Western Standard - Being hit up for tips in all directions

Tipping has been a part of North American culture for generations. And now and then we hear of some movement or another calling for an end to the practice. But it never really went anywhere. Something has changed in the last few years though. Tipping has expanded into non-traditional industries, and the amounts being asked are growing. And consumers are starting to feel picked clean. And they're right. I mean, prices for everything are rising, and we can t afford to top up every purchase price for a product with a 15% to 25% tip.

00:00:00.000 And tipping's been a part of North American culture for generations.

00:00:03.580 And now and then we hear of some movement or another calling for an end to the practice.

00:00:08.300 But it never really would go anywhere.

00:00:10.460 Something's changed in the last few years, though.

00:00:12.340 I mean, tipping has expanded into non-traditional industries, and the amounts being asked are growing.

00:00:16.920 And consumers, they're starting to feel picked clean, and they're right.

00:00:19.880 I mean, prices for everything are rising, and we can't afford to top up every purchase price for a product with a 15% to 25% tip.

00:00:26.580 It's one thing to leave a tip for a server after spending an hour or two at a restaurant.

00:00:29.700 Quite another to expect a tip for a retail purchase.

00:00:33.400 Now I'm going to offer a recent and somewhat embarrassing personal example.

00:00:36.740 This last week, I went to a specialty bakery in Calgary to buy some keto diet items.

00:00:42.120 I won't bother saying which bakery. There's a few of them around there.

00:00:45.140 This bakery, though, had signs plastered on their outside door and all over their walls bragging of how they're a living wage employer.

00:00:52.000 Again, whatever. I shrugged and entered. I mean, it's their business. What they want to pay their employees is up to them.

00:00:56.080 I quickly, of course, got to see what comes with the living wage.

00:00:59.700 When I picked up a loaf of bread and took it to the counter and was charged an eye-popping $16. 0.98

00:01:05.120 Now, I knew keto was going to be expensive, but holy crap.

00:01:08.240 I guess it's because they're paying every retail clerk $20 an hour or $22 or whatever they're determining a living wage is these days.

00:01:14.360 Either way, I gulped but decided to purchase the bread and get the hell out of there anyways.

00:01:18.580 That's the first embarrassment. I should have just stopped my purchase when I saw the price.

00:01:22.520 When I was handed the payment pad, though, then the all-too-common prompts for tips were on the screen, with the lowest of them being 15%.

00:01:30.160 I mean, what the hell did the bored kid sitting behind the counter do to earn a tip?

00:01:34.500 I thought, I'll show him. I chose the manual option and only left a $1 tip.

00:01:38.580 Yeah, that's the second embarrassment.

00:01:40.480 If it bothered me, why did I tip at all?

00:01:42.080 We were so conditioned to tip.

00:01:44.640 I felt almost shamed into leaving at least a little something. 0.81

00:01:47.540 And it's a ridiculous notion, and I should know better.

00:01:50.140 I hope I learned something there.

00:01:52.040 Now, businesses that didn't traditionally command tips in the past have been using the option of those payment pads to try and supplement their staff wages with it.

00:01:59.560 It helps them reduce a little of the sticker shock, I guess, with customers as the inflation forces them to raise prices too.

00:02:04.480 But it's a disingenuous way to go about it.

00:02:06.680 And those payment machines make it easy to slip the tips in as an option without actually asking for them.

00:02:11.380 I even heard somebody being prompted for a tip for an item they ordered online.

00:02:15.480 I mean, you're just talking to a computer service at that point. 0.68

00:02:17.540 It's getting ridiculous.

00:02:19.180 Tipping needs to be reined in, but I don't want to see it eliminated, as some people have called for.

00:02:23.460 It's just crept into the wrong businesses, and consumers need to stop indulging them.

00:02:27.980 And yes, I'm guilty of that. I did it.

00:02:30.220 In some service-based industries, though, tipping should remain.

00:02:33.560 I mean, I look at tipping as something that should be considered if the person has had extended direct experience with the service provider.

00:02:39.880 And in that, I mean with a few examples.

00:02:42.040 Like in a restaurant with a bar server or a bartender who communicates, converses, and serves a table for periods that could last hours.

00:02:48.860 Or a bartender who listens to a person laying out the challenges of their lives and lends a sympathetic ear.

00:02:52.880 I did that. I was a bartender.

00:02:54.720 But you know, an industry secret, the bartender usually doesn't really care.

00:02:58.000 And the stripper doesn't really have a crush on you. 1.00

00:03:00.540 But all the same, throw your tips out there, guys.

00:03:03.780 They're doing something above and beyond just serving you a drink or offering a lap dance or whatever else.

00:03:08.880 A tour guy, you know, spends an afternoon showing sights and narrating behind him.

00:03:11.940 A cab driver, conversation online, you know, on a ride, lends tips for local attractions.

00:03:16.840 You see the theme, though, right?

00:03:18.660 A tip is for interaction, and only when the interaction goes above and beyond the basic service.

00:03:23.380 A tipping is the ultimate form of merit pay.

00:03:26.180 I mean, the consumer is in full control.

00:03:27.620 You can directly influence the compensation of the person who is offering the service

00:03:31.700 and incentivizes the worker to do as good a job as possible.

00:03:35.400 When I owned a pub, it was easy to see which servers and bartenders gave the best services.

00:03:39.380 Some consistently brought in as much as 20% to 30% more in tips than other workers.

00:03:43.740 And the formula is pretty simple.

00:03:45.100 Just be friendly, attentive, and polite.

00:03:47.700 Harder than one would think with some servers, though, especially as an owner, you find out.

00:03:51.740 But it gave me, as an owner, a visible measure of who gave the customers the best service.

00:03:55.860 And I, of course, worked harder to make sure those servers got as many prime shifts as possible.

00:04:00.140 The customers won, the ambitious servers won, and I, as an owner, won.

00:04:04.260 How many restaurants, they've tried to go with tip-free models, and it always fails.

00:04:07.960 Earl's in Calgary tried it a few years ago, and it only lasted a few months.

00:04:11.480 I mean, while they paid a much bigger hourly rate to the servers to compensate for the lack of tips,

00:04:16.480 the ambitious servers said to hell with this, and they quit and went to restaurants where they could earn tips. 0.81

00:04:20.080 They wanted to get the better, work harder, and make the money.

00:04:23.760 The servers who remained, of course, were those who preferred to just sit about and take an hourly wage.

00:04:28.580 So, service levels went down while the prices shot up.

00:04:31.500 The restaurant had to return to the old way and fast because the consumers, of course, fled.

00:04:35.620 People like to point out tipping isn't the standard in some other countries, and that's true.

00:04:39.700 But in my travel experience, I found that the service drops as well.

00:04:42.240 So, and I was in Australia a while back, for example, and unless you're in a formal and expensive restaurant,

00:04:47.480 well, you have to go to a window, order, and pay, and then get a little number, and then you sit at their table.

00:04:52.040 Then they call your number, and you go and get your food.

00:04:53.980 Meanwhile, you go to another lineup, and you go, and you pay, and you get your drink.

00:04:56.640 And if you drink multiple drinks, you've got to go multiple times, and the prices are high.

00:05:00.720 You know what?

00:05:01.100 I'd rather tip and have table service.

00:05:02.980 That's why I went out.

00:05:03.880 I really missed that while I was down there.

00:05:05.420 If I can do nothing but self-service, I might as well just get takeout and go home.

00:05:08.020 The only way to change the trend in tipping for consumers, though, is you've got to put your feet in your wallets down on the issue.

00:05:14.660 Refuse to tip for retail services and only tip in the traditional industries.

00:05:17.780 We can't get the government in on banning tipping, and it's well out of their role anyway.

00:05:20.480 Who are they to tell me who I can give my own money to?

00:05:23.060 We have let the practice of tipping spread too far, but it's up to us to bring it back where it belongs.

00:05:27.960 And I'm going to check myself before habitually tipping from here on in.

00:05:31.940 And yes, I sure as hell won't be spending $16 on a loaf of sourdough bread as well.

00:05:35.760 So last week was a good learning week for me, guys.

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00:05:44.440 These guys are on the front lines helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms regulations and legislation in Canada.

00:05:52.100 And more importantly, educating the public about how we keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.

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Western Standard - February 22, 2023

Being hit up for tips in all directions

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