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Starbucks has rolled out a new tipping system and customers are freaking out
Fortune ^ | 12/6/22

Posted on 12/06/2022 5:38:37 AM PST by EBH

Tipping at restaurants and coffee shops can be tricky business. Technically, it isn’t mandatory, but it’s increasingly looked down upon if you skip it altogether. That’s exactly the pickle customers are finding themselves in with the new tipping system at Starbucks.

The world-famous coffee chain announced the initiative in May as a way for customers to “recognize their favorite baristas.” They began rolling it out in some stores in September, where customers paying with debit or credit cards can give the barista a $1, $2 or custom tip—prompting some strong feelings in the process.

A Reddit thread about the tipping system has racked up more than 100 comments.

“It works so well for in-store purchases but yeah having it in drive thru is so awkward I never know what to say,” one user wrote

One Twitter user wrote: “I went through the Starbucks Drive through and got one drink and they now start asking if you want to tip as soon as you pull your card out to pay while looking at you It’s so awkward…… just pay these people a better wage.”

Starting August 1, Starbucks increased the average pay for employees to nearly $17/hour in the U.S. Those hired before May 2 would receive either a 3% wage increase or $15/hour, whichever is higher, a spokesperson at Starbucks said.

Another Twitter user wrote: “I’m really not trying to be rude bc I know customer service jobs are hard work but now they want tips at the drive-thru at my Starbucks when you pay with a card… you’re literally just handing it to me.”

One Facebook user wrote: “People WILL call me cheap, but I rarely tip on to-go orders or grabbing a coffee…I do tip very well when I go to dinner, or use various services.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: starbucks
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Ok, so truth be told here, I own and operate a pet sitting business. I charge my clients the highest rate in our area for the services we provide. My team gets paid very well for the area. On average they can make between $18-$22 per hour without tips.

Clients routinely will leave them tips at nearly 75-100% of the pet sitting bill!! Not 10%-20%, but nearly the whole invoice amount.

They also do not complain when they do not get a tip. I make it very clear that their job is XYZ, but tips are earned for service beyond that. It might be sending a client cute video, it might be before/after pictures of a doggie catastrophe that was cleaned up, it might be action pictures of their normally fearful feline playing with a wand toy, it might be shoveling snow for the chihuahua to go potty, it might be noting the pet's birthday happens while they are gone and throwing a pet party that visit.

Tipping a barista at Starbucks making $17 an hour, when that money goes into a pool for everyone on staff? That's a no from me.

1 posted on 12/06/2022 5:38:37 AM PST by EBH
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To: EBH

But if you say no to the tip request they will spit in your coffee


2 posted on 12/06/2022 5:42:00 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare its ? And the ambassador to Ukraineelf)
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To: EBH

What is this “Starbuck’s” thingy?


3 posted on 12/06/2022 5:42:19 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is ████ █ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████.)
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To: EBH

The rest of the world thinks Americans are crazy for tipping. I agree. I would never tip these people for doing their job... often too slowly.


4 posted on 12/06/2022 5:42:41 AM PST by poinq
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To: EBH

Yet another for the list of reasons to NEVER patronize that overpriced leftwing joint.


5 posted on 12/06/2022 5:43:52 AM PST by tomkat
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To: Mr. K
But if you say no to the tip request they will spit in your coffee

Yeah. “Nice coffee I got here for ‘ya. Be a shame if anything was to happen to it.” Easy solution: Stop going to Starbucks.

6 posted on 12/06/2022 5:45:14 AM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: EBH
“It works so well for in-store purchases but yeah having it in drive thru is so awkward I never know what to say,” one user wrote One Twitter user wrote: “I went through the Starbucks Drive through and got one drink and they now start asking if you want to tip as soon as you pull your card out to pay while looking at you It’s so awkward…… just pay these people a better wage.”

No one tips the McDonald's workers. Or Wendy's, or Taco Bell, yet they're making your products at the restaurant, too. What's odd here is the distinction between walk-in vs. drive-through, and the apparent aversion to tipping in the drive-through. Does it take less work and time to make the drive-through version?

7 posted on 12/06/2022 5:46:10 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: EBH
Customer says: "just pay these people a better wage.”

And where would that money come from?

8 posted on 12/06/2022 5:46:26 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (No one is as asleep as the "woke". They define the term "useful idiot".)
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To: EBH

Screw Starbucks. You can get a real cup of coffee at McDonalds and you don’t have to tip. I’ll stick with McDonalds when I’m out and about and need a cup. I don’t care if it impresses my friends or not. Starbucks tastes like piss.


9 posted on 12/06/2022 5:47:48 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Hey Amerika! The whole world is watching and laughing their asses off. )
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To: IYAS9YAS

It is not a tip making job, that’s what everyone is freaking out about.


10 posted on 12/06/2022 5:48:21 AM PST by EBH (Ok Republicans, work like our Republic is the last one on earth.)
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To: EBH
I once used a dog kennel that would always text pictures of our dog to us while we were on vacation. I always went out of my way to tip those people as that's definitely going above and beyond.

Technically tips should only be given for "above and beyond" service. Somehow our culture evolved to the point where 20% is the expected tip (in a restaurant) no matter how bad or good the service is.

As for Starbucks and their $6 drinks, expecting a tip on top of that seems a bit much. Especially if you are like me and only getting a black coffee. I can kind of see it when somebody orders a supercomplicated drink that takes minutes to make. I always seem to get stuck behind that person when all I want is my black coffee.

11 posted on 12/06/2022 5:48:48 AM PST by SamAdams76 (4,692,256 | Truth Social | 87,850,338 | Twitter | Trump Followers)
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To: EBH

We are going to be relearning what a depressed economy looks like under inflation. The model of “tipping” should already be gone. Starbucks should already be gone. Frivolous expenditures are excised by consumers struggling to keep up with the inflation racket.

Starbucks is fighting reality, here, which often happens. It will simply accelerate the end of Starbucks. This may not be a bad thing, as Starbucks increasingly looks like the orchestra playing on the deck of the Titanic.


12 posted on 12/06/2022 5:52:36 AM PST by Empire_of_Liberty
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To: EBH

I like your model.
Keeping a happy staff always equals happy clientele and repeat business.

I have personally found that getting served with a smile, always makes me want to return that smile with tips/praise etc.

A great attitude makes a huge difference in business.

The pool tipping idea is bogus and horribly misguided.


13 posted on 12/06/2022 5:53:33 AM PST by Roman_War_Criminal (Jesus + Something = Nothing ; Jesus + Nothing = Everything )
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To: EBH

I live in PA and there are plenty of family owned diners. We go there for coffee and breakfast. If we’re in a hurry, we’ll go to Dunkin’s. Never Starbucks…


14 posted on 12/06/2022 5:53:51 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta ( )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I’ve been there twice. I was forced to go in there both times. It has a “Disney World” rating with me: You can drag me back in there after I’m dead.


15 posted on 12/06/2022 5:56:00 AM PST by GingisK
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To: EBH

16 posted on 12/06/2022 5:56:59 AM PST by real saxophonist (Hoplophobia will never be in the DSM, because the DSM is written by hoplophobes.)
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To: EBH
to “recognize their favorite baristas

"Favorite baristas"?? I go to the same two SB every week, and the baristas are NEVER the same... EVER. They are typically bright and friendly and flirty, but never the same girl. With such high turnover or shift inconsistency, tipping would be a wasteful gesture. (However, when I'm in one of those odd and rare "pay it forward" things at the drive through, I'll end it by just tipping the drive thru barista $10...which saves me about $2 and avoids a trap of paying for Foo Foo drinks for the entire staff of Dunder Mifflin, in the car behind me.)

17 posted on 12/06/2022 5:58:18 AM PST by LittleBillyInfidel (This tagline has been formatted to fit the screen. Some content has been edited.)
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To: EBH

I that is what I tip for! I’ll bet you’re busy busy busy! Great job


18 posted on 12/06/2022 5:59:35 AM PST by atc23 (The Matriarchal Society we embrace has led to masks and mandates and the cult of "safety")
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To: EBH

Lot of businesses are no demanding 18%m 20% or 22% automatically on credit card pay. Not just Starbucks.
It is quite annoying for fast food type of establishments.
I usually just say NO!


19 posted on 12/06/2022 5:59:52 AM PST by AZJeep
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To: FlingWingFlyer

*** Starbucks tastes like piss.***

Burnt piss more precisely. Worst coffee on the planet.


20 posted on 12/06/2022 6:01:06 AM PST by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TP)
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