First, Wal-Mart and other big-box stores introduced self-service check-out stands. Do you like self-service checkout stands where shoppers are forced to do their jobs for the store without any compensation or human interaction while being closely monitored by electronic and physical surveillance? Now, thanks to the Biden Economy, the latest trend in restaurants and self-service stores is to force and guilt customers into adding unearned tips to their total.
Dear Reader, I’m not sure about you but I grew up in an age when tipping was directly proportional to the quality of service rendered. The tip was higher for better service, but it had to be present. Today, this is not the case. When did buying a product turn into a service? It’s even more confusing when the shopper finds the product, removes it from the shelf, and then takes it to checkout. He scans and bags it all by himself. What service is provided in this transaction? Is a tip still expected if there is no service?
The New York Post reports that many businesses state “These tipping prompts [are] completely optional and the additional gratuity is shared between all employees.” In reality, “tips from a self-check-out machine may never reach an employee, since federal Fair Labor Standards Act protections for tipped workers do not extend to machines.” This type of tipping, then, is a clear attempt by businesses to boost revenue, rather than reward good service. All the while, the cost of living, taxes, and inflation are on the rise.
This new tip of coercion has been programmed into the system and businesses could remove it if they wanted to, but would they? Most businesses rely on customers feeling pressured to not be seen as cheapskates and act like good people, even if no service is rendered. The “tip creep” phenomenon has been shown to encourage “customers to tip higher in transactional situations,” while self-checkouts can be used to “guilt-trip people into tipping for something they normally wouldn’t.”
The majority of Americans are generous, but I find this tipping culture to be reminiscent of an “everyone wins a trophy” mentality. This is also a hangover from the Pandemic when people were generous to keep businesses in business and to keep workers employed. Bryan Reilly, a 24-year-old former busboy from Massapequa on Long Island told the New York Post that he felt it was his responsibility to compensate for workers who were paid so little. The ‘tips everywhere’ trend is out of control.
Consumer beware. Do not tip if you don’t have to.
