NYT: $3 Tip on a $4 Cup of Coffee? Gratuities Grow, Automati

[tres3]

$3 Tip on a $4 Cup of Coffee? Gratuities Grow, Automatically
By HILARY STOUTJAN. 31, 2015
Photo

At counter-service restaurants, where a tip jar often sits by the register, DipJar offers a way to tip when customers don’t have cash. Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

The flat white coffee drink was $4. A suggested tip was $3.

The cashier at Café Grumpy, a New York City coffeehouse, swiped the credit card, then whirled the screen of her iPad sales device around to face the customer. “Add a tip,” the screen commanded, listing three options: $1, $2 or $3.

In other words: 25 percent, 50 percent or 75 percent of the bill.

There was a “no tip” and a “customize tip” button, too, but neither seemed particularly inviting as the cashier looked on. Under that pressure, the middle choice — $2 — seemed easiest.

American consumers are feeling a bit of tip creep.

Leaving 15 percent for full service (the former standard tip at a sit-down restaurant), and less for quick transactions, is considered chintzy by some people. “We recommend 20 percent absolutely,” said Peter Post, managing director of the Emily Post Institute, which offers guidelines in etiquette.

Continue reading the main story
RELATED COVERAGE

A passenger handed a signed credit card receipt to a cabdriver last week in front of Madison Square Garden.As Taxi Fares Rise, Riders’ Tips Don’t Keep PaceJAN. 2, 2013
Critic’s Notebook: Leaving a Tip: A Custom in Need of Changing?SEPT. 3, 2013
The very concept of tipping is expanding beyond the service industry, with new platforms that enable Internet content creators to receive Bitcoin tips that reward their creativity rather than a simple thumbs up (or “Like”).

Photo

DipJar makes it easy to tip with a credit card at Dos Toros Taqueria in New York. Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
And in many situations, merchants as varied as cab companies and beauty salons rely on the ubiquitous touch screen or mobile app to push higher and higher gratuities.

New York City taxi riders paying with plastic are confronted with buttons for 20 percent, 25 percent or 30 percent tips. Anything less has to be manually entered (and calculated by the passenger).

Purchasers of gift certificates for the day spa Euphoria are asked if they want to include a staff tip; the option 25 percent is automatically checked for those who say yes. (They, too, can manually change it to 15, 20 or 30 percent.) A Miami diner complained on Chowhound of an automatic 24 percent gratuity for a buffet lunch: “I’m a consistent 20 percent or better tipper, but a 24 percent included tip on a buffet Sheesh.”

In December, an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, Alimento, took a different approach. It added a second gratuity line to diners’ checks — “tip” (for the server) and “kitchen” (for the traditionally untipped workers in the back).

The hints and prods come at a time when the plight of low-wage workers is increasingly in the national spotlight and battles over raising the minimum wage continue. Some states, including New York, are considering lifting the subminimum wage threshold pay for workers like waiters, who are expected to earn a substantial portion of their pay in tips. But as expected gratuities edge up, even conscientious and generous tippers wonder if there might be a better way.

“I would much prefer everybody get a raise and do it the way the Europeans do and include it in the price,” said Helaine Olen, a personal finance blogger and author of the book “Pound Foolish: Exploring the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry.” “But we don’t live that way.”

Instead, Ms. Olen said, people should plan for tipping obligations like other household expenditures. “You need to just sort of budget it in the same way as if you’re going to fly and you know the airline is going to charge for your suitcase.”

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story
Tipping as an American practice stretches back centuries. “There are records of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson giving tips to their slaves,” said Michael Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, who has studied changes in tipping habits. In the 1940s, he said, the average restaurant tip was about 10 percent. “It’s very clear that tip sizes have increased over time,” he said, adding that he could not predict how high they would go.

Some question whether expected tips will edge up to a point where they can no longer be counted on as “add-ons,” leading employers to rethink pricing and salary structures. Patrons of the fast-growing car service Uber frequently cite its ban on tips as one of the attractions, even if prices are higher than for taxi fares. A brew pub called Public Option that is scheduled to open in Washington, D.C., will not allow tipping; its owner has said he plans to pay his workers at least $15 an hour.

Still, the concept of tipping is spreading. In March, a Silicon Valley company opened ChangeTip, a platform that allows people to send small Bitcoin payments through social media, email, Skype or text to show their appreciation for content creators (or anyone) on the Internet.

Continue reading the main story
RECENT COMMENTS

Bill Woodson Just now
Establishments are more than happy to pass on to their customers their responsibilities. Paying your kitchen staff and frontline help...
Elizabeth Just now
On the flip side of these comments, in countries where service is included in the price of the meal, say in a restaurant, the server has...
Socrates 1 minute ago
America's plantation economics model is thriving in 2015.Give employees slave wages and pass the cost of the labor onto the customer,...
SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT
The service has been growing about 30 percent a month and now has about 60,000 users who have collectively tipped over $250,000, said Nick Sullivan, founder and chief executive. The average payment, he said, was a little over $1.

The tips may be small, but Mr. Sullivan’s vision is grand: to disrupt the advertising model on the Internet by replacing it with a system of small altruistic micropayments. He even envisions a new concept: the viral tip.

“One of the neat things with the way ChangeTip works is all those tips are public,” he said. “When I send you a tip over Twitter, your followers can see it, so there’s an inherent potential for viral growth.”

Other technological innovations are making a difference for baristas and other counter employees. A company, DipJar, has created an electronic tip jar — patrons who pay for their coffee, ice cream or bagel with a credit card can dip the same card into a receptacle by the register for a preset tip amount, usually $1. Last fall, DipJar raised $420,000 from investors to expand its presence from about 20 test sites to 500 locations in the coming months.

“DipJar, when we heard about it, we thought, ‘This is a godsend,’ ” said Leo Kremer, a co-founder of Dos Toros Taqueria, a small chain of counter-service Mexican restaurants in New York. The company recently removed the tip line from credit card receipts on transactions below $20 out of concern that “some customers found it presumptuous.” DipJar, he said, “can generate more tips in a way that’s not intrusive.”

Far bolder are the proliferating tablet-based point-of-sale systems that force the issue by presenting consumers with a slate of generous gratuity options before the transaction can be completed.

CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY
22
COMMENTS
“The onset of iPad P.O.S. systems is completely changing the way consumers tip,” said Justin Guinn, a retail market research associate at Software Advice, who recently completed a study on the effect of such systems on tipping practices for clients in the restaurant industry. “Just this morning, I gave a 40 percent tip on my $2.50 coffee because the cafe’s P.O.S. system has a ‘smart tipping’ feature.”

Such a feature, he explained, automatically adjusts preset tipping options on orders less than $10 to $1, $2 or $3. But for orders greater than $10, it changes them to 15, 20 or 25 percent.

“It’s genius,” Mr. Guinn said.

[secretlyevil]

Yeah no, a tip is for going above and beyond. I will not be pressured to tip every joe smoe on the block. ::waves cane around::

[Cicero]

I carry cash to avoid this.

[moolarkey]

I wouldn't tip even 20% on a buffet let alone the 24% reported in that article.

[IIOY]

I hate the manipulation of this entire charade. I'm a broken record on this topic but I despise tips and would much rather pay more for a no-tip service.

[rugbywife]

Feb 1, 2015 9:16:11 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I hate the manipulation of this entire charade. I'm a broken record on this topic but I despise tips and would much rather pay more for a no-tip service.

ITA.

[tictac]

I say this as someone who always tips decently for services it's normal to tip on (sit down restaurants, hotel staff, delivery service, etc): businesses need to start just paying their own damn employees a decent wage already.

[chedifuen]

Feb 1, 2015 9:16:11 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I hate the manipulation of this entire charade. I'm a broken record on this topic but I despise tips and would much rather pay more for a no-tip service.

Preach! In oregon, there is no server wage so everyone is making minimum or above. I tip 20% but I'm not creeping higher than that unless service is outstanding. 75% on a coffee is absurd

[blink]

I've seen some frozen yogurt shops have tip jars too. Though, its nit like they do anymore work (or get paid less) than a traditional fast food employee.

I feel like the list of who gets tipped keeps growing.

[bugandbibs]

My state has a minimum wage of almost $11 ( more in some places) and no server wage. It's a better system. There is no over tipping shaming going on that I know of.

The automatic tip choice I have seen have been 15%, 18%, 20% usually.

[tres3]

Confession- I regularly tip 50% of my coffee, but only one place and only because I know that barrista just had twins in the NICU.

[bugandbibs]

Oh, and I don't tip people just doing their job like ice cream scooper, car wash attendants, baristas, etc unless they have to do something unusual or overly complicated.

[secretlyevil]

Feb 1, 2015 10:40:33 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Feb 1, 2015 9:16:11 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I hate the manipulation of this entire charade. I'm a broken record on this topic but I despise tips and would much rather pay more for a no-tip service.

I resent it more and more as time goes on. To me it's like the restaurant saying, "Here. Pay for your food and also here's a line for you to pay our work force overhead." How did we even get into this. France is doing it right.

word

[Michelle]

I tipped $20 on a Grande Mocha at Starbucks.

Because it was Thanksgiving Day and they had to work.


I don't mind the tip jars. Tip if you want, don't tip if you don't. Be confident you aren't an asshole if you pass it by, and the guy behind you will feel better too. But if you have a little extra to give the minimum wage worker who rocks your day on the regular, you can do it without making them feel weird. (I gave this cashier at the grocery a $20 gift card one day because she is always so nice, helpful, excellent customer service every.single.time and she about fell out of her shoes and wasn't sure she should accept it... now - not saying there should be a tip jar at the grocery cashier line (OMG) but sometimes it's hard to receive generosity, and tip jars at these places is all about generosity in exchange for going above and beyond - optional and at the discretion of the giver).

[AJL]

I tip 20% at restaurants. I do not tip on counter service. I tip 20% on delivery. I don't tip on anything I carry out myself.

Tipping is awkward.

[partyinmytummy]

I almost always tip well, but I find "suggested tips" to be extremely presumptuous.

[gottadobe]

It seems like more and more services/people are expecting tips, and I'm not up on all of it.
I'm sure I come off as a total schmuck 50% of the time.

I get food, hairdressers, etc. But, the locksmith you unlocked my car? Since when??

[SallyJ]

Tips = consumers giving wage increases to workers, rather than companies actually increasing wages.

[emilyj]

Tipping is out of control. Tip jars, meh. It's easy enough to ignore. I still think they are dumb. All the other ones that automatically put on the options....no.

I would also rather follow the European model and pay more, but not have to tips. People's incomes shouldn't depend on the moods of customers.

ETA: The rise of the expected tip is also insane. 25% for a spa service? I normally pay 20%. How much longer until it's 30?

[kadams767]

As a counter person in my former life, I am OK with the tip jar, but OMG to $3 on one cup of coffee. We went out for dinner Friday night and tipped $5-something on a $24 check, lol. That's more than 20%, but looks absurd compared to the coffee tips mentioned here.

[blink]

Feb 1, 2015 12:19:08 GMT -5 mr+ms said:

Feb 1, 2015 10:20:12 GMT -5 blink said:

I've seen some frozen yogurt shops have tip jars too. Though, its nit like they do anymore work (or get paid less) than a traditional fast food employee. 

There's a tip jar at the froyo place where you serve yourself. lol? What is the tip for, accepting my payment??

Coffee shop on my block is lucky if I drop a penny in their jar from time to time.

Yep, granted they do make smoothies, but I don't think it is much different than other places, and certainly not as intensive as a coffee shop or barista.

[sushi]

Feb 1, 2015 10:40:33 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Feb 1, 2015 9:16:11 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I hate the manipulation of this entire charade. I'm a broken record on this topic but I despise tips and would much rather pay more for a no-tip service.

I resent it more and more as time goes on. To me it's like the restaurant saying, "Here. Pay for your food and also here's a line for you to pay our work force overhead." How did we even get into this. France is doing it right.

Living in Japan really embittered me toward automatic tipping everywhere. I was already kind of a scrooge, but I now have international justification for it.

[meshaliuknits]

I occasionally tip at the coffee shops I'm a regular at. If you can start making my order before I've ordered it, you deserve it.

The only time I've ever dropped a 50% tip was for the restaurant that hosted my wedding. They did a bang up job and I was hella tipsy.

Sent from my EVO

[meij]

My Dunkin Donuts drive thru has a tip jar. I don't think handing me a donut deserves a tip (I dont order coffee or anything else that might be complicated) but every time I paid cash they'd ask me if I wanted my change (usually greater than 50cents) It was so weird and made me feel like I was a cheapass for wanting my 68cents or whatever but yes I want my damn change.

The other tip jar that makes me roll my eyes is at our self serve frozen yogurt place. The customer gets their own cup, puts their own fro yo in it, goes to the topping bar and dishes out their own toppings, gets their own spoon and sets it on the scale. The cashier takes your money. Lol no I am not giving you a tip for ringing up my order.

[gpw]

I hate all this. Really.

I will say, though, when I purchase a gift card for someone for a service, I always include the tip in the GC.

[redheadbaker]

Tips for the kitchen?? No. They get a regular (not server) wage and do not need tips. Not a great wage (the primary reason I left the baking industry) but still above minimum wage.

[ttt]

There's a local coffee shop next to SST's ballet school, and I would go there to get a coffee while she was in class. But when you pay for your coffee, it asks you if you want to tip $1, $2 or $3. My latte was already like $4, but I felt guilted into leaving at least $1, and then I felt resentful for paying extra for something that was already way overpriced. I finally decided to just stop going there altogether because of it. I haven't been back in months.

[tres3]

what about tipping when the person providing the service is the owner?

The rule used to be you didn't tip the owner of the hair salon. Is that still true?

What about restaurants? The chinese place I go is all family. Daughter, Husband and Wife. I usually get take out. My favorite Thai place is a one woman show. She is the owner, cashier, chef, and server. The lunch special is $7.75 but I always leave $10.

[Deleted]

I work in a store. I would love a tip.
Ha ha.

[msmerymac]

I tipped the gas station attendant $1 to other day. She washed the windshield AND checked my tire pressure, told me it was low from the cold, and told me where there was a free air pump.

Yes, this was in NJ. I also don't know how much the gas pumpers make, but it's not a job I've ever seen a teenager doing.