Tipping is an old American debate. How much do you pay and when? Is it a choice or an obligation? Overall, technology has at least made it easier over the years. Smartphones made it very easy for friends to pull out a calculator to calculate the tip and split the bill. And now, checkout screens everywhere, from brick-and-mortar stores to delivery apps, have added buttons designed to make it easier for you to tip.
That’s convenient, until it’s not. According to a new Pew Research Center reportThe tipping culture in the United States has undergone a change in recent years. Seventy-two percent of Americans say tipping is expected in more places than five years ago. Not all of that is technology-related, but it’s hard to deny. technology%20has%20played%20a%20large%20role%20in%20changing%20the%20rules%20around%20tipping.%20Touch%20screens%20with%20tip%20prompts%20are%20increasingly%20replacing%20old%2Dfashioned%20tip%20jars%2C%20which%20were%20easier%20to%20slip%20past%20and%20ignore.%20And%20on%20a%20screen%2C%20you%20have%20to%20actively%20reject%20the%20request.%C2%A0″>The role that checkout screens play in tip inflation.. Even the Pew Research report notes that the practice of tipping “is undergoing significant structural and technological changes,” including “the expansion of technology/personaltech/tipping-defaults-digital-payments.html”>digital payment platforms and devices that encourage tipping.”
On days when I go to the office, I occasionally treat myself to a latte at a local coffee shop. It’s all good, until you’re paying. Part of me dies at the fact that a small latte now costs about $9 in Manhattan. Anxiety creeps in when, after tapping my card against the terminal, it asks me how much I want to tip: 20 percent, 25 percent, and a larger number that I’ve blocked from my memory. There is an option to No tip or to enter a custom tip, but they are smaller and pressing those buttons fills me with anxiety about being a bad person.
More recently, a finance bro behind me sighed that I was taking too long to figure out the custom tipping interface. I ended up hitting the 25 percent button in a social anxiety-induced panic. Or $11.25. At that price, I regretted the latte and, in my head, I heard the specter of Suze Orman haranguing me for taking my age-old gift.
self-service kiosks From time to time ask me if I want to tip too. The audacity to even ask is astonishing. And even if most people choose “no tip” in that scenario, muscle memory and social programming can mean that someone accidentally tips.
What percentage of these tip suggestions actually go to the people you intended to tip?
Screens make all this easier in part because they eliminate the math. You simply press a button that automatically adds a percentage or sometimes a dollar amount. It’s all built into the regular checkout flow and there’s no need to dig into your wallet to add things to the tip jar. The thought, whether about how much you can pay or how it affects your total, is destined to disappear. It’s similar to online or in-app purchases – just press the button and continue.
It’s common knowledge that service workers generally prefer direct tips, whether delivered or sent via Venmo. But where does that fit in now that cashless payment options and tip-to-pay prompts are more common? It is very easy for a company to add these payment screens to their systems. and to set the lowest “easy” option at a price that may be higher than you want to offer. They also often make it difficult for you to choose an alternative to the pre-established options. On these screens, the personalized or “no tip” options are smaller or lower on the menu. And although no one is forcing If you are asked to do anything, there is gentle persuasion that doesn’t always seem right. With DoorDash, if you don’t pre-Tip, you will now receive a warning that your meal may be delayed. This makes sense if you consider tipping to be an obligation and not a choice, but to those who see tips as a reward for good service, they can also seem like extortion.
Whenever possible, I still try to tip in cash. At my local ice cream shop, last summer he warmed my heart by putting my dollar into a jar labeled “Help me finance my study abroad in Italy.” It felt so much better than a digital message.