Tipping for take-out

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What is your opinion about tipping when ordering take-out? People always argue that the cashier/hostess has to do work such as pack the food into a bag and add plastic utensils and napkins. This is exactly what pharmacists do but I don't see any tip jars at CVS/Wags. I usually give $1 regardless because I feel bad for putting 0 in the tip line when I sign.

I don't understand why those self-service frozen yogurt places have tip jars. They literally do nothing but weigh your cup and ring you out. Why not tip the cashier at the grocery store, who does the same and also bags your groceries?

When I go to Lowes the floorpeople are very helpful when I need to find a certain size screw/nut but they are not expected to be tipped.
 
Doesn't make sense to tip in healthcare considering how expensive everything is. Would you tip your surgeon 15%? Would they care if you gave them $2?
I wouldn't worry about tipping CVS/Wags either, you paid $5 but your insurance probably just paid them $200.

It's just a social custom. Personally wages should be paid by employers, not customers, this whole min tipped wage is pretty dumb.
 
I don't tip the employees at Chipotle when they make my burrito so why would I tip a take-out employee? Also, do you tip the drive-thru worker at Burger King?
 
If I do take out at a restaurant with seating/traditional tipping where I would ordinarily tip 18-20%, I tip 15%.

If I do take out at a fast casual establishment (ie Chipotle, Chop House, poke counter, etc...), I'll tip a few $ if I have cash into the tip jar (rare, I don't carry cash usually), or 10-15% if given the option at the POS.
 
holymolys said:
It's just a social custom. Personally wages should be paid by employers, not customers, this whole min tipped wage is pretty dumb.
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I very much agree with this. I love visiting countries where tipping is considered rude (ie Japan) and service costs are included.

There's a movement locally to increase pay & not allow tips, it's slowly catching on in SF, so there's a chance it can go nationally in like 10 years.
 
I thought the custom was no tip required for take-out? Well I sure hope so, because I get take-out from all sorts of places several times a week and haven't been tipping. 😛
 
I tip $1 for every $10 I spend on take out. Less than $10 (how that would happen is beyond me) gets no tip.
 
pezdispenser said:
I thought the custom was no tip required for take-out? Well I sure hope so, because I get take-out from all sorts of places several times a week and haven't been tipping. 😛
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Tipping for take-out is definitely not the norm. You tip for service. Sitting down at a place to eat. Having your food delivered to you. Maybe, just maybe, a really nice barista that you had a good time bantering with. Not for someone to ring you up that didn't even cook your damn food.
 
Mad Jack said:
Tipping for take-out is definitely not the norm. You tip for service. Sitting down at a place to eat. Having your food delivered to you. Maybe, just maybe, a really nice barista that you had a good time bantering with. Not for someone to ring you up that didn't even cook your damn food.
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My tips get added to the pool for front of house staff... tipping isn't for service anymore (maybe it used to be), it's to directly supplement income. There's really no difference between an 18% service charge imposed by the restaurant vs. an "optional" 18% tip left by someone sitting down. I'm already mentally upcharging everything 20% when I look at a menu anyway.

Because of tip sharing, I don't ever penalize using the tip anymore for poor service. I'll tip full & complain to a manager.

I hate the tipping custom here in the US.... I can't wait til it's just replaced with higher prices and no expectation to tip, because inevitably there will be free riders that under tip or don't tip at all.
 
confettiflyer said:
My tips get added to the pool for front of house staff... tipping isn't for service anymore (maybe it used to be), it's to directly supplement income. There's really no difference between an 18% service charge imposed by the restaurant vs. an "optional" 18% tip left by someone sitting down. I'm already mentally upcharging everything 20% when I look at a menu anyway.

Because of tip sharing, I don't ever penalize using the tip anymore for poor service. I'll tip full & complain to a manager.

I hate the tipping custom here in the US.... I can't wait til it's just replaced with higher prices and no expectation to tip, because inevitably there will be free riders that under tip or don't tip at all.
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Most of the places I get takeout from are family-owned businesses that are staffed by the family in question. Tipping them extra is just silly- they set the prices on their own damn menu, if they want more money, charge more.
 
Not all places have tips pooled together. I try to avoid those places. If I get good service I want to know its all going to that person.

For take out no one is serving me but the cooks. As far as I know they aren't working for tips. So I won't be tipping.
 
I never know what to do either in this situation OP, but I typically still tip 10-15% just for pick up. It is a hard life living on server wages.
 
Sparda29 said:
If I'm eating there or they are delivering it to me, I tip.
If I'm just going there to pick it up and bring it home, I'm not tipping.
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I'll tip curbside takeout {10%). Definitely worth it when we had little ones in the car. However, if I have to go in to pick-up, I usually don't tip
 
I don't have a problem with tipping. Wait staff in a good restaurant make more with tips, the employer saves money, and the customer gets better service. Everyone wins.

Pooling tips is stupid. There is no incentive for doing a good job. Plus as a customer I am under the assumption that my tip is going into the pocket of the person who served me. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country. I worked in a restaurant for awhile in undergrad and I can assure you that the waitstaff did not want their tips pooled.

As far as tipping for takeout I don't see a reason. Tips are for service and they are already getting paid fully by the hour to process the orders.
 
I have always been on the side of getting rid of tips and just give everyone a salary. Working in retail for awhile, when I leave a $10 tip at a restaurant, I'm giving them more then a cashier makes in over an hour and the time they spent with me was maybe 10 minutes. No one ever gives them a tip and they can't even accept it. How's that make sense?
 
wagrxm2000 said:
I have always been on the side of getting rid of tips and just give everyone a salary. Working in retail for awhile, when I leave a $10 tip at a restaurant, I'm giving them more then a cashier makes in over an hour and the time they spent with me was maybe 10 minutes. No one ever gives them a tip and they can't even accept it. How's that make sense?
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You do realize those servers make like $2 per hour before tips right?

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ChalupaBatman86 said:
You do realize those servers make like $2 per hour before tips right?

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This stupid rule needs to go, I hate subsidizing cheap business decisions. Pay your damn staff at least minimum wage or something, my tip should be a gift above and beyond whatever minimum they get, not an excuse to back off and not pay.

I really really hate that rule.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
I have always been on the side of getting rid of tips and just give everyone a salary. Working in retail for awhile, when I leave a $10 tip at a restaurant, I'm giving them more then a cashier makes in over an hour and the time they spent with me was maybe 10 minutes. No one ever gives them a tip and they can't even accept it. How's that make sense?
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We need to just either a) include service in the price, but more likely b) include it as a flat 18% service charge so there's no ambiguity. Culturally we need to move away from tipping....this will be harder to get into peoples' heads. I want to be like Japan where tipping = incredibly rude, but one can dream, right?
 
confettiflyer said:
We need to just either a) include service in the price, but more likely b) include it as a flat 18% service charge so there's no ambiguity. Culturally we need to move away from tipping....this will be harder to get into peoples' heads. I want to be like Japan where tipping = incredibly rude, but one can dream, right?
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It is weird how tipping works. But in some cases tipping has been successfully eliminated. At around here it is understood you don't tip baggers anymore. Who knows, perhaps one day it will be the same for other jobs.
 
ChalupaBatman86 said:
You do realize those servers make like $2 per hour before tips right?

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Um did you read what I put? I don't think a waiter should be paid more after tips then a cashier who is working just as hard.

With a family of 4, my tip is never under $10 which is more then a cashier.
 
ChalupaBatman86 said:
You do realize those servers make like $2 per hour before tips right?

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Is this the reason we tip? How is tipping originated? Isn't it is for expression of appreciating someones' service instead of paying on behave of their employer? And I am not even sure, is $2 per hour legal in restaurant? No minimum wage rule?

I just thought it is so stupid when people say they make little so we should be paying for them. I also think it is stupid when people say since the waiters work so hard and make very little that's why we should pay them. Come on, lot of people work hard, MccDonald, cashiers, the people who bag the grocery, or pulling shopping carts, they all make little amount and work hard, and provide service to us. They all are just doing their job. Why waiter has to be special??
 
sunakuma said:
Is this the reason we tip? How is tipping originated? Isn't it is for expression of appreciating someones' service instead of paying on behave of their employer? And I am not even sure, is $2 per hour legal in restaurant? No minimum wage rule?
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It is legal and common in most states outside of California.

I just thought it is so stupid when people say they make little so we should be paying for them. I also think it is stupid when people say since the waiters work so hard and make very little that's why we should pay them. Come on, lot of people work hard, MccDonald, cashiers, the people who bag the grocery, or pulling shopping carts, they all make little amount and work hard, and provide service to us. They all are just doing their job. Why waiter has to be special??
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The compensation structure for waiters takes tips into consideration, even in states with minimum wage rules. If tips were magically made illegal, businesses would have to pay their waiters more from a competition perspective.

I hate it too, it's nonsensical, but it's part of the customs of the society we live in, so I maintain very high tipping rates to make up for the punk bitches my waiter has had to deal with before getting to me.
 
sunakuma said:
Is this the reason we tip? How is tipping originated? Isn't it is for expression of appreciating someones' service instead of paying on behave of their employer? And I am not even sure, is $2 per hour legal in restaurant? No minimum wage rule?

l??
Click to expand...

Yes, that's right. It is originated for expression of appreciating someones' service on behave of their employer. Either add 20% next you time you are at Appleby's or take your expressions of behaving service to a restaurant with a drive thru window. You don't need to tip for take out, the receipts print with a tip line because of their merchant code.

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I tipped a buck on a 4 dollar order at a drive through this morning. They literally had my coffee and sandwich ready in the time it took me to drive from the menu up to the window, with no waiting at all. And it was good, with my coffee made exactly according to my request. It can't have taken a whole 45 seconds between when I finished saying what I wanted and when I had it in my hand, and yet it was clearly fresh.

Maybe it is foolish, but I'd rather err on the side of being grateful.
 
Some things need to be cleared up. First of all, restaurant servers make the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 just like everyone else. The $2.13 figure being brought up is the amount the restaurant is responsible for and the rest is expected to come from tips. If a server works for an hour and doesn't get a tip, the restaurant must pay $2.13 and the difference between that and $7.25. Tipping isn't done to reward good service, it's to pay the server's salary. If you don't tip them then you're costing the business money.
 
BenJammin said:
Some things need to be cleared up. First of all, restaurant servers make the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 just like everyone else. The $2.13 figure being brought up is the amount the restaurant is responsible for and the rest is expected to come from tips. If a server works for an hour and doesn't get a tip, the restaurant must pay $2.13 and the difference between that and $7.25. Tipping isn't done to reward good service, it's to pay the server's salary. If you don't tip them then you're costing the business money.
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This really is just the extreme end of "tip no longer for above and beyond service."

It's pretty much corporate welfare and free riding off diners. I want my tip money to be a gift above and beyond the minimum wage in my jurisdiction. I can sort of understand that yes, servers derive most of their income from tips, but for a business to seize my tip money to pay minimum wage is deplorable and disgusting.

Totally legal but assholey. Glad this is illegal in California.


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confettiflyer said:
This really is just the extreme end of "tip no longer for above and beyond service."

It's pretty much corporate welfare and free riding off diners. I want my tip money to be a gift above and beyond the minimum wage in my jurisdiction. I can sort of understand that yes, servers derive most of their income from tips, but for a business to seize my tip money to pay minimum wage is deplorable and disgusting.

Totally legal but assholey. Glad this is illegal in California.


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Click to expand...
Agree with that it is disgusting to use the tip money as to pay for minimum wage. In my opinion, tip is more for appreciating the above and beyond service that's provided, not some mandated, routine, expected money no matter what quality of service being provided.

If the waiter is being rude, not bringing in the right order, not even responding to refill my water, bad attitude, do I still need to pay the 15-20% tips? I mean, this is ridiculous. However, if a waiter is being very nice and have very good attitude, then I am actually happy to pay him or her some decent tips--willingly, and happily. I just think that tipping should be volunteering, not mandated. Restaurant should not expect customer to help to pay the employee with tips.

Even you guys mention this minimum wage thing is illegal in CA, but all restaurant in CA is just the same as everywhere else in the U.S.. They just demand or expect tips the same way. I see waiters chasing out some customers when they were leaving and not left tips or not enough tips...those waiters yelled, loudly...What a scene. They make the customers look like they are some cheap bastards...(which they might be, but I don't know what kind of service they were provided either)
 
sunakuma said:
If the waiter is being rude, not bringing in the right order, not even responding to refill my water, bad attitude, do I still need to pay the 15-20% tips? I mean, this is ridiculous. However, if a waiter is being very nice and have very good attitude, then I am actually happy to pay him or her some decent tips--willingly, and happily. I just think that tipping should be volunteering, not mandated. Restaurant should not expect customer to help to pay the employee with tips.
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Yes, you pay the tip, because you can't be completely sure if tips are being pooled or shared amongst the staff. Complaints about service are to be elevated to management. That serves two purposes:

1) Alerts the supervisor that there's a problem staff member not performing. Simply withholding tip does not communicate this.
2) Sets you up to be compensated somehow.

I've had poor service before, and I've tipped 15-18%, but with complaints, got most of that tip back getting items comped from the bill. That lets the other servers get the tip money and the restaurant bears the cost of the service.

Even you guys mention this minimum wage thing is illegal in CA, but all restaurant in CA is just the same as everywhere else in the U.S.. They just demand or expect tips the same way. I see waiters chasing out some customers when they were leaving and not left tips or not enough tips...those waiters yelled, loudly...What a scene. They make the customers look like they are some cheap bastards...(which they might be, but I don't know what kind of service they were provided either)
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Again, tips are part of the cultural landscape. Not tipping when eating at a restaurant with table service, regardless of the quality of service, is a HUGE cultural no-no. Tipping is not a reward for good service, it's an expected practice and cost/tax for outside meals and entertainment. It has the illusion of being optional, it gives the diner the illusion of rewarding for good service (and routinely I do tip at 25-30% if, for example, I enlisted the help of a sommelier), but functionally it really isn't. Ever notice they automatically charge 18% for parties > 6? It's like saying, "well, we trust you to tip if you have a small group, and if you don't, okay it's not the end of the world...but we're not going to take any chances with your big group."
 
confettiflyer said:
Yes, you pay the tip, because you can't be completely sure if tips are being pooled or shared amongst the staff. Complaints about service are to be elevated to management. That serves two purposes:

1) Alerts the supervisor that there's a problem staff member not performing. Simply withholding tip does not communicate this.
2) Sets you up to be compensated somehow.

I've had poor service before, and I've tipped 15-18%, but with complaints, got most of that tip back getting items comped from the bill. That lets the other servers get the tip money and the restaurant bears the cost of the service.



Again, tips are part of the cultural landscape. Not tipping when eating at a restaurant with table service, regardless of the quality of service, is a HUGE cultural no-no. Tipping is not a reward for good service, it's an expected practice and cost/tax for outside meals and entertainment. It has the illusion of being optional, it gives the diner the illusion of rewarding for good service (and routinely I do tip at 25-30% if, for example, I enlisted the help of a sommelier), but functionally it really isn't. Ever notice they automatically charge 18% for parties > 6? It's like saying, "well, we trust you to tip if you have a small group, and if you don't, okay it's not the end of the world...but we're not going to take any chances with your big group."
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I think our interpretations of tipping are different. Bad service= lower tip.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
I think our interpretations of tipping are different. Bad service= lower tip.
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Bad service = talk to a manager. When you give a lower tip, you're costing the restaurant money. They don't want your business if you aren't going to tip.
 
BenJammin said:
When you give a lower tip, you're costing the restaurant money.
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Very unlikely. How many servers actually make less than tips in minimum wage so that the employer has to make up the difference? The only one suffering from a lack of tip is likely to be the server.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
I think our interpretations of tipping are different. Bad service= lower tip.
Click to expand...

That used to be the case maybe in the 80's, but this stupid movement of the tip from optional reward to functionally mandatory part of compensation with the *illusion* of control has changed the fundamental meaning of tip.

Bad service = talk to the manager, obtain recompense that way.
Lower tip = punishes all of the other servers in the tip pool and does not make your displeasure known with management.




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owlegrad said:
Very unlikely. How many servers actually make less than tips in minimum wage so that the employer has to make up the difference? The only one suffering from a lack of tip is likely to be the server.
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Not unlikely at all. What happens if the server just isn't having a good day and their tips fall below $5.12 an hour? The only one suffering is the restaurant because you're not fulfilling your end of the deal.
 
BenJammin said:
Bad service = talk to a manager. When you give a lower tip, you're costing the restaurant money. They don't want your business if you aren't going to tip.
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What and get the server in trouble or even worse fired? I'll pass. The restaurant can make those decisions on their own. I'm not in the restaurant business but I guarantee you they'd rather have me eat there and leave a lower tip forcing them to possibly pay $2 to their server then miss out on the high margins they have on their food. I didn't say no tip just lower like 10%.

You must be like one of those people who calls the customer service line to complain when their script isn't ready by the time they leave their appointment.

Edit: Now that I think about it if I leave $4, on a $40 tab (family of 4) there's no way the server wouldn't make minimum wage.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
What and get the server in trouble or even worse fired? I'll pass. The restaurant can make those decisions on their own. I'm not in the restaurant business but I guarantee you they'd rather have me eat there and leave a lower tip forcing them to possibly pay $2 to their server then miss out on the high margins they have on their food. I didn't say no tip just lower like 10%.

You must be like one of those people who calls the customer service line to complain when their script isn't ready by the time they leave their appointment.

Edit: Now that I think about it if I leave $4, on a $40 tab (family of 4) there's no way the server wouldn't make minimum wage.
Click to expand...

What are you going on about now? Look if you don't want to talk to a manager because your server forgot about you or gave you terrible service then quit whining about it. What does calling corporate about a prescription have to do with tipping? Lolololol
 
BenJammin said:
What are you going on about now? Look if you don't want to talk to a manager because your server forgot about you or gave you terrible service then quit whining about it. What does calling corporate about a prescription have to do with tipping? Lolololol
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Who is whining? There's a reason why tipping isn't mandated so if you get bad service you give less. If that server wants to earn more they will work harder.

Calling corporate is exactly the same as telling management, your goal is to get someone in trouble which is not what I want. Maybe they are having a bad day, why make it worse by having their boss yell at them?
 
Last edited:
owlegrad said:
Very unlikely. How many servers actually make less than tips in minimum wage so that the employer has to make up the difference?
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Happens all the time with smaller restaurants during non-peak hours.

BenJammin said:
Bad service = talk to a manager. When you give a lower tip, you're costing the restaurant money. They don't want your business if you aren't going to tip.
Click to expand...

Maybe. But I'd sincerely like to see a restaurant enforce that. Way too much trouble than it's worth, especially in this politically correct era.

"Oh you're refusing me service? Why, is it because I'm _________?"
 
Buscemi is a smart man.
 
Promethean said:
I tipped a buck on a 4 dollar order at a drive through this morning. They literally had my coffee and sandwich ready in the time it took me to drive from the menu up to the window, with no waiting at all. And it was good, with my coffee made exactly according to my request. It can't have taken a whole 45 seconds between when I finished saying what I wanted and when I had it in my hand, and yet it was clearly fresh.

Maybe it is foolish, but I'd rather err on the side of being grateful.
Click to expand...

So I worked for Wendy's for five years among other jobs that I worked concurrently, and during one of our "Day Parts" from 11-2 my crew set the record at our store for 67 second average! And there was like >200 cars. One of my greatest accomplishments, ever! I received 0 tips in my time at Wendy's 🙁. But received a ton when I was a beer vendor for the Bengals/Aramark.
 
What y'our all's opinion on haircuts? I go to Great Clips, but give $5. Is that cheap of me? I never know how much to give..
 
pharmrx33 said:
What y'our all's opinion on haircuts? I go to Great Clips, but give $5. Is that cheap of me? I never know how much to give..
Click to expand...

I tipped like $5 back in college, I tip closer to $8-10 now even though I have the least complicated hair in the world.


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I've been cutting my own hair for the past 3 years. Fu3k going to a barber... Every single time I go, my hair comes out different. At least, right now if I fu3k it up I have no one to blame but myself. Thanks to YouTube, you can learn anything nowadays.
 
I pay for a $12 haircut and tip $2. The barber usually seems appreciative.
 
Momus said:
I've been cutting my own hair for the past 3 years. Fu3k going to a barber... Every single time I go, my hair comes out different. At least, right now if I fu3k it up I have no one to blame but myself. Thanks to YouTube, you can learn anything nowadays.
Click to expand...

I can never get it right, and I see enough people during the day that the"raccoon cut my hair" look doesn't fly.


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