The mod said not to steer away from the topic, but my reasons are included in what the mod said shouldn't be discussed in this thread.

The justification that some people go through to justify tipping :D

Many food outlets enable online preordering and not standing in a queue, do you tip the person handing over the order. Isnt the point of all this to take the human factor out and increase margins so let the establishment pay a decent wage.

Tipping on iPad orders
 

I leave around 15-18%. The only thing thing the server doesn’t do is capture the initial order. Everything else is normal server duties. And I suspect they’re getting minimum wage. That’s probably why the default tip is 18% on the iPads I’ve used.

I do it simply to make someone's day and it's appropriate. Whoever referenced McDonalds servers who bring the food to your table...they are paid better than servers.

It's amazing how cheap some people are. Not frugal....CHEAP

I just don’t eat there
 

I hate these restaurants and refuse to give them any business.

I carry enough electronics. I don’t need another one in my face while I’m trying to eat.

You can’t pay cash in those restaurants.

I have special dietary needs and I doubt the glorified food runners have been trained on the menus.

My general thought is that in a full service restaurant, the bussers and others share in the tips. So I should leave something to cover the service I did get. If it's really impersonal (on the level of a busser just dropping off and clearing), a couple of $$ is fine. I'll often leave a dollar or two in a Smashburger or other "fastfood" restaurant that delivers to the table and clears after I order at counter. This is similar in my opinion. If a more personal level - someone checks on our satisfaction, explains menu, explains iPad, makes suggestions, a more normal level of tip is appropriate.

I would tip in an iPad place the same as I would in a buffet: Normally leave something but not the usual 15-20% in the USA. My standard would probably be 10% depending on whether there were drink refills etc. I wouldn't leave less than $1, but a $1 tip would seem like a lot for a nonalcoholic drink only.

I think it's only fair to split the tip between Tim Cook's iPad engineering staff and the restaurant waitstaff. Unless the iPad crashes or the server drops your food. Now if the server drops your food on the iPad, causing it to crash... that's a tough one since the iPad would ideally be engineered more robustly.

Of course, all this points to the future when the non-automated portion of restaurant service will be increasingly non-existent. What are the people who need to tip to feel better about earning much more than waiters while working less going to do then? Tip the robots?

I find the fact that tipping is expected very frustrating, and a problem with American culture and the way we compensate service workers (and don't get me started on sick leave and health insurance). But as someone who worked in those minimum wage jobs in the past and now is reasonably comfortable financially, I think giving 3 or 5 dollars to someone who is working very hard for not much money a good use of my funds. I don't if the service is terrible, but I spend more than that on stupid stuff every day. I try not to overthink it. If I'm wondering whether to tip, I tip, at least in the US.

I'm ok with 10% as long as they check up on me here and there and keep my drink filled.

You never tip at any restaurant? Or just at airports?

Tipping has little to do with job descriptions, and more to do with cultural expectations. In certain countries, your money would be returned to you if you tried to tip. In many more countries, it's a societal norm to tip. The OP has posed a valid question that is going to become very interesting as more and more automation comes to the restaurant industry. Theoretically, tipping should decrease in some way. But I'm not sure that "I ignore the cultural and societal norms" is going to help us figure out how to answer it.

The tip is for service. There are 4 areas of service provided by staff:
1) Answering my menu questions, taking my order and unrequested/requested suggestions
2) Bringing the food/drink to the table and making sure everything is correct (including condiments, etc)
3) Providing refills as appropriate and checking that everything was OK (temperature, taste, etc)
4) Cleaning (bussing) the table.

I generally give 20% when the service is good in all 4 areas.

Based on the OP's description of the iPad menu, given that all other elements were there, I'd say 15%. If no refills/checking then another 5% gone. Same with bussing the table.

This would be the same where I order from the counter. That doesn't count as "service" unless its exceptional.

The problem, of course, is that the tip is given PRIOR to the service. In that case, no tip on CC but appropriate cash tip left in a tip box, if any.

Counter workes such as McDonald's also make real minimum wage and sometimes $10 - 11 an hour. US wait staff typically are paid $2.13 an hour. Supposedly it's upped to minimum wage if they don't get tips to hit minimum wage, but that's pretty much a myth. They make what they make, and on some nights it really is $2.13 an hour.

I tip a minimum of 20% at every restaurant, $1 at Starbuck's, and nothing at McD's and other fast food joints.

What is the rationale for tipping $1 at Starbucks? They usually pay rather well.