Tipping

[youbet]

I was at an ethnic specialty grocery store in my home town today. There was a tip jar at the register full of cash. This was a run of the mill grocery store with a check out counter.

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Stuffing some cash into the jar before customers start arriving is called "chumming." Otherwise they'd have to label the jar as "tip jar" so you'd know what was expected........ I've also heard bartenders call it "priming."

 

[Retired Expat]

Established pages back that this "used to be" was long before many of us were old enough to pick up a check.

There are still places in the world where the tip or service is included and you leave just some spare change. “For drinks” as the French call it. Where we live in South America the waiter has to add the tip to the POS machine and it is always 10%…

 

[Gumby]

Stuffing some cash into the jar before customers start arriving is called "chumming." Otherwise they'd have to label the jar as "tip jar" so you'd know what was expected........ I've also heard bartenders call it "priming."

I have always heard of it as "salting the tip jar." Buskers use the same psychological trick.

 

[folivier]

Back in my college days, too many years ago, I bartended and it was common to put some money in the tip jar to get it started. A good friend played the piano at a country club where I bartended would do the same.
It worked.

 

[Retired Expat]

I have always heard of it as "salting the tip jar." Buskers use the same psychological trick.

On our last trip to Europe there were a lot of buskers out playing and many were really good. All had a contactless card reader, or Apple Pay reader out front. Set to a fixed $2 tip. I was much quicker to tip the $2 for a good performance and to hang around and enjoy the music with this system…

Virtually none had an open guitar case with cash and change in it. At the Edinburgh festival this year most everything had become card or electronic only and no cash accepted. Was super convenient and easy. Even the buses and taxis took the card or phone. So nice to not have to carry or even worry about exchanging for local currency…

 

[Jeffman52]

Ever read any of the Firefox books?

I have them all. A plethora of information on how to do for yourself. If the 1st world was to collapse, these books have enough information in them so that you can turn the clock back to survival mode. How to build a fireplace, a root cellar, a log cabin, making your own soap (how to tell if the PH of the lye is correct), etc etc. And detailed enough that it can be followed.


I have them packed away somewhere. I will have to see if I can dig them up. It would be tragic if they got lost in one of the many moves that DW and I have done over the last decade.

 

[Aerides]

There are still places in the world where the tip or service is included and you leave just some spare change. “For drinks” as the French call it. Where we live in South America the waiter has to add the tip to the POS machine and it is always 10%…

Yes, I understand that, but it would appear a majority of this thread is arguing the case against the US system, in which restaurant service is typically 15%+, and the plethora of non-service industries using software which asks for a tip.

 

[youbet]

I have them all. A plethora of information on how to do for yourself. If the 1st world was to collapse, these books have enough information in them so that you can turn the clock back to survival mode. How to build a fireplace, a root cellar, a log cabin, making your own soap (how to tell if the PH of the lye is correct), etc etc. And detailed enough that it can be followed.


I have them packed away somewhere. I will have to see if I can dig them up. It would be tragic if they got lost in one of the many moves that DW and I have done over the last decade.

And these informative books make no mention of “tipping.”

 

[GenXguy]

Got a haircut yesterday, maybe 15 minutes, pretty quick. With my $2 veteran discount, the haircut rings up to $15 since they really jacked up the prices in recent years.

Then the tip options come up as $5, $7, and $9. Yeah, $5 was the minimum!

It's like they're expecting a 33% tip minimum. I did a custom tip for the standard 20%.

 

[jollystomper]

Here is a coffee shop that has decided to raises wages and prices, but ban tips:

https://www.indy100.com/viral/coffee-shop-bans-tipping-utah

From the article:

"The tip is essentially included in the price. So, the prices up on the board are exactly what you pay," he continued.

"I look forward to seeing if any other businesses in Salt Lake jump onto this because I do think people are sick of tipping, and this is the future of our industry," Nick said, who went on to share the news with his Instagram followers.

Frequent visitors to the Three Pines Coffee expressed their support for the decision.

 

[Koolau]

I suppose the idea of tipping is that the consumer has at least some "say" in what the server's wages will be, based on the level of service. I don't have a strong opinion on this, but at least see the potential value in tipping on that basis. YMMV

 

[folivier]

I always look at tipping as giving a bonus for good service. Just got back from our monthly "old man's breakfast" at the lodge. Our server took our 8 orders without writing down anything and got everything correct. I always give her 20+%.

 

[perinova]

There are still places in the world where the tip or service is included and you leave just some spare change. “For drinks” as the French call it. Where we live in South America the waiter has to add the tip to the POS machine and it is always 10%…

Real experience at French Cafe at breakfast time, in 2018: I get a coffee and a couple of croissants at the bar and pay cash since it was under the minimum credit card they would take: I give what we would consider a normal tip for the occasion and go sit at a table to eat. Moments later the bar tender, upset about the situation, comes to my table and returned my money.

 

[perinova]

Tipping wages have been eliminated here on the West coast. Calif, Oregon and Washington: tipping wage is minimum wage. That is why, for example, a meal in California is more expensive than in Arizona, same chain restaurant.

We are still tipping though, the fact is not being advertised.

 

[GenXguy]

Tipping wages have been eliminated here on the West coast. Calif, Oregon and Washington: tipping wage is minimum wage. That is why, for example, a meal in California is more expensive than in Arizona, same chain restaurant.

We are still tipping though, the fact is not being advertised.

Yeah, that's the strange thing. It's not just people with tipped wages that are getting tipped everywhere in the U.S. People delivering appliances and other types of services are getting tipped a lot also.

Here in IL, the minimum wage for tipped workers is actually higher than the federal minimum wage and much higher than it used to be. But tipping is still getting more expensive.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I saw an article in the local paper about the $1,000 breakfast club group that goes to restaurants and gives their waiters/waitresses a $1,000 tip. It was a nice feel good story as the waitress said she could really use the money. The story was about a waitress at an IHOP restaurant in Saugus, MA that received $1,300.

However, the article lost me when it went on to say that the waitress sometimes struggles to get "only $200 in tips during her six hour work shift."

Some quick math: $200 over six hours is $33.33 per hour in tips. I will guess she makes $10 to $12 an hour as a wage. So here is a waitress that is "struggling" at a combined $43 per hour in pay? That works out to be almost $90,000 per year if a full time job.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm perfectly fine with waitresses making as much money as they can, but to characterize getting "only" $200 in tips in six hours as inadequate didn't sit right with me, especially at an IHOP.

 

[marko]

Every restaurant in my town now adds a 3% "kitchen fee", even if you only are there for drinks.

Last week I was in a sandwich shop and noticed that they added a 14% "administrative fee".

 

[GenXguy]

Every restaurant in my town now adds a 3% "kitchen fee", even if you only are there for drinks.

Last week I was in a sandwich shop and noticed that they added a 14% "administrative fee".

Does this mean you didn't know about this ridiculous high admin fee in advance? I would have complained and never gone back. Any additional fees should be clearly disclosed in advance, not just in fine print where people won't usually even notice. People need to push back on these, or they will keep paying more of them.

 

[marko]

Does this mean you didn't know about this ridiculous high admin fee in advance? I would have complained and never gone back. Any additional fees should be clearly disclosed in advance, not just in fine print where people won't usually even notice. People need to push back on these, or they will keep paying more of them.

Didn't know until I checked the tab, which I seldom do. Hard to boycott these things when everyone is suddenly doing it. Most people here are fine with it and some have even suggested a 1% adder (on top of the 3% kitchen fee) for the other staff. (our area north of Boston is quite sympathetic to the plight of low-wage workers)

We eat out 4 or 5 times a week and don't plan to change that so we're just going to have to make it part of the cost.

The latest scam seems to be an 'inflation charge' which we've seen as well.

Despite 800+ posts here I fear the tipping thing is going in the wrong direction.

 

[Music Lover]

Didn't know until I checked the tab, which I seldom do. Hard to boycott these things when everyone is suddenly doing it.

We eat out 4 or 5 times a week and don't plan to change that so we're just going to have to make it part of the cost.

The latest scam seems to be an 'inflation charge' which we've seen as well.

Despite 800+ posts here I fear the tipping thing is going in the wrong direction.

It's easy to boycott, just stop going there. They can't be the only place in town? We refuse to go to places that have what we consider extra bogus charges.

Those charges only exist because enough people are willing to pay for them.

 

[marko]

It's easy to boycott, just stop going there. They can't be the only place in town? We refuse to go to places that have what we consider extra bogus charges.

Those charges only exist because enough people are willing to pay for them.

They're not the only game in town, but every game in town (about 35 restaurants and bars) is suddenly doing the same thing. So that does make it difficult.

Mind you, I'm not really complaining but just pointing out that the trend is going in the opposite direction that what most posters here would like to see.

 

[USGrant1962]

I was just at a conference for a couple of nights in DC. One of the nights I looked on Yelp! for an interesting place within a block or two of my hotel for dinner. I found a nice-looking small cocktail bar with a small menu that was the highest rated place in the area. One of the reviews pointed out that they add a 20% gratuity for all sized parties, which the reviewer missed until they looked their receipt later. So the reviewer double-tipped.

I went there and had a great cocktail and a panini. The bill seemed kind of high when I got it and then I noticed (and then remembered) the 20% add on. It was a standard CC receipt with a tip line. The bartender did circle the gratuity along with the total (one circle as the tip was last, followed by the total) and mumbled something that I think was about the gratuity.

I put a dash on the tip line and paid. With that, it was all good and normal priced for a big city restaurant/bar. But they must rake in a fortune in extra tips from the travellers that find the place on Yelp!, Google, etc. and miss the add-on. It is right next to a huge convention center with a lot of hotels nearby.

 

[Music Lover]

The bill seemed kind of high when I got it and then I noticed (and then remembered) the 20% add on. It was a standard CC receipt with a tip line. The bartender did circle the gratuity along with the total (one circle as the tip was last, followed by the total) and mumbled something that I think was about the gratuity.

I went to a retirement dinner a month or so ago. An automatic 18% gratuity was added because we had a group more than 10. There were about 30 people and 2 servers. When the bill came the server at our table came with the bill she reminded us that 18% was already added. I found out later from a couple people who had the other server that they were never reminded so some of them double tipped.

 

[Koolau]

Every restaurant in my town now adds a 3% "kitchen fee", even if you only are there for drinks.

Last week I was in a sandwich shop and noticed that they added a 14% "administrative fee".

If "every" restaurant in town is adding the extra fee, that sounds like collusion (or price fixing) which is strictly illegal. Not sure if you could prove collusion, but what are the chances that everyone would suddenly start adding the same fee?

 

[marko]

If "every" restaurant in town is adding the extra fee, that sounds like collusion (or price fixing) which is strictly illegal. Not sure if you could prove collusion, but what are the chances that everyone would suddenly start adding the same fee?

Well, "suddenly " is a bit strong. Likely took over a year for most places to adopt the practice. Again, whether they add the fee or ask me to do it, the end price comes out just about the same. While I absolutely hate the idea, 3% isn't going stop me from going out to eat. And these places are packed! If I stopped going, they wouldn't miss me.

An extra $6 bucks on a $200 dinner? I'll survive. There's free parking so I don't have to pay a valet! Just wish that we did it like they do in Europe when we lived there.