Tipping at Starbucks, etc.
 

Why is it "cool" to tip at Starbucks or any other "in" place to get your coffee, why do their employees deserve a tip than those at any other fast food place, I doubt anyone tips at McDonalds, Burger King, Tim Horton's or any other fast food restaurant, and that is what Starbucks is, just a fast food coffee joint.

The way I see it, you tip for extra complicated service.

At BK or Dunkin Donuts, you're getting a cup of coffee... no pumps, no "skinny", no half-caf, no foam options. If you're getting a drip coffee at Starbucks, I don't think that a tip is necessary.

I drink iced tea, unsweetened, and therefore do not tip, unless i really don't want to carry around those leftover coins.

If I come in with 4 drink orders for my office mates, and 3 different forms of payment ... I'm more likely to leave a tip.

Never have nor will I ever leave a starbucks employee a tip. An extra pump on the vanilla bottle, frothing the milk, or whatever... It ain't rocket science and IMO, not deserving of a tip.

For the record, otherwise I'm a great tipper. The 'tenders at my local hangout always treat me well. Also just had a glass of house cab and an order of sliders at a new place while I dropped off and waited for my son nearby- bill= $10.70. I left $3 for the 'tender (not overwhelming, I know, but significantly more than 20%)
Again, a good tipper, I am but will never at a starbucks.

Happy to tip

I don't normally tip at any walk up counter, especially at my local Starbucks where they rin out of coffee at least twice a week. Is it really that tough to keep a fresh pot going all the time? They seem to handle this difficult feat at 7-11 without a problem.

Why is pouring a glass of wine any more tip worthy than making a frappucino?

Just wait.......we saw a tip jar at the cash register of a 7-11 while on vacation a few months ago........unbelievable! :eek:

When Starbucks employees start free-pouring booze into their stuff, I might consider tipping them. Heck, the booze might even make that over-roasted coffee taste better. :p

Cool? What...are we kids in school? ;)

If you want to tip, do so. I don't tip at Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or any like establishment.

Yes, many of them are :)

My favorite coffee shop also serves food. If I am eating a meal, I tip as usual.

I visit the Starbucks near my work 3-4 times a week. They know who I am, know my order, and will actually make my drink when they see me enter the store and have it ready by the time I get to the register. So I tip them for the extra service. Don't know if that's "cool". :cool:

No sure what you mean by extra service, they are doing what they would do whether they knew you as you walked in or didn't know you at all. No extra service here, really, just them getting your drink order for you quickly so you don't hold up the others behind you, just gets another customer out of their way and on there way, in and out the door fast.;)

Agree with falconred, disagree with sfo, if they provide extra personable and extra fast service that's worth rewarding/encouraging/thanking monetarily.

Whether or not it's hard or their job or a benefit to them somehow is beside the point.

And if you're going all the time and can encourage an extra positive experience, and the tip is reciprocated in extra good service, great ^

What I tend to object to is tipping for nothing/that doesn't get me anywhere compared to not tipping.

I know someone that stops in to a particular Subway 4-5 times a month. There's one person there that always remembers what kind of sandwich they like. Should that one employee be tipped as well?

:confused:

Of course.

We're not talking tipping 20% here people. We're talking pocket change, quite literally. People working service industry jobs behind a counter are already underpaid enough. I figure if I can afford to be buying a $4 coffee, I can afford to throw a few quarters in their tip jar (assuming the service is friendly).

I can tell you from experience working behind a counter, it really does feel good when someone tips you. Many people don't, so when someone takes the time to show a little appreciation it can really brighten your day. I've even had someone give me a $20 on a $4 order. Not that I'm at all advocating that, but it wouldn't kill you to throw 50 cents in the jar. ;)

if my coffee is $3,80 and i give $4, i would now insist to get my 20 cents back, this is not worth it. the people dont earn so much money so it should be ok to give something.
at mcd there is an extra box for some african children support, i always put my change in there.

… because my favorite bartenders will make me laugh on even my most difficult days (and there are a lot of ‘em lately), give me the latest bar gossip, comment on chicks with, and best of all- comp me drinks, among other things.

What will I get from the 23 yr. old Starbucks server? Exactly what I ordered… absolutely nothing more.

If I happened to have any loose change in my pocket I'd probably toss it in just to get rid of it, but I try to put everything on a credit card. I've begun noticing a "tip" section on the credit card slips at some fast food places recently, which is annoying only because it means I have to rewrite the total price after crossing out the "tip" line.

Who pays cash or carries coins? Unless it's Presidential Dollar coins. :D

African children support, a needy and worth cause, as are others that one sees sometimes at fast food establishments, and I would not hesitate in throwing my small change in the box for them, Starbucks employees do not fit the same bill, certainly don't have jar for extra coins for needy groups, guess they don't want the competition.

When paying cash (which is seldom), I generally leave my change. I agree that they generally did nothing special to earn it, but they do appreciate it and hopefully will keep motivated to do a good job.

I think one of the reasons people tip is in this country, we really seem to hate coins, especially non-quarters. I find loose change, especially pennies, everywhere. Left in bins at check-points, on top of tables after people finish quick meals etc. When I worked for Enterprise, I'd find coins in the cupholder in at least 25% of the returned rentals.

The cups are there, people think "I don't want these coins anyway" and dump them in. Personally, I don't tip because I like carrying change, it's how I finance my weekly Powerball habit :D

As is often the case, we agree. ^

Growing up in New York City, I never saw tipping of counter employees in delis, coffee shops, etc. The general rule was that if you had waiter/waitress service, you tipped but if you had carryout or self-service you didn't.

Then, Starbucks arrived along with the tip jar. My solution is to always pay by card and in that way, I have no loose change. In fact, SBUX actually encourages this non-cash transaction by the use of their "rewards cards."

This "tip jar" mentality has gone so overboard that I know a car wash that has tip boxes at the start, at the end, and to put the icing on the cake, at the cashier! "Yes, Miss, you did such a good job of taking my money, here's a dollar for you."

As pointed out in Message #23, I usually don't get change when I buy coffee at SBUX because of their card system.

Really? At SBUX? My health insurance costs me almost $1,100 a month. They get it for free. I think doing a job for which a high school diploma is the only educational requirement and getting such a benefit is quite good.

On the other hand, some people, especially in this bad economy, figure that if they have to tip, they can't afford the products at SBUX.



I'm the consumer. It's not my job to make the employees feel good, rather, it's the reverse. That said, I have a great relationship with the staff at my neighborhood SBUX simply by being friendly.

I see the tip cup at places like Bagelboys , unless I need to get rid of the change they gave me. at starbucks or anyplace like that I never leave tips.

Isn't it odd how things vary.

Pret a Manger in the UK, to give one example, allow their staff to give customers occasional freebies, to thank them for their custom. There's pretty much zero expectation in the other direction (and it's a company that still seems to be able to recruit some of the most helpful fast food staff in the country).

To me tipping is a bribe and I don't go to Starbucks enough for a bribe to make a difference. I try not to go to coffee shops in the US anyway, they are overpriced and usually poor quality anyway. Heck Starbucks barely qualifies as a coffee shop anyway, it is more like a dessert shop for most folks.

I tip for good service.

No service = no tip

Getting your coffee (or food) at a counter = no service. That is called self-service.

What about going to buffett in the US? Why do you have to leave tip on the table, or at the carving station, or at the dessert station?

I live in Scandinavia and tipping is not a custom. I absolutely agree that tipping is a bribe - because the person who serve you do a bit more than it's required and that he/she is expecting something in return.

Generally agreed, though I'll give a tip in this case if the person was especially helpful.

I can only speak for myself. In a buffet, we leave a small tip for the people who clear the table after you leave and often ask you for beverage refills and other misc. needs.

Like it or not, tipping is customary in our culture. To some degree it is is a bribe. It is a carrot on a stick. I have heard that the term "tip" originally meant To Insure Promptness.

I'm curious to see as to who considers tipping at Starbucks as "cool". I imagine people tipping who like their stuff really custom "No blah blah, add this and that, add half of that etc" This way I see that tip is deserved since you wanted your stuff made almost to "perfection".

But even then I wouldn't tip all the time for service like that.

Who gets tipped vs. who deserves a tip is perplexing. Its expected at bars, starbucks, sit down restaurants, etc., but someone that is working like crazy at McD's somehow doesn't deserve a tip. Watch the opening scene in Reservoir Dogs.

Tip cups do seem annoying but I usually put a little something in.

I dislike the employees that stuff a $10 or $20 bill in their tip jars in order to create a false impression that someone was that generous.

I will leave pennies in these tip jars/boxes/whatever, that's as much tipping as I'll do at a Starbucks.

Starbucks sells its products based on the idea that they can be made your way at no extra charge. In fact, they even had a special website a while back showing something like 32,000 possible different ways you could order beverages.

I am not tipping one penny to someone for doing what he or she is supposedly trained to do.

Tipping at a bakery
 

This past weekend at the local Farmers Market in Bellingham two other older guys and myself were in line to buy a pretzel a $3 item. Each guy put a dollar or more (change) into one of the tip jars at the small counter they were tipping a lady for reaching in to a counter grabbing a pretzel sticking into a bag and handing it to them then ringing up the sale.I was bewildered

People come up with excuses for being cheap all of the time. Here in the USA we tip, it's expected and it's built into the salary structure. Elsewhere, service is either included or added on automatically.

Plain and simple, it's expected, the employee is being paid as though he's being tipped and, if you can afford a cup of coffee, you can afford an extra 50 cents for the barista.

But that comes back to the question someone posed earlier - if you tip at Starbucks, why don't you tip at Burger King? They are both doing the same job, serving you food / drink while you stand and wait for it, and then take it away, or drink/eat at the table in store. I don't see how it can be either included or added on automatically when the Burger King staff make minimum wage.

I tip at Starbucks only if the person who takes my order is unusually friendly or attentive. However, I do tip at my local doughnut store (SC Doughnuts in San Clemente, CA -- the BEST doughnuts!). It's family run, the whole family knows me by name and makes a point of welcoming me when I come in (I'm not the only customer for whom they do this). They know my order and prepare my latte and cinnamon roll without my having to ask, and we'll even do so while they help another customer (not a regular) who came in before me.