WSJ: Tipping for Self Checkout
WSJ: Tipping for Self Checkout
People seem to be baffled and rankled by the simplest things.
Prompts to leave 20% at self-checkout machines at airports, stadiums, cookie shops and cafes across the country are rankling consumers already inundated by the proliferation of tip screens. Business owners say the automated cues can significantly increase gratuities and boost staff pay. But the unmanned prompts are leading more customers to question what, exactly, the tips are for.
It’s all pretty simple. Business owners ask for more money because some people give it to them.
Tipping researchers and labor advocates say so-called tip creep is a way for employers to put the onus for employee pay onto consumers, rather than raising wages themselves. Companies say tips are an optional thanks for a job well done.
Tips are optional and are for a job well done. If nobody is doing anything, why tip?
“Just the prompt in general is a bit of emotional blackmail,” says the 26-year-old, who works in public relations in New York City. He skipped the tip.
See how dramatic 26 year-olds are? Emotional blackmail is when a counselor asks a parent if they’d prefer that their child takes puberty blockers or commits suicide.
Emily Clulee and Gracie Sheppard, 20-year-old college students, accepted the suggestion to spend extra on their cookies, which cost about $5 each. Their only interactions with employees, they say, was when they were told to step to the side to wait, and then received their order.
Ms. Sheppard, who works as a server at a restaurant to help pay for college, says she understands the importance of tipping, and would have felt guilty not leaving anything. “But when no one even helps us, I feel like there shouldn’t even be the option to tip,” she says.
These college kids feel are salty because they feel manipulated, and think they shouldn’t be put in that situation. Just don’t tip. It isn’t really that hard.
I’m not against tipping. When I go to a Chinese buffet, I tip the person bringing me a drink. I tip the kid at Home Depot who helps load my truck with bags of mulch. Those people actually do things for me.
I never contribute to the “Give a dollar” requests at the grocery store check-out. What normal person gives a dollar just because someone asks? If it’s a legit charity, I will find it and donate.