The Comments Section With Brett Cooper: "Tipping Is Out Of Control"
‘Guilt Tipping’: Pressure to tip everywhere has gotten out of control
...Paying via tablet is now the convenient norm at pizzerias, coffee shops, fast food joints and other quick-service spots across the city, but the gadgets are quick to ask if you want to add a healthy gratuity to your order. Touchscreens typically prompt patrons to leave a tip ranging from 18 to 30% — and sometimes even higher — when they grab and go....Occasionally, the prompts replace the old tip jar — upping the ante on what was customarily a tossed buck or some loose change. But in many instances, patrons are being pressured to pony up at places where they’ve never been expected to tip before — say, for waiting on line for their burgers and fries at Five Guys. And they’re not happy about the sudden ubiquity of gratuity gouging....“I was somewhere spending $23 on just coffee and pastries and the suggested tip was another $8 and I simply said no way. I’ll give a dollar or so as a custom tip amount, but let’s have a reality check here,” said Jared Goodman, a 26-year-old recruiter who lives in Brooklyn. “Recently I got a quick bite with my girlfriend and the suggested tip amounts were 25, 35 and even 40%. That’s just insane....”
....Helen Suskin, a consultant from the Upper East Side, told The Post that even though she tips regularly on everything from coffee to baked goods, her generosity isn’t exactly coming from the heart. When you order from a counter, she said, “there is no added service,” yet she feels compelled to leave a gratuity anyway. “You can call that guilt tipping.”...Others, however, say they won’t be cowed by the machines....“I don’t tip people who just are doing their jobs by doing counter work,” Chelsea resident Stanley Vogel said, adding that he always tips servers at full-service restaurants. But, “like in a bakery if they’re just giving me a loaf of bread, I’m not gonna tip ’em for that … I never tip people who are counter people that just bring me something I can get myself.”
....In New York City, restaurant servers often make below minimum wage, and patrons are expected to reward their hard work with tips that will augment their salaries. Yet “fast food” workers — a legal category that includes baristas and cashiers — are guaranteed the full minimum wage of $15 an hour....The popular electronic payment process system Square lets business owners dole out the electronic tips in a variety of ways: It could go directly to the person who processed the transaction or it might be pooled across staff, either per transaction (i.e., a $5 tip would yield $1 for five eligible employees) or by hours worked.
...But, unlike the old days when you might directly hand a 10-spot to your server, nobody seems to have a handle on where the counter-service tips go exactly....Still, they say technology makes it awkward....“I used to go to this butcher shop all the time and I never tipped in the jar. I was friendly with all the guys — but I never tipped,” Sholder said. “Now it comes up [digitally] and it feels like, ‘Oh, he’s a cheapskate, he didn’t tip.’ It puts pressure on me so I really don’t like it, I feel it should be more voluntary.”....When “you’re just pushing a button,” she said, there’s less appreciation from the staff. “You don’t get a lot of ‘Wow, thanks so much!’ It’s just kind of like there’s an expectation from their side.”
....The Post called four locations of Five Guys to ask how gratuities are divided among staffers. Two managers said they were “not sure exactly how,” while the other two declined to respond....“I’m skeptical of the whole thing,” said former busboy Bryan Reilly, 24, of Massapequa, Long Island. “It feels like it’s becoming my responsibility to make up for their workers being paid so little....
https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/guilt-tipping-pressure-to-tip-has-gotten-out-of-control/
...Paying via tablet is now the convenient norm at pizzerias, coffee shops, fast food joints and other quick-service spots across the city, but the gadgets are quick to ask if you want to add a healthy gratuity to your order. Touchscreens typically prompt patrons to leave a tip ranging from 18 to 30% — and sometimes even higher — when they grab and go....Occasionally, the prompts replace the old tip jar — upping the ante on what was customarily a tossed buck or some loose change. But in many instances, patrons are being pressured to pony up at places where they’ve never been expected to tip before — say, for waiting on line for their burgers and fries at Five Guys. And they’re not happy about the sudden ubiquity of gratuity gouging....“I was somewhere spending $23 on just coffee and pastries and the suggested tip was another $8 and I simply said no way. I’ll give a dollar or so as a custom tip amount, but let’s have a reality check here,” said Jared Goodman, a 26-year-old recruiter who lives in Brooklyn. “Recently I got a quick bite with my girlfriend and the suggested tip amounts were 25, 35 and even 40%. That’s just insane....”
....Helen Suskin, a consultant from the Upper East Side, told The Post that even though she tips regularly on everything from coffee to baked goods, her generosity isn’t exactly coming from the heart. When you order from a counter, she said, “there is no added service,” yet she feels compelled to leave a gratuity anyway. “You can call that guilt tipping.”...Others, however, say they won’t be cowed by the machines....“I don’t tip people who just are doing their jobs by doing counter work,” Chelsea resident Stanley Vogel said, adding that he always tips servers at full-service restaurants. But, “like in a bakery if they’re just giving me a loaf of bread, I’m not gonna tip ’em for that … I never tip people who are counter people that just bring me something I can get myself.”
....In New York City, restaurant servers often make below minimum wage, and patrons are expected to reward their hard work with tips that will augment their salaries. Yet “fast food” workers — a legal category that includes baristas and cashiers — are guaranteed the full minimum wage of $15 an hour....The popular electronic payment process system Square lets business owners dole out the electronic tips in a variety of ways: It could go directly to the person who processed the transaction or it might be pooled across staff, either per transaction (i.e., a $5 tip would yield $1 for five eligible employees) or by hours worked.
...But, unlike the old days when you might directly hand a 10-spot to your server, nobody seems to have a handle on where the counter-service tips go exactly....Still, they say technology makes it awkward....“I used to go to this butcher shop all the time and I never tipped in the jar. I was friendly with all the guys — but I never tipped,” Sholder said. “Now it comes up [digitally] and it feels like, ‘Oh, he’s a cheapskate, he didn’t tip.’ It puts pressure on me so I really don’t like it, I feel it should be more voluntary.”....When “you’re just pushing a button,” she said, there’s less appreciation from the staff. “You don’t get a lot of ‘Wow, thanks so much!’ It’s just kind of like there’s an expectation from their side.”
....The Post called four locations of Five Guys to ask how gratuities are divided among staffers. Two managers said they were “not sure exactly how,” while the other two declined to respond....“I’m skeptical of the whole thing,” said former busboy Bryan Reilly, 24, of Massapequa, Long Island. “It feels like it’s becoming my responsibility to make up for their workers being paid so little....
https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/guilt-tipping-pressure-to-tip-has-gotten-out-of-control/