Ask HN: Are you still tipping on takeout/pickup orders?

Ancalagon · 3 years ago

No. I'm over the growth of tipping culture. I've actually started tipping less as a percentage because it's so in-your-face now, expectations have gotten so ridiculous, and almost every time I go out the service experience is WORSE than it was before the pandemic.

And look, I get it, times are tough and inflation is high. But begging for tips instead of pressuring businesses to pay their employees is not the way to go. I've also stopped eating out as much for dine-in food for the same reason. Food prices have gone up enough at my local Chipotle, I don't feel the need to eat out and experience a $30 8oz steak, poorly cooked, from my local Olive Garden or whatever.

Edit: Looked at a below comment, if its a delivery driver or a barista or something, yes I still tip as that involves the driver spending most of their time to deliver something specifically for me or the barista hand-making my coffee.

dontbenebby · 3 years ago

>No. I'm over the growth of tipping culture. I've actually started tipping less

What a rude, entitled, antisocial attitude. What happens if everyone collectively decides you can stay home and cook your own food and make your own... drinks?

And what specific actions have you taken to ensure those workers are paid at least minimum wage, and that said minimum wage is in line with inflation similar to what is was, oh say, back under the times of Reagan that so many pine for when folks like yourself probably would have had your income above 100ish k taxed at 50%?[1]

IMO, if you can't afford both the tip and the meal, stay home, lest someone assume your startup or company is failing and short your stock or refuse to buy your products/services.

(And spoiler alert: This poster is not a barista, has never been a barista, and will literally put a bullet their own head before they go to what they endured like ten years of STEM school to avoid.)

[1] https://taxfoundation.org/historical-income-tax-rates-bracke...

cool-spinach · 3 years ago

I’ve been both a barista and a developer, and also I’ve been a waiter. I don’t tip, and I only get take out. It’s simply not worth it at all. (The service)

Why?

The waiter/barista actually controls very little and both so relatively little as well. One job I was using a largely automated $10,000 espresso machine, which you kinda-sorta gotta know how to pack the grounds for. But that only took me about 3 minutes to learn… literally.

As a waiter you just bring the plate to the table. At the fancy place I worked at, we had runners who would also bus the table and they actually did that for us. So… I would get a 20-30% tip for basically just making the table feel cool and rich for being there. Like a food salesman.

I don’t really want to talk to a food or a car salesman myself, in all honesty. If I got paid more then yes, for sure. But I don’t.

Let’s watch society collapse under the weight of collective wage stagnation and greed!

Ancalagon · 3 years ago

I… said I was dining out far less? I literally am one of the ones deciding to stay home and cook my own food and make my own drinks.

Was the spoiler alert saying you never worked a barista job? I haven’t either, but I did work in other positions growing up which relied on tipping. Still the growth in tipping culture is out of hand. Going to a bar now I buy one draft beer and get a screen flipped over with tip options of 22%, 25%, and 30%…

I’m also confused how me tipping less would enable someone to short my companies stock when nowhere on my person does it say where I work.

cercatrova · 3 years ago

It is not my responsibility to make sure the worker is paid a fair wage, it is the responsibility of their government and employer.

Gtex555 · 3 years ago

If the tip is mandatory include it in the price or shut up

blahblah1234567 · 3 years ago

I do, about 10%.

That said, I am very sick of getting asked to tip before anything is rendered-- such as at the counter of a cafe where I have coffee or a pastry.

Tipping a dollar for a coffee to a barista who lacks any customer service skills is a pain. If they're actually friendly, I don't mind as much.

What's worse is a cafe that asks for a $1 tip at a self-service coffee refill station, lol.

But yeah, this whole "We're paid a decent hourly wage, but we'll still have our cash register ask for a tip, even before your food arrives at the counter, where you take it to your own table" thing is insane.

Tips are meant for restaurant servers -- because they don't make even minimum wage. Tips are't meant for every aspect of the service industry. It gets to become extortive.

screwturner68 · 3 years ago

It's not the tip jar in front of every damn cash register that honks me off it's the embedding of the tip into the total. There's a place down the street that is very up front about paying their workers a living wage, giving them vacation, etc and that's great and their prices reflect the higher wages -$15 for a sandwich with no sides. But when you order said sandwich the bill is almost $20 (take away). You have to drill down into the app to find where they just add 20% to your bill as a tip so you don't have to go through the extra effort of adding it yourself. Now I worked in service and I over tip but why would I tip someone working a cash register getting paid actual wages, not $2.25/h. They are out of their freaking mind. Same goes for the delivery guys, I'm paying $6.00 for my food to get delivered why are you adding another $8 tip, for $14 I'll drive the 6 blocks and get it myself.

dontbenebby · 3 years ago

> You have to drill down into the app to find where they just add 20% to your bill as a tip so you don't have to go through the extra effort of adding it yourself.

That sounds more like a gratuity... they do this in America at full blown restaurants, but that's more if you have more than say, 8 people, and they have to be advertised in advance. What you are describing sounds deceptive to me, bu I'm not a lawyer, and no one seems to care about what I think as a consumer unless it's something they already agree with :-)

kylehotchkiss · 3 years ago

I like Chick-fil-A delivery a lot, they mark up the prices a little, fully pay their employees, deliver multiple orders at once, provide the cars/gas/insurance.

The tip is actually a tip. Not subsidizing their business.

kylehotchkiss · 3 years ago

Aren’t some states now requiring employers to make up difference between hourly rate and minimum wage if tips aren’t met (California does this don’t they?) - so tips aren’t even over and above, they’re just paying the employee so the restaurant doesn’t have to

ARandomerDude · 3 years ago

I tip because most people who work service jobs are poor. Candidly I won’t notice the difference but the person receiving the tip definitely will.

I don’t work at a FAANG (or whatever the term is now) and I don’t make anywhere close to SV money. But I also don’t make $15/hr and I believe in “love your neighbor as yourself.”

kylehotchkiss · 3 years ago

I came from a fairly Christian background, including university, and remember classes where the professor was always telling us to Tip Generously! It’s good for the mission (you know, evangelizing to strangers) and it just became a huge virtue signaling thing people did in front of each other instead of an actual act of generosity.

I personally don’t interpret “love your neighbor as yourself” as generous tipping as the Bible seemed more focused on just plain donations to strangers in need. I don’t think many service employees will have their life changed by 15-18% tips sadly because society just turned that into their paycheck instead of morally requiring their employer to do better :(

cercatrova · 3 years ago

No, I don't tip if they're doing what's barely required for their job (especially for me specifically going to the restaurant to pick up my own order; it's not like they delivered it to me). Should I tip baristas for making and handing me my drinks too, or cashiers scanning my groceries? No, and so I don't.

screwturner68 · 3 years ago

I was in Newark Airport and all their restaurants have ipads at every table so you can place your order, nobody actually takes your order, you do it yourself. Eventually somebody will throw some over priced and underwhelming food on your table and for your convenience they've already added a 20% tip. There's no attempt at all to provide service, it's just a money grab.

briga · 3 years ago

I don’t mind tipping 10-15% but complaints against the standard tipping options on payment machines are well deserved. Somewhere along the line business owners figured out they can magically increase revenue by 10% just by upping the pre-selected tipping options. In DC I noticed a mandatory 20% service fee added to bills at restaurants—and they still ask you to tip on top of that! When does it end? 50% tips? 100% tips? Why not just let the restaurant keep your wallet?

Raed667 · 3 years ago

(Non US) With Deliveroo, I didn't use to pay delivery or service fees, until the arrangement they had with my card company stopped a couple of months ago.

I used to order a lot and tip cash.

The other day I tried to order:

- Pizza: 13€ (9€ if bought directly from an equivalent restaurant)

- Service fee: 1,5€

- Delivery fee: 4€

So I'm paying 18,5€ for a 9€ pizza and I'm also expected to tip +20% (~4€) that makes the entire endeavor too expensive and not worth ordering (even before tipping).

spindle · 3 years ago

You made me very happy by specifying "USA" in the title instead of assuming that all readers were American :-)