A credit card tip jar - good idea or bad?

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

http://consumerist.com/2012/08/once-...t-to-give.html

I'm not sure I like this idea. I get the concept, but it seems like it would be too easy to rig to either skim card numbers or swipe for larger amounts than the $1 standard.

A lot of people in the comments are saying there's no point in tipping someone who is making minimum wage vs. a server potentially making less. I understand the argument, but minimum wage is not anywhere close to a fortune. When I worked in food service, I appreciated tips, but I never harassed or tried to guilt people into them.

I believe that tips should truly be for above and beyond service and not as a means of allowing employers to pay their employees less.

[Nekojin]

Too prone to abuse, IMO. And I feel that all workers should be paid minimum wage, at least, without regard to potential for tips or other gratuities.

For disclosure, I have worked at minimum-wage jobs with tipping (Casino blackjack dealer), but never worked somewhere that allowed employers to underpay tipped employees.

[TheHuckster]

Too prone to abuse, IMO. And I feel that all workers should be paid minimum wage, at least, without regard to potential for tips or other gratuities.

From what I understand, if a tipped employee making less than minimum wage earns less than enough tips to effectively keep that employee under minimum wage, the restaurant is legally obligated to pay the difference.

I find it interesting how subtly different the tipping customs are, at least in the US. One tips the same way at a chain restaurant as in a high-scale restaurant, yet you never see tip jars at McDonnalds or Burger King but you might at an ice cream parlor or a coffee shop. You'll tip a pizza delivery driver, but not always a bouquet deliverer or a UPS worker.

I can imagine these little nuances must drive foreigners nuts.

[bainsidhe]

Might as well call it dipshit jar. (sorry, couldn't resist)

Sooo, basically they're telling me that out of my dollar tip, I'm giving 30 cents straight to the card company for processing the sale plus 2-4% of the tip value. So it's a "shared" gratuity between the cc companies and the employee. Yeah. I'll get right on that.

Now that I think on it, the same can be said about tips left on any payment, like at a restaurant for example. But does it work the same way as far as the tipped employee is concerned? Back when I worked in a restaurant, servers received the full value of the tip on credit cards and the employer absorbed the cc fee. Not sure all restaurants follow that rule, however.

[Nekojin]

From what I understand, if a tipped employee making less than minimum wage earns less than enough tips to effectively keep that employee under minimum wage, the restaurant is legally obligated to pay the difference.

When the employer can underpay because the employee is tipped, that effectively means that the employer is taking the first X dollars in tips for the "generosity" of offering a tipped position. IMO, that's a reprehensible way to save on HR expenses.

[draco664]

From what I understand, if a tipped employee making less than minimum wage earns less than enough tips to effectively keep that employee under minimum wage, the restaurant is legally obligated to pay the difference.

Thanks for the laugh. I love seeing that level of naivety. It always makes the world seem so much brighter.

I find it interesting how subtly different the tipping customs are, at least in the US. One tips the same way at a chain restaurant as in a high-scale restaurant, yet you never see tip jars at McDonnalds or Burger King but you might at an ice cream parlor or a coffee shop. You'll tip a pizza delivery driver, but not always a bouquet deliverer or a UPS worker.

I can imagine these little nuances must drive foreigners nuts.

It did when I was there for work trips. Mind you, I had a couple of co-workers there who delighted in trying to humiliate me as a sort of hazing ritual.

I've been told (by someone a little more reliable) that a good rule of thumb is that if you have to unwrap your food, you don't need to tip. Next time I'm in the US and I go to a seafood restaurant and order the lobster, I'll let you know if it's correct...

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

From what I understand, if a tipped employee making less than minimum wage earns less than enough tips to effectively keep that employee under minimum wage, the restaurant is legally obligated to pay the difference.

I find it interesting how subtly different the tipping customs are, at least in the US. One tips the same way at a chain restaurant as in a high-scale restaurant, yet you never see tip jars at McDonnalds or Burger King but you might at an ice cream parlor or a coffee shop. You'll tip a pizza delivery driver, but not always a bouquet deliverer or a UPS worker.

I can imagine these little nuances must drive foreigners nuts.

On the first point: Yes, that is the law. However, many employers are known to flout it with minimum repercussion. I've heard stories of tipped servers who get fired when their tips fall too low (i.e. they aren't doing their job well) and the restaurant has to make up the difference).

On the second point: Outside of restaurants, very few major corporations ALLOW their employees to be tipped or keep a tip jar around. That's why you usually won't see them at Burger King or won't see people tipping a UPS driver.

Smaller, independent companies can do whatever they want, hence the tip jars at the coffee shop, florist, etc. Those businesses are far more likely to be locally owned and operated.

[gremcint]

I haven't read the article but up here all the debit and credit machines in such places have an option to add a tip to your bill or if delivered you can write it on the receipt and sign it, why do they need something special?

[Andara Bledin]

This isn't about places that have tipping standard, but places like coffee, sub, yogurt, etc, shops where the people make at least minimum wage and they are, for the most part, putting your order together not much more strenuously than your local fast food joint.

I have no issues with a standard tip jar, as there will always be people who want to tip so you might as well give them a place to put it. But as was mentioned in one comment, about 1/4-1/3 of the "tip" is going to go straight to fees, and probably come out of the store's profits, with the full amount going to the employees.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

What a joke. Tip jars are at so many freaking places that they don't belong. I've heard of tip jars at grocery stores, at gas stations. The only people I'll tip are wait staff, bartenders, delivery people, and my masseuse. Making my hot chocolate isn't getting someone a tip. Tips are for people who do an exceptional job, not just for doing your job.

[Andara Bledin]

I have left tips at my favorite Subway, but only because the staff was reliably awesome every time we went in.

^-.-^