimum 30%, and his wife tipped 50% the other night, for good service, and the thread has barely begun.
