Anyone ever tip at Sonic?

[bcla]

Sonics came to my area (Southern NJ) about 6 or 7 years ago. About half closed within a few years. There were long lines of cars waiting to get into one when it opened, but it failed after about a year.

The ones that opened around Northern California have stayed open. I do remember one that closed (Roseville, CA) but I think it was meant to be temporary while they built a permanent one. That one was very different, with no carhops. It was built in a gas station, and had a drive thru and a seating area. It's the only Sonic I've ever been to where ordering was face to face at a counter and not through an intercom (save the drive thru).

I guess the weirdest was on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. They had stalls, but we went indoors. Each table had a phone handset, and orders were taken by picking up the handset and talking to the employee.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We have one Sonic in Massachusetts, and like Julie's Hairct, it was so busy at first they had major traffic control issues. Now, not so much. Okay, not at all

 

[Nancyg56]

I go to McD's for the fries once or twice a month.

Oh my goodness! The Fries! I take care of two little ones and for a trreatment after school I take them there once in a while. IF I am strong willed and pass on something, my two little Cuties share their fries with me! hey make surer they do nto wait to greater home to eat....fries need to be eaten immediately!!! it's a law!

 

[Ephany]

I didn't use to tip, I assumed carhops were paid minimum wage. A young lady at work told me last year that at Sonic here, south GA, carhops are paid $5ish an hr. After that, I've always made sure to tip the carhops a buck or two. They always seem so happy when I offer. Conversely, I eat there less often because I won't stop now unless I have cash on hand.

 

[Nancyg56]

I didn't use to tip, I assumed carhops were paid minimum wage. A young lady at work told me last year that at Sonic here, south GA, carhops are paid $5ish an hr. After that, I've always made sure to tip the carhops a buck or two. They always seem so happy when I offer. Conversely, I eat there less often because I won't stop now unless I have cash on hand.

Servers are paid minimum wage. Any employee is paid minimum wage. The base pay may be less than state or federal minimum, but the employer must have a tip makeup system in place to bring the employee up if tips do not do so. It's the law.

 

[Katy Belle]

I live in Oklahoma. Sonic is very popular. Our town is 35,000 and we have 2 Sonics, and another 3 miles north in a tiny town. They are busy. I usually give them $1, plus the change, more if we order a lot. Our carhops hustle, run from store to car. They always introduce themselves and are friendly. Good service, usually.

 

[Miskey]

I usually only get a drink and my total is around $1.80. I will give $3 and say, keep the change. The way I look at it, that $1.20 isn't going to make any difference to me, but if 10 people a day give that carhop a little something extra, it could add up to something that could make a difference for them. I just consider it good karma

 

[DisneyHardin]

I had Sonic for lunch today and I swiped my debit card in the machine at the stall - it didn't give me an option to add a tip.

 

[dreamin_disney]

Nope. As mentioned above, delivering a bag to my car isn't tip-worthy IMHO.

Last time we went there the food was so lousy we have no desire to go back. Just their stupid t.v. commercials are enough to keep me away.

I kinda feel the same way unless it was a large order and they had to go back and forth and it hot weather. We usually just go through drive thru. We don't have one close by but maybe 1-2 times a year. Starbucks drives me crazy even going through the drive thru if I use my starbucks app a tip window pops up saying I can tip up to a certain time. I just feel fastfood is make the food and serve it not like a restaurant where they feel your drinks and bring extras as needed.

 

[RedAngie]

Sonics came to my area (Southern NJ) about 6 or 7 years ago. About half closed within a few years. There were long lines of cars waiting to get into one when it opened, but it failed after about a year.

One of the two Sonics in my area closed after about two years. The other is open, but there rarely seems to be more than two or three cars there (with space for maybe 25).

I rarely see anybody at KFC ever. I don't know how it stays open.

 

[ols386]

I tip the car hops, but not drive through.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

I will tip if the carhop brings the food to my car, and if I have cash to pay the tip. We don't carry as much cash with us any longer, so sometimes we can't tip because we put it on a card instead. But I do try to tip there.

 

[Vijoge]

We have one Sonic in Massachusetts, and like Julie's Hairct, it was so busy at first they had major traffic control issues. Now, not so much. Okay, not at all

They opened a Sonic about 2 miles from us here in Illinois. The first month you couldn't get near the place. Now I very seldom see even one or two cars there.

 

[Vijoge]

I usually only get a drink and my total is around $1.80. I will give $3 and say, keep the change. The way I look at it, that $1.20 isn't going to make any difference to me, but if 10 people a day give that carhop a little something extra, it could add up to something that could make a difference for them. I just consider it good karma

I would always tip a carhop. But I don't tip when ordering at a drive thru window.

 

[luvsJack]

Servers are paid minimum wage. Any employee is paid minimum wage. The base pay may be less than state or federal minimum, but the employer must have a tip makeup system in place to bring the employee up if tips do not do so. It's the law.

Its the law but that doesn't mean its done. Too many ways around it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Its the law but that doesn't mean its done. Too many ways around it.

True but it's up to the employee to be aware of their state's law regarding their wages. If their employer is not paying them what they should then the proper authority would then need to be notified (like the state's Department of Labor for example) if the employer doesn't correct their mistake.

I know with my last company I worked at just a month after I was hired they were handing out checks to people. They had been sued by the Department of Labor as they weren't paying people for the time they had been working. It used to be that you came in started your computer up, which could take a bit of time back then, and then you clocked in. The DOL said workers should have been paid for the time they were starting up their computers. When I started on my time sheet if I stayed 4 mins late I didn't get paid for that extra 4 minutes but if I stayed 8 minutes late then I got paid for 15 minutes worth of time. The time frame for the lawsuit covered nearly 10 years worth...it was kinda a guesstimate really on your paycheck as far as the back payment and they had to pay interest.

So since that lawsuit had been settled the company as a whole went to a pay by the minute for all hourly workers. This meant if you were a minute late to work you were docked a minute's worth of pay, if you were a minute late from lunch you were docked a minute's worth of pay. Conversely though if you stayed a minute past 40 hours you were paid time and a half for that minute.

 

[Nancyg56]

Its the law but that doesn't mean its done. Too many ways around it.

If an employee's not paid the minimum wage that person needs to report it to the States Attorney General. Believe me, it is not pretty if that happens. One of my company's has an investigation going in now and they mean business!

 

[ten6mom]

It has never occurred to me to tip there. Agree that I usually pay with a credit card at the kiosk and never carry cash... but it never occurred to me regardless.

 

[luvsJack]

If an employee's not paid the minimum wage that person needs to report it to the States Attorney General. Believe me, it is not pretty if that happens. One of my company's has an investigation going in now and they mean business!

I am sure they do. I can't say for now, haven't done it for years, but the problem when I waited tables was there was no consistency in the way tips were reported by the employer.

Some had the employee report tips by shift. You wrote your tips down on your time card when you clocked out. Those did make up the difference. They didn't average anything.

Some reported it by the week. So as long as it averaged out over the week, you were good even if there days you did not make minimum wage.

Some never asked about tips. I assume they reported it for us. The problem with this was that some made over minimum wage some didn't. I worked the lunch shift and worked meetings and banquets that came in. So I made well above minimum. The girls that worked the dinner shift and no baquets, did not make much in tips. There was a huge turn over for that shift. I eventually just went to a place that paid min. plus tips.

 

[smiths02]

I knew someone who worked at Sonic's several years ago (in GA)...she was paid minimum wage.

If I pay with a credit card at mine, there is no place to leave a tip, so I just have to hope I have some cash.

ETA: I should add that I RARELY go. They have the SLOWEST service. The one close to us actually closed down, and I thought it was because service was so bad. They reopened it a few years later. I tried it again, still extremely slow.