Have your (cash) tipping practices changed during the pandemic?

[Ronnie]

This is an open poll with no end date and which allows for responses to be changed.

CA like many states have been under various restrictions since March 2020. We could not eat in a restaurant for months, we were allowed to eat on the patios or the outdoor dining facilities or restaurants (usually a table in a parking spot out front, with and umbrella and/or heater at the “up-scale establishments), for several months and recently just came out of a take out only restriction (well the state did generally) but many SF Bay counties did not lift such restriction.

When the restrictions were first put in place I noticed that I was tipping more, probably out of sympathy as my son pointed out (he was working at an ice cream shop at the time and got a lot more tips when the pandemic started). However over the past several months I’ve noticed that the service levels of many restaurants I patronize have decreased generally (the food takes longer to prepare, is often not prepared correctly, is missing sides or condiments that were specifically requested) and costs more. This changing my tipping practices/policies and I am wondering if others are doing the same?

Please note that I’m not talking about fast food places exclusively, my focus is on restaraunts that do not have a drive though. It does not make a lot of sense to me why I should be expected to tip for take out, especially when the “servers” gets the meals wrong so often that I have to do a full inventory when I pick up the meal that I called in or stood in line to order, and when I had to eat the meal in my car or microwave it when I got home from picking it up v eating it cold. All of these servers did nothing more than their fast food counter-parts and many did worse jobs.

I have since started leaving 5% tips on my take out orders and if I have to wait much longer than originally projected I either round up to the nearest dollar or don’t tip at all. Last week after picking up a to go order and discovering it was wrong when I got it back to the office miles away I called the restaurant back to speak with the manager and have him remove the tip from my bill, a first for me. I won’t order from there again until I can eat in the restaurant.

Here is a to a pre-pandemic string on this subject.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/tipping-and-im-not-talking-about-pushing-cows-over.4512/page-5#post-80794

 

[Babin Farms]

I would have to say that I have not been tipping at all due to the fact that we have been doing absolutely nothing as far as going anywhere. Home to work and back home. Only one of us will go to stores if we need something like groceries or any other necessities. Living in our own little bubble.

 

[zipper]

We have not been to any indoor dining facilities in a year. Over the Summer we did alot of takeout, usually consumed at the Marina. There was a high end food truck parked at the Marina all Summer. They had outdoor sit down under a tent. They were always busy. Willow said she had the best eggs Benedict in her life there and that is her go to brunch choice. The bloody mary's were good too. Anyway, I found myself tipping for takeout 10%, something I had not done previously. So ya, less sit down dining tipping, but tipping on takeout. When they deliver to the boat, they do, 5 minute walk, I would give them 25%.
Prior to covid 20% tip on balance before tax.

 

[Sean R]

My family and I have eaten out more during Covid than ever before. The reason, restaurant are empty. Before Covid around us the local restaurants were always packed, had wait to be seated and service was less than par. Now the are so happy we are there, service is great, the food is amazing there not just throwing food on the plate. In my opinion more customer care than ever before. And yes we are tipping twice as much, my wife was a waitress during college so we tip

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I’ve always tipped 20%, but, if all the server does is take my order, bring my food and check at the same time and they don‘t come back to check on how the meal is, keep the beverages topped off etc.. they get zero. I do not tip for any meals that a server doesn’t bring. That’s like giving a tip when buying a up of coffee...ridiculous.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

My family and I have eaten out more during Covid than ever before. The reason, restaurant are empty. Before Covid around us the local restaurants were always packed, had wait to be seated and service was less than par. Now the are so happy we are there, service is great, the food is amazing there not just throwing food on the plate. In my opinion more customer care than ever before. And yes we are tipping twice as much, my wife was a waitress during college so we tip

Looks like they now realize how valuable their customers are! Great to hear!

 

[HangOutdoors]

For take out, I do not tip as a General rule. If the service was extraordinary, maybe. If we have something delivered we tip and if someone has to walk out the car a couple of bucks. Always a generous 20% tipper when we are out eating meals and have full service, or Wine Tastings, etc. But I have had horrible service and I have given the big ZERO, not many times, but it has happened. But we have only been out twice like that in the last 9 months.

I recently had a discussion with someone who owns a take out restaurant. Thai food. Seemed like a nice guy, but we got on the subject of tipping and the $15.00 per hour wage discussion that has been floating around. He was adamant that he could not afford it. Of course not know the logistics of such things in a restaurant I could not really add to the concept. He indicated that a lot of people don't tip or tip small for the takeout and that that is how his staff make additions to their paycheck. Also when he works he gets a cut as well, which I am not so sure is cool at all.

He then went on to brag about his boat(s), yes two and that they are almost finished building his 7,000 sq. ft. home in an upscale neighborhood. His staff though split tips with him as well as get paid as low as he can pay them I guess.

It all left me with some things to think about. I want to tip out so that staff in these establishments that we just order take out, so they can make additional funds. But am I not just enabling the Employer to not pay them a better hourly wage. Then somehow if I don't tip, I feel guilty.

I don't tip them at the Burger King Drive through, or at the Speedway when they hand me a hot dog, etc. When I go to the Store and buy socks, I don't tip them out, nor do I tip out the Amazon driver. But, for example, if I order Thai Food take out, during check out they spin the IPAD around and in bold letter there is 15% 20% 25% tip buttons, almost like being guilted into it. Right next to the COVID sign that says we are "All in this Together" I get conflicted about it all. This is something that I go round and round with internally.

I have no problem in tipping for full service.

 

[2kwik4u]

We've remained in a mix of indoor and outdoor seating situations. Was in a restaurant for lunch yesterday actually. It's a weird feeling, as the Louisville Metro area has reduced seating capacity, and on/off closed for indoor seating restrictions, however Indiana does not. So you cold just cross the bridge and get a different set of rules. All of the restaurants that have indoor seating still open, have moved to plastic/disposable utensils, paper napkins, and paper cups. Easier/cheaper to throw them out than to clean them I suppose. Some have even gone to paper plates and other such dinnerware.

In terms of tipping......My rates have gone up. I'm tipping more on "gut feel" than actual percentages. I've also moved to an almost completely cash tipping system. My wife and I have had a VERY successful year in terms of career and income. Our income grew by almost 50% this year, and that doesn't count bonuses and stock benefits that are new to us. We went from "just making the budget" to "aggressive debt paydown, and affording a few luxuries" in a matter of months around March '20 or so. We have a little guilt over this when you compare our situation to the many service workers that have lost jobs, or decreased income due to slowed business. We've also increased our charitable donations in the last year to some of our local charities that we think do much needed work. We've pretty heavily adopted a "This $10 is going to impact them more than us" attitude in most instances.

For instance. $35 pizza order the other night. Pies went on the debit card, tip was $10 in cash. That's ~29% tip. WAY high by normal standards, but I promise the guy driving the beat up Honda that was very polite when he showed up thought it was a big deal. Had dinner at a nice restaurant in town for our anniversary back in September. Bill was $125 or so. I think I left $40 cash on the table. Again, it's way to much in terms of percentage, but that server only had us as a table, and we were there a shade over 90 minutes between drinks, apps, dinner and desert. My tip ($26.7/hr) combined with her salary ($2.75/hr) was $29.40/hr. I have no idea if others that night tipped as generously, but I like to think I helped her make rent, or buy food, or hell buy a drink to unwind after a long shift. I would wager that, again, that $40 was a bigger impact to her life than mine.

As an aside (and in the vein of economics, not political at any level) I support the premise and implementation of a universal basic income. It makes conversations like these somewhat moot moving forward. Tip culture in general is, well, dumb. Why does the consumer have so much control over the income of service workers? I lived and died by my tips for many years, and it's a miserable terrible chunk of anxiety to have to constantly worry if rent is going to be covered based on a whole slew of things beyond their control. Imagine if you could walk into a restaurant, or bar, or get a pizza delivered without having to worry about tipping. It's a GIANT culture shift that I doubt I see in my lifetime, but I think it's something to work towards.

 

[Julian]

I've always tipped on take out, now the percentages have increased.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Another side note, they are finally opening Restaurants up here next week. 25% capacity They have been closed for months. A lot of people who work in the industry are excited to get back to work.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

For take out, I do not tip as a General rule. If the service was extraordinary, maybe. If we have something delivered we tip and if someone has to walk out the car a couple of bucks. Always a generous 20% tipper when we are out eating meals and have full service, or Wine Tastings, etc. But I have had horrible service and I have given the big ZERO, not many times, but it has happened. But we have only been out twice like that in the last 9 months.

I recently had a discussion with someone who owns a take out restaurant. Thai food. Seemed like a nice guy, but we got on the subject of tipping and the $15.00 per hour wage discussion that has been floating around. He was adamant that he could not afford it. Of course not know the logistics of such things in a restaurant I could not really add to the concept. He indicated that a lot of people don't tip or tip small for the takeout and that that is how his staff make additions to their paycheck. Also when he works he gets a cut as well, which I am not so sure is cool at all.

He then went on to brag about his boat(s), yes two and that they are almost finished building his 7,000 sq. ft. home in an upscale neighborhood. His staff though split tips with him as well as get paid as low as he can pay them I guess.

It all left me with some things to think about. I want to tip out so that staff in these establishments that we just order take out, so they can make additional funds. But am I not just enabling the Employer to not pay them a better hourly wage. Then somehow if I don't tip, I feel guilty.

I don't tip them at the Burger King Drive through, or at the Speedway when they hand me a hot dog, etc. When I go to the Store and buy socks, I don't tip them out, nor do I tip out the Amazon driver. But, for example, if I order Thai Food take out, during check out they spin the IPAD around and in bold letter there is 15% 20% 25% tip buttons, almost like being guilted into it. Right next to the COVID sign that says we are "All in this Together" I get conflicted about it all. This is something that I go round and round with internally.

I have no problem in tipping for full service.

The whole $15 per hour minimum wage thing, if passed, is double edged sword. The IRS adds 8% onto waters wages to capture the cash tips that waiters get. So, given that fun fact, the irs will then add 8% onto the 15 thereby raising their taxable income, so monies that they used to get cash wise, let’s say 20% tips gave them 12% non taxed money. If and when this $15 goes into affect this will make dinning out out of reach of a lot of people, and or folks will look at it as “ you got a big raise so now I’m not going to tip very much if at all.

Further, if passed it is my prediction we will witness the next big wave of automation resulting in massive reductions in the amount of employees At a lot of restaurant.

in the famous words of David Byrne, “watch out! You might get what you’re after! “

 

[Ronnie]

Thanks for taking participating in the poll (originally stated “taking the poll” but it didn’t sound right/read well) and for the feedback.

As follow up:
When my son worked at the ice cream shop they would split the tips between the employees l, not the working owner l, after every (4 hour) shift. The place didn’t have enough employees to fall under the city’s minimum wage of $13 an hour so she paid all of her employees $11 to start.

Currently my son is working as a door dasher and they just changed their pay policy from a minimum wage which of not reach was covered by taking from their tips (e.g. his online statement says you made $20 last night play $10 in tips but according to their pay formula you should have $30. What door dash used to do was use the tip money paid online to make up the difference in what he made v should have made. After a lot of complaints door dash simply makes up the difference and gives the employee all the prepaid tips collected. If you know someone in need of a job Idont They they could go wrong with door dash, my son is averaging $22 an hour gross and has made over $50 an hour on a few nights. Rarely does he get any cash tips though.

my son is starting a new job with Amazon this week.Like door dash he sets his own schedule and the starting pay is $17 per hour. He won’t get any tips on the job as he is in a warehouse not delivery packages.

For clarification, I still tip at non fast food restaurants but do so based on whether I think the tip was earned, meaning did they get my order correct, was it ready when they said it would be, was it still hot or cold. They know I’m not eating it there so did they include plasticware or at least ask me if I needed any, did they include common condiments like salsa, bbq sauce, etc.

If I can remember to do so going forward and will take a full inventory of my order in front of the server while they wait for me to pay the bill and leave a tip. If everything is to my liking I will leave a 10% to 20% tip. If not, I will leave nothing or just the change to the nearest dollar.

I recently went back into Togo’s to supplement my debit card based tip with a cash tip but only because after I got my food (Togo’s) I realized that the server was my son’s prom date. I also tipped the aaa guy who came out within 15 minutes of being called to open my son’s car door (he left the keys on the seat). It took the guy less than 5 minutes to do the job. He initially declined to take the $20 bill I was handing him. “Are you sure?” He asked, “Hell yes, we are 100 miles from home and pressed for time plus I was expecting to pay $200 plus for a locksmith to come out and make us a new key.” I replied. He was stoked and so were my son and I, well worth $20.

 

[fatboyroy]

The whole $15 per hour minimum wage thing, if passed, is double edged sword. The IRS adds 8% onto waters wages to capture the cash tips that waiters get. So, given that fun fact, the irs will then add 8% onto the 15 thereby raising their taxable income, so monies that they used to get cash wise, let’s say 20% tips gave them 12% non taxed money. If and when this $15 goes into affect this will make dinning out out of reach of a lot of people, and or folks will look at it as “ you got a big raise so now I’m not going to tip very much if at all.

Further, if passed it is my prediction we will witness the next big wave of automation resulting in massive reductions in the amount of employees At a lot of restaurant.

in the famous words of David Byrne, “watch out! You might get what you’re after! “

With minimum wage increase, every price will increase and 5 years from now they will complain $15 is not enough since grocery prices went up. It doesn,t make sense to me to impose such a big min wage, start up job is for high school kids that are just learning responsibility with half-assed work they provide, not a career. You cannot help poor people if they dont help themselves get skills and make more money. But it was just my opinion.

 

[Julian]

And if you want to help the waiters AND the restaurant tip in CASH. If you tip on credit, it costs the restaurant money - they have to give the waiters the full tip, yet they pay a 3% transaction fee on all those tips....which seriously adds up! My brother use to have to collect cash at the end of the night and take it to the bank, now he has to take money to the restaurant to pay out tips in cash! Crazy. (that said....tipping on the card is so much easier!)

 

[WiskyDan]

In certain counties in Wisconsin the indoor dining bans weren’t really enforced for a pretty good chunk of the pandemic so if we ate at a restaurant we left a big tip - in some cases over 40%. I figured that the waiters were putting their health at risk so a little extra was the least I could do. I think I left a 50% tip at an Olive Garden in Oshkosh where I keep my boat during the first weekend they were doing indoor dining.

I travel a lot for work and I’ve learned that COVID has become a convenient excuse for some businesses to provide crappy customer service and it’s getting a bit tiring.

 

[2kwik4u]

The whole $15 per hour minimum wage thing, if passed, is double edged sword. The IRS adds 8% onto waters wages to capture the cash tips that waiters get. So, given that fun fact, the irs will then add 8% onto the 15 thereby raising their taxable income, so monies that they used to get cash wise, let’s say 20% tips gave them 12% non taxed money. If and when this $15 goes into affect this will make dinning out out of reach of a lot of people, and or folks will look at it as “ you got a big raise so now I’m not going to tip very much if at all.

Further, if passed it is my prediction we will witness the next big wave of automation resulting in massive reductions in the amount of employees At a lot of restaurant.

in the famous words of David Byrne, “watch out! You might get what you’re after! “

I wasn't aware of the 8% add by the IRS. That needs to go away. Especially if service industry workers are only being paid $2.75/hr with a "wage to meet" being set at $15/hr. Just pay them a good, living wage, and lets move away from tips and all the BS that comes with it. Just think of the logistical overhead that goes away when we don't have to worry about figuring out how much to tip, how much to pay those that are tipped, and how to track how many tips they got. What a pain in the butt all that is, when we could just pay them a decent wage to start and call it a day.

I don't think people will be priced out of the market when dining out. Sure if a restaurant passes 100% of that increase to consumers, then that particular establishment will have increased prices significantly, and might face less customer traffic. Much like @HangOutdoors Thai Takeout place.....I think there is a good chance a good number of places could absorb some amount of the cost, and pass some of it on. I think I read the other day that in Denmark the price of a Big Mac is $0.90 more than the price here, however they workers there earn $19/hr. The market, as a whole, will only bear a certain price point.

I suspect you'll see more automation in places like McDonalds, and other fast food chains that rely on low cost high volume sales as a business model. These companies that are surviving on operational excellence will require that. Those jobs that were flipping burgers will be moved up the education spectrum, and become robot technicians or the like. But certainly fewer of them. Other places like say "Bonefish Grill", or more traditional sit down style establishments will, IMO, likely see an increase in traffic. More people floating around with more money in their pocket to possibly afford a night out, where they were just scraping by before.

Another thought......I think the min wage should be set at the state level not the federal level. I'm not sure there is another good way to tie the cost of living to the minimum wage. People that live in expensive areas, need to be paid more than people that don't. Guy flipping burgers in the bay area will require a higher wage than the guy off the expressway in central Iowa. Just like any other resource, you have to pay what the going rate is at the location you're in.

These are certainly NOT easy questions to answer and nor easy decisions to make, however I think we can all agree it's not adequate now and needs some level of revision.

 

[Julian]

Just pay them a good, living wage, and lets move away from tips and all the BS that comes with it. Just think of the logistical overhead that goes away when we don't have to worry about figuring out how much to tip, how much to pay those that are tipped, and how to track how many tips they got. What a pain in the butt all that is, when we could just pay them a decent wage to start and call it a day.

The benefit of tipping is the direct correlation between good service and good pay. That's not to say there has to be a link there, but it does help incent wait staff to be extra attentive. I find it amusing when I travel overseas.....Americans in countries with no tipping get amazing attention - because we are known to tip. My staff overseas comment on how they see the difference themselves.

 

[2kwik4u]

The benefit of tipping is the direct correlation between good service and good pay. That's not to say there has to be a link there, but it does help incent wait staff to be extra attentive. I find it amusing when I travel overseas.....Americans in countries with no tipping get amazing attention - because we are known to tip. My staff overseas comment on how they see the difference themselves.

Yea, I get that. I'm probably overly-idealistic in that regard in thinking that everyone should be doing a good job anyway. I hate that often a waiter bears the brunt of problems not under their control like kitchen backup, or food prepared poorly. Those are pretty big portions of the experience that they can't control like food prep and timing, and general atmosphere, things like that.

 

[Ronnie]

My personal experiences:

In high school I worked as a grocery store bagger, forced to join the union was not allowed to take tips. The rationale was that we were already paid twice as much as the minimum wage at the time.

in college I worked as a bank teller no tips were expected nor could they be accepted, one of the fastest ways to lose the job was to take a tip.

also in college I was going into a charley browns steakhouse when I saw a waiter speaking with a customer in the parking lot. The waiters manager came outand discovered that the waiter had gone to the parking lot to confront the customer who did not leave a tip, waiter was fired on the spot.

one of my college roommates left a $1tip on a $3 drink, the waitress gave him a dirty look for it, he in turn took the receipt back and crossed out the tip.

I’ve spend a lot of time in line at the dmv. I considered tipping an employee to get to the fromt of his or her line but realized such a tip may be considered a bribe plus I’m sure the others in line would have gave us hell if they found out.

I recently discovered that the “bud masters” (often stoned, cute young women in Scal not NCal) at marijuana dispensaries which sell medical marijuana to those with a card/note from an md cannot take tips but those that sell it for recreational purposes can. If you ask me how I know I will plead the fifth even though commercial sales of marijuana for medical and recreational purposes is now legal in CA.

Miya easier for me to justify not leaving a tip in CA because CA only has one pay scale not two (one for tipped workers and another for non-tipped workers). So the guy at McDonald’s is subject to the same minimum wage that the guy at Olive Garden across the street is. If the OG guy isn’t working for a tip, especially now during a pandemic, he probably not going to get one from me. I have never seen an OG employee work as hard as a McD’s employee but yet ironically I almost always tip the OG employee and have never tipped an McD employee.

 

[2kwik4u]

@Ronnie

I have a lot of very similar experiences. I've tipped overly high pre-pandemic for truly outstanding service, but rarely didn't tip, and rarely left less than 15%. I suspect that is a result of spending a good portion of my late teens/early 20's relying on tips to make rent. I know and remember vividly how a crappy tip could just pile on to the rough night, or how a great tip could suddenly make everything seem like it was going to be OK.

I delivered pizza for almost a decade in that time. Even returned to that career when I quite my job in construction to return to college. I had to keep the heat on at home, and I could deliver pizza after class and into the night. It worked for my schedule, and was acceptable money. I would go from slow nights in the $8/hr range, to a busy weekend/holiday night in the $50/hr range. It was truly feast or famine. The nights I came home with more cash in my pocket were obviously better nights.

Similarly, the last half of 2019 I drove Uber. We had a tough section of finances there for a myriad of reasons, and we needed to supplement our normal incomes. It was an easy second job with a baby in the house, and the flexibility was unmatched anywhere else I looked. There was a LOT of concern that I wasn't actually making any money. Gross pay was $20.75/hr, with almost 50% of that coming from tips. Without the tips (that went straight to the bottom line) I likely would have LOST money driving instead of made money. Even then, after taking out actual costs, I only made around $10.37/hr before taxes. I fully believe those tips came from me delivering a service beyond what was expected when I showed up. Most people expected a Prius, and then stepped into my fully loaded GMC pickup. I ensured it was always spotless inside and out at the beginning of a shift, I dressed professionally, and let the customer drive the conversation (if any). These extra "services" are what garnered me a TON of compliments and subsequent tips. I really think I could have spun that into a full time professional driver side gig if I wanted to.......Moral of the story being that if I was just driving and doing the bare minimum, the money wouldn't have been nearly as good.

Tips are the life blood of the service industry, and many many people won't make rent without them. So while I might be enabling the the restaurants to get away with paying the lower salary I can't bring myself to use their service and NOT tip. Unless there is really absurdly poor service, I'll always leave something. I will say I can't remember ever "weaponizing" a tip. I've been very conscious to NOT hold the carrot of a tip in front of a service worker. If they expect it, or get mad that it's not what they thought, that's a world view on them I can't change. I expect excellent service, because, well, I feel that is what I would do if I was in their shoes. I've walked a mile or two in those shoes and I feel that the tip I was given was a thank you for your good work, not an expected eventuality. As much as I depended on them to make it a good night, I never let it jade the service I was giving on the front end. I just worked to do a good job, and sometimes it was financially rewarded. I'm 100% certain this isn't the norm with all service workers.

Anywho, I'm getting long winded again. It's certainly interesting to hear how others view and react to tipping.