Can we talk about TIPFLATION for a minute?

[mikehn]

I've never seen a credit card payment device that did not include an option to leave no tip. All the ones I've seen included an option for custom tip and no tip.

However, there is one disturbing trend that has happened to me a few times recently. The credit card charge that came through from a couple bars that Ive visited got bumped up by a dollar. Not a huge deal to me at the moment. Not worth my time disputing it. But that is a trend that has been going around lately.

 

[shh]

Yes there are states in the U.S. that have a sub-minimum wage for people working in tipped positions

Since we're on a DIS board, just pointing out Florida is one of them: servers only earn around $8/hr in a high COL state- and I believe employers are allowed to subtract tips from their hourly wage.

I'm a generous tipper in traditional scenarios, but agree it's utter madness to tip for counter service, self serve kiosks or other retail-style transactions and refuse to do so.

 

[ronandannette]

Yeah, I belong to a Civic Group that meets every other month for lunch. Their banquet policy was 15% tip automatically added to the tab. Our group usually has 50 to 80 attendees and our Treasurer more than once had to have the restaurant recalculate the tip based on the tab BEFORE tax. I had to cover for him one lunch, and the tab came to $1,500, so sales tax added $120, and if you based the tip with that added in, it added $18 to the tip.
That restaurant closed......not for that reason, the owners retired.........and the current restaurant we use charges a flat fee per person, no tip, because it is a buffet and the owner sets it up. Of course nothing is perfect, he is slow is cashing our checks.........he still hasn't cashed the $1,700 check from our April meeting!

Kind of a spin-off question here: When a service charge is automatically added for groups, which is becoming quite common in many restaurants for parties of 6 or more, do any of you feel the need to tip extra? I’ve noticed, in these scenarios, when the payment machine is presented, it ALWAYS still pops up the auto-tip screen with the now-standard 18/25/30% options. I’ve never bothered to check if the tip is being calculated on the mandatory service charge or not.

Tip envelopes are also still present in cabins on some cruise lines, even though there are daily mandatory gratuities charged to your account.

 

[Smugpugmug]

The tipping situation has definitely gotten out of control. It makes me wish I was still living + traveling in Europe where absolutely no one tipped.

 

[tvguy]

Kind of a spin-off question here: When a service charge is automatically added for groups, which is becoming quite common in many restaurants for parties of 6 or more, do any of you feel the need to tip extra? I’ve noticed, in these scenarios, when the payment machine is presented, it ALWAYS still pops up the auto-tip screen with the now-standard 18/25/30% options. I’ve never bothered to check if the tip is being calculated on the mandatory service charge or not.

Tip envelopes are also still present in cabins on some cruise lines, even though there are daily mandatory gratuities charged to your account.

In my case, I never saw the payment machine. They bring you the bill, you can add an additional tip, then the wait staff finalizes the bill in their system and brings back the final receipt. That would not be my clubs normal process, we would pay by check.
Last cruise I went on was in October 2019 on Celebrity and while they did not have tip envelopes in the staterooms, they had stacks of them at Guest Services for those who wanted to tip above the automatic gratuities. Not sure I would call them mandatory because you can have them removed.

 

[tvguy]

Since we're on a DIS board, just pointing out Florida is one of them: servers only earn around $8/hr in a high COL state- and I believe employers are allowed to subtract tips from their hourly wage.

I'm a generous tipper in traditional scenarios, but agree it's utter madness to tip for counter service, self serve kiosks or other retail-style transactions and refuse to do so.

LOL. Sorry, I think of Disneyland in California not WDW!

And according to Google workers in tipped positions in Florida have to be paid $11 an hour, HOWEVER the employer can subtract NO MORE THAN $3.02 an hour BUT ONLY if the server made at least $3.02 an hour in tips.

 

[gmi3804]

I was at crumble cookie a couple of months ago, buying a gift card.

I did the entire transaction myself at this kiosk / table thing -- interacting with nobody in the store....and the machine asked if I wanted to tip?? Who the &@&#% was I tipping...myself?!?

100% agree that especially since Covid tipping has gotten over the top nuts.

Do you realize that's something that pops up automatically?

 

[snikki]

I’ve been noticing a lot of automatic tips now and servers passing it quickly or not mentioning it at all.

We were at a local bar and I gave my card to run a tab. When we decided to leave I was chatting with a friend and the bartender went over the bill on a small electronic device with my husband even though the card was mine and I started the tab. Yes we were together but what if we weren’t married and just friends or on a date? She could’ve motioned for my attention. I found it weird but ok. I walk over as she’s going over it and she exits the screen really fast and then gives me the receipt to sign. I left a tip and signed.

The next day someone in our group mentioned that they had automatic tips and if you weren’t looking at the small electronic device very carefully you would miss it. So I missed it. I felt the bartender figured the guy wouldn’t be as attentive and not notice but I would’ve noticed and not double tipped.

I’ve had this at other places but caught it prior to signing the receipt but I feel it’s a bit shady not to mention.

 

[DLgal]

So, the deal with these tablets is that there IS a way to disable the tipping feature, but it's kind of annoying and the business owners have found that they make a fair amount of extra money because people decide to tip. Every single one has a "no tip" option, but sometimes it's small and hard to see. That's by design, obviously.

There is no expectation of a tip at a place that is self serve or counter serve. If you choose to leave a tip, that's on you, but don't think the employees are expecting them. They probably don't even see a penny of it. The business owner just keeps it.

If you don't want to tip, don't.

 

[Lumpy1106]

There's nothing wrong with 15%. Inflation has hit everything, so tips are based on higher prices already.

Well, and speaking of - one of the main reasons for the inflation in prices is minimum wage has gone up - WAY up. Minimum wage will be $15.50/hr by the end of the year in CA. There is a push to have that increase to $25/hr by 2028 when the Olympics will be in So Cal. It is tempting to take that into account when considering a tip, but we really shouldn't be put in that position. Tips should be in excess of ordinary compensation. Unfortunately when you bring up tipflation, the counter-argument always reverts back to whether or not the employees are adequately compensated.

 

[Lumpy1106]

To bring this back to Disney trips a bit more - how about the hotel when they don't even enter your room? Sure they made up the room before you got there and they are going to clean up when you leave - but can you imagine a scenario where they didn't? Would you ever check into a room that had an unmade bed, full trash cans and dirty towels? It doesn't seem like you should be tipping for that. If they came in, replaced towels, made the bed and emptied the trash cans every day then OK.

 

[snikki]

To bring this back to Disney trips a bit more - how about the hotel when they don't even enter your room? Sure they made up the room before you got there and they are going to clean up when you leave - but can you imagine a scenario where they didn't? Would you ever check into a room that had an unmade bed, full trash cans and dirty towels? It doesn't seem like you should be tipping for that. If they came in, replaced towels, made the bed and emptied the trash cans every day then OK.

During a 9 night stay I had mousekeeping come in twice. They left new towels and toilet paper once. I tipped when we checked out. I did not tip daily like I usually do.

I think tipping is out of control at this point.

 

[luv2cheer92]

So, the deal with these tablets is that there IS a way to disable the tipping feature, but it's kind of annoying and the business owners have found that they make a fair amount of extra money because people decide to tip. Every single one has a "no tip" option, but sometimes it's small and hard to see. That's by design, obviously.

There is no expectation of a tip at a place that is self serve or counter serve. If you choose to leave a tip, that's on you, but don't think the employees are expecting them. They probably don't even see a penny of it. The business owner just keeps it.

If you don't want to tip, don't.

This. I don't understand why people seem so mad about it. Doesn't bother me at all. It's a feature of the credit card system, and as you said, not the easiest to disable. If there's a place where I don't feel a tip is necessary, I don't tip. Simple as that. Nothing to get worked up over.

 

[gmi3804]

I can't find a photo now, but I recently saw a vending machine with a tip option!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This. I don't understand why people seem so mad about it. Doesn't bother me at all. It's a feature of the credit card system, and as you said, not the easiest to disable. If there's a place where I don't feel a tip is necessary, I don't tip. Simple as that. Nothing to get worked up over.

That's because you need to look at collective practices. It's not hard to find news articles from this year, last year, etc about how the ever growing tip amount and places you find tipping is affecting people. It's part of our social contract and thus evokes certain things. Most people explain a discomfort and growing expectations.

Any one of us may selectively choose to not tip or to tip a lower amount than what is being presented on the screen, it doesn't mean that collectively there is a trend going on. After all that's how tipping cultures begin, you want to say no, you want to rebel, but there's a social contract component at play. It's a lot like how people feel uncomfortable when a machine is held out by an employee as we view our tipping habits as personal because like it or not tipping culture here is often denoting of upstanding of a citizen we are, bad tippers, people who don't even tip at all, etc will tend to be frowned up. When we were in Puerto Rico they don't take your card away from you, we had to switch gears into not thinking "will the server see exactly how much we tip and think something" because the handheld machines are what they do.

Absolutely you can say no but it's very much part of our culture and you know this as well given that presumably you tip in places that are traditionally tipped, you're under nor legal obligation to tip are you? But you tip none the less because that's what the culture has evolved to agree is right. People are trying to balk at what the growing trend is but it's also not that simple either.

 

[cdh]

This. I don't understand why people seem so mad about it. Doesn't bother me at all. It's a feature of the credit card system, and as you said, not the easiest to disable. If there's a place where I don't feel a tip is necessary, I don't tip. Simple as that. Nothing to get worked up over.

I don’t get worked up about it but it does bother me. It bothers me because I don’t want a cashier (or anyone else who gets tips) to feel like my lack of tipping has anything to do with the service they provided. Mainly I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings so I’m annoyed that the tipping culture has put customers in this position. We always tip well at restaurants, etc but I’m not going to tip a cashier. It’s awkward.

Is anyone shocked at YouTube channels with all of these patrons? I like some channels and I’ll watch the ads and watch their videos to the end but I won’t commit to a monthly fee.

It may be a product of my age, I’m 46, but I’m stunned at how much money people throw away these days.

 

[cdh]

Tipping is out of control.…it reminds me of this scene in Dumb and Dumber.

 

[DLgal]

To bring this back to Disney trips a bit more - how about the hotel when they don't even enter your room? Sure they made up the room before you got there and they are going to clean up when you leave - but can you imagine a scenario where they didn't? Would you ever check into a room that had an unmade bed, full trash cans and dirty towels? It doesn't seem like you should be tipping for that. If they came in, replaced towels, made the bed and emptied the trash cans every day then OK.

They are back to daily housekeeping at Disney resorts.

 

[DLgal]

I don’t get worked up about it but it does bother me. It bothers me because I don’t want a cashier (or anyone else who gets tips) to feel like my lack of tipping has anything to do with the service they provided. Mainly I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings so I’m annoyed that the tipping culture has put customers in this position. We always tip well at restaurants, etc but I’m not going to tip a cashier. It’s awkward.

Is anyone shocked at YouTube channels with all of these patrons? I like some channels and I’ll watch the ads and watch their videos to the end but I won’t commit to a monthly fee.

It may be a product of my age, I’m 46, but I’m stunned at how much money people throw away these days.

The cashiers usually don't know if you tip or not. And they don't care. Trust me.

 

[cdh]

The cashiers usually don't know if you tip or not. And they don't care. Trust me.

Good. I would feel guilty if I thought my lack of tipping would make them feel bad. It’s nothing personal. I just don’t plan to start tipping professions that haven‘t historically been tipped.