Another tipping discussion

[Viktri]

I tip whenever I receive service and I tend to tip when I'm solo at 15-20% whereas when I'm with friends it's 10%.
I do the same thing with coins & tip jars - I don't like carrying coins.

 

[DNW]

For me, the tip jar is a place to deposit my coins. I also have carrying coins in my pocket. I find the actual tipping absurd. Unless I receive some above and beyond service, I'm not putting anything extra in the tip jar.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Renault78law

I tend to throw spare change into tip jars, but keep it if there is no tip jars. I do the same thing as you, and keep a jar in my house for spare change. Even though I take out all the quarters (keep those in my car for meters), a full jar of change yields a surprising amount. My fiancee laughed, estimating less than $10. It came out to $65, and that's after coinstar's cut.

If you go to Coinstar's website you can find a list of their newer machines where you can get a gift card/code for Amazon, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. without the exorbitant cut they take for in-store credit (which I believe is actually greater than the 8% Socal cites). That is, I dump $43.88 in change into the machine and get a gift code usable for $43.88 at Amazon (or wherever). Since I'm a regular Amazon shopper, I prefer this to letting Coinstar keep a big chunk so I can get in-store credit.

Renault, the CVS on the north side of PICO a few blocks east of La Cienega has one of these machines. I'm sure there are others around, but I know there's one there.

To the original question, I'm probably somewhere between Piobaire and Metro. In a coffee-type place where I regularly get unsually helpful, pleasant service I'll generally dump loose change into the jar. Otherwise I'll throw it into a container I keep in my car to accumulate for my Coinstar runs.

 

[SoCal2NYC]

It must be different in LA then; but, the 2 that I've used in LA were only 8%.

 

[Lucky Strike]

Originally Posted by MetroStyles

It is a stupid concept but I really hate change.
Spoken like a true self-hating conservative

 

[SamIam33]

No I only tip at places where they actually have to do some kind of work to serve you... starbucks doesn't count-- they already overcharge

 

[SoCal2NYC]

Let's switch to Swedish rounding and do away with pennies.

 

[Ludeykrus]

If I get service (restaurant, help hauling out merchendise, hairstyling, etc), I tip. Tip jars get ignored by me. As said above, it's basically "acceptable" panhandling. I find the tip jars in a Starbucks to be extremely tacky.

 

[FreakyStyley]

It seems the majority don't tip at Starbucks and the like (Places where you go up and place an order). How does everyone feel about tipping at bars where they serve alcoholic beverages? I've always heard $1 is the standard for drinks. ???

 

[Augusto86]

Originally Posted by FreakyStyley

It seems the majority don't tip at Starbucks and the like (Places where you go up and place an order). How does everyone feel about tipping at bars where they serve alcoholic beverages? I've always heard $1 is the standard for drinks. ???

$1 is standard for not being ignored all night in favor of girls with their **** on the bar and the boyfriends waving $20s to feel good.

As a current/former Starbuck's coffee-wrangler - the tip jars are ridiculous. We do only slightly more than the guy behind the counter at a bagel joint or deli counter. But out of either laziness, guilt, generosity, or indifference, people leave their change there, and it adds up to around $1.50-$2.00/hour for me. We split them amongst the staff according to hours worked, and it pays for transportation to and from work.

FWIW, I often let people take a quarter or something so they can get exact change, or sometimes I let parents buy their kids a cookie or something with it. Reciprocity...

 

[Tom R]

As a bartender and server who makes minimum wage in the US, I rely on tips for my income. In the UK and other places where tipping is "laughable," I'm sure the servers are better paid. But the way the industry works in the US makes gratuity necessary for the servers to earn a living.

Even at Starbucks, where their hourly wage is better than mine, I throw in a dollar and give them a smile, because I know they deal with ****** customers constantly and I know that one nice customer can make your whole day.

 

[Kei-bon]

the tip jar that really puzzles me is the one in my local SELF-SERVE fro-yo.

 

[PolePosition]

I'm personally always torn about tipping.

1) Why should I be guilted into paying an extra 15-20% for something I am ALREADY paying for?
2) Why don't service workers get paid MORE instead of the establishment owners being cheap pricks and paying them nothing so that they can keep all the profit
3) Why should I tip somebody for poor service just because "they are not making enough from their wage"
4) Why are tips an expectation instead of a reward?
5) Why does tipping scale with price of service rendered? Its not like the service I get for a $20 meal is better than a $5 meal

Service industry personnel should demand better wages instead of trying to squeeze every penny out of the patron. Look, if I'm already paying your establishment for a haircut, food, etc., and already paying sales tax to the govt, why are you forcing my hand to give the tip tax too?

 

[why]

Originally Posted by PolePosition

Service industry personnel should demand better wages instead of trying to squeeze every penny out of the patron.

Restaurants often have very small margins and dead periods can be the end of them. Payroll is a big cost that's tossed onto the consumer instead of added into every cost pro rata.

 

[PolePosition]

Originally Posted by why

Restaurants often have very small margins and dead periods can be the end of them. Payroll is a big cost that's tossed onto the consumer instead of added into every cost pro rata.

That may be true in some cases, but not all. My family has run a restaurant for 20 years. Paying all workers a real salary has never been a problem (and it is just a small restaurant at that). Restaurant friends of ours have the same philosophy.

Also consider other countries where there is even less disposable income than that of the citizens of the US. Many do not tip and seem to make it.

There are ways to make it work. Tradition has just made people too lazy to find solutions.