Meanwhile, if people were willing to give the person delivering food to their home a 30% tip for service, why not ask if they’d like to tip when they come to pick up? Restaurants started doing that more often — and that practice hasn’t ebbed.
April 1st article, but not a fools day write up. I think restaurants who are now putting a up to 25% tip suggestion for me when I come in to pick up my take out order are getting out of hand.
I am seeing 15-20-25% now at the three places I frequent every month, they have the new fancy POS systems with the tablet screens. Truthfully if I am driving to pick up my own order, I should not be even presented with a tip screen.
Only my local Chinese food place doesn’t have this crap in place, because they are cash only.
During the height of the pandemic I did add 15% because most of the restaurants that were open , were take out only, and literally had the cooks in the back and the host/hostess at the front handling pick up orders. I figured that tip was going to the person who was my point of contact and risking their heath coming in contact with dozens of folks, to hand me food.
I personally only ever tipped when picking up take-out a couple of times during the early pandemic to help businesses. But yeah, I’m surprised to see the practice take off.
There’s a geeky looking guy with huge glasses that I’ve talked to for years who works at the Subway near my house. He recently told me that he had gotten promoted over the years to manager, but now was just a worker again, who just helped out with certain hours at the Subway, and he earned way more now than ever did before, even as a manager. How come I asked? He shrugged his shoulders and said because since the pandemic people inexplicably started tipping so much. With the tip added, he earns more now than ever did, and he doesn’t really understand how or why, but he’ll take it.
I said, well, in case you’re telling me this story to get me to tip you, I just want you to know, I’m not going to tip you.
Yeah, this new tipping is bullshit. I refuse to do it. The only time Ill tip is for the traditional services, like when you sit down and someone takes your order or for hair cuts and stuff like that.
Now its like every tiny thing you do is asking for a tip. I am wondering when the grocery stores will get in on it. While I do not really know the cause, I assume its because business do not want to pay their employees enough and will supplement their wages with tips.
Depends. If it’s a place I go to a lot, I’ll tip a little just to hope for continued good service. At Starbucks, I know it takes a little extra time to make the cold foam, so I’ll throw in an extra buck. Doesn’t make any difference to me, and maybe they get a little extra cash.
That said, if I’m just getting a brewed coffee or fountain soda - then no. Needs to be a little extra effort.
Definitely not tipping for take out. During the pandemic, sure, out of a sense of pity. But not going to normalize that one.
I’m fine with standard tipping in a sit down restaurant with a server. But tipping creeping into every facet of life is ridiculous. Especially where it is strictly habitual, not scaled based on service.
What I’ve learned is that there is a certain person that tip shames for anything less than a full tip. And outside of a restaurant, that person is mostly imaginary, or certainly not the norm - eg only around one in six Uber rides has any tip whatsoever.
I almost always tip for take-out, especially if it is a local place.
Most take out places I just pay for online, so there is no prompt for me to tip them, or if there is I can do it online, I usually toss 3-5 bucks in.
I can afford it, and the people in the restaurants work hard. But, this is why I am more likely to tip a local place, because that tip money is probably not going to get gobbled up by some corporate tip system.
I don’t know, it does always seem weird to me though, tipping for a pick up. I mean, I did 100% of the “service” in this food transaction. But, also, I guess the people cooking stuff in the back could use the tip? It is definitely a more recent thing though.
There’s a local ice cream shop we really like where I tip because we want them to do well, and because some part of my brain short circuits when I realize going out for ice cream is already really expensive compared to just buying even the fanciest brands at the grocery store, so I mentally write the whole thing off as a ridiculous luxury with play money anyway, so why not add a tip? Sometimes we’re eating it there, sometimes we’re grabbing ice cream sandwiches to take home, I tip the same regardless.
There are a few other less common situations where the same logic (or lack of logic) kicks in from time to time, but generally I agree with not tipping for take out.
I also don’t really know where bars/tap rooms/breweries fit in this, which isn’t take out but illustrates more of my own confusion and inconsistency about this. Is someone just pouring me a beer I asked for at the counter and then I’m going back to my table? Doesn’t make sense to tip, at that point I might as well be ordering a Coke at McDonald’s. Is someone talking me through some recommendations and giving me samples of a couple different beers before I pick one? Okay, that person is actually providing something more than hands to pull the tap and hold a glass, that seems worth a dollar. Am I at an actual bar having a cocktail made? Sure, you always tip a bartender. But those lines are always so fuzzy in the moment.
If you can afford to, and the service wasn’t literally atrocious, and you’re in America, you always tip. Pickup, delivery, it doesn’t matter. The money people work for in these places are not living wages, and their jobs are almost always hellish. If you’re a humanitarian in the slightest, and you have the money to do so, you tip. Especially after COVID.
Some years ago I read a tipping guide (I no longer recall where) that suggested something like a $2 tip per bag on pick up orders. I’ve generally followed that guideline, though with inflation and the pandemic I’ve upped it to $3 per bag. Considering the time and effort required to bundle an order versus waiting a table that seems fair to me. Tipping something makes sense, since this is still wait staff that still aren’t being paid a living wage, but paying 20% on an order I’m picking up isn’t reflective of the part of the work I’m doing.
On delivery orders I tend to tip lavishly, because much more time and effort are involved (especially for our 3rd floor walk-up) though I also complain fiercely when they screw something up.
My iron-clad rule is “if I’m standing at a counter or sitting in my car when I place my order: no tip.”
I worked as a server for several decades. I tip well, when I tip. But I have found myself avoiding the sit-down dining experience where ever possible these days. Not only have prices reached unreasonable (to me, anyways) levels, but adding 15-20% on top of the bill now really impacts the monthly budget. And frankly, I can’t recall when the last time was I got anything I would consider “Service” in a restaurant. Servers these days seem disinterested, ill-trained and inattentive.
I figure if their jobs are as awful as I’ve been told, it’s best not to patronize the restaurant at all rather than try to make up for my presence with a few extra dollars. There are a few places where I know people are treated well and I try to focus my spending there. There’s one particular coffee shop I’d happy pay a membership fee to keep going if they asked, assuming the money would help keep wages sustainable.
I visit Mexico annually, and do tip for nearly everything there - but this often amounts to loose change. Mexican service tends to be significantly friendlier than your average US service, too.
That’s quite a bit different than 20% on a family-sized food order in a US city, that I ordered via an online platform, and managed transport and pickup myself.
If we’re at a sit-down restaurant I’ll tip 20-25% (about double the local standard) but for things like washing the windshield at the pump or loading groceries into our car I’ll give whatever change I have on me at the moment.
