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MSYtoJFKagain

No.

JBord

I suspect tipping uneven numbers will be the norm 10 years from now.

For a long time, we paid with cash, and uneven numbers was standard. Most people don't want to take the 17 cents change, so they leave it for the server, above what they tip in whole dollars.

Credit card tippers usually tip even numbers because people aren't good at simple math (hmmm what's 100 minus 34?).

But, as other have noted here, as the auto-tip functionality becomes more common, it will be uneven numbers even for credit cards. I've noticed it more frequently in taxis now when you pay with a credit card, and are given the choice to push one of three tip buttons, showing %. Interesting, the Uber app bucks this trend and shows whole dollar tip amounts instead...of which the highest choice is always ridiculously high.

tmiw

Interesting since I find that the math isn't difficult if you're tipping 20% (move the decimal point one place and double the amount). Of course, it might be more difficult if you want to tip a different amount.

As for tip amounts being prompted on the display, I'm not sure how common that'll ultimately be in the US, as restaurants in general aren't adopting pay at the table as they move towards chip acceptance. The only difference thus far in my experience has been what's mentioned on the receipt (e.g. "chip read" and the chip-related transaction data).

JBord

Agreed. I was responding specifically to those posts were rounding their total charge to the dollar. For instance, your bill is 33.21. 20% is ~$6.60. A lot of people will round that up to $7. But some people, including me, will occasionally round that to $6.79 to make their total charge $40.00.

It would be an interesting stat to see how many people in this situation would tip 6.60 and how many $6 or $7.

Plato90s

In my experience, the only time anyone ever mentioned it was a delivery guy who complained to me about tipping on the credit card when I added enough tip to make the total a round number for me.

He said it made the tip-count more difficult at the end of the day. Math is hard, I guess.

So I accommodated this guy. On future orders, I rounded down to make it an even number for him. He got less in tips, but hey - the math is easier.

teddybear99

Then actually, your total bill will be $40.10 and you are still not rounding to the dollar

I have seen many servers when faced with a bill in the lower quarter of the next dollar, give over change instead of giving coins. For example, my bill came to $35.20 and I gave a $50 bill. The server gave me back $15.00 instead of $14.80 with one $5 bill and 10 $1 bills. (S)he is hoping that you will give more than $5.00 in tip. Also I have had servers short change me the same way if the bill is in the upper half of the even dollar. These servers get less than the norm as I will usually deduct a full dollar or more from the tip. I like to collect coins, see previous post, and sometimes will take the loose change and just leave full dollar amounts which usually exceed the normal percentage.

writerguyfl

[Self-redaction of my entire comment.]

kipper

I generally tip on the post-tax bill, unless service was horrible.
I grew up not being allowed to use a calculator for simple math, so I can do "simple" math in my head.

JBord

LOL...I've proven my own point! Although this was just a typo...

kipper

I tipped three people today:

• Our server at lunch. She received a $12+tip, so the check rounded to the nearest dollar. She didn't complain.
• Our server for drinks. She received a $7.75 tip on a round of beers and waters. She thanked me quite a bit, offered additional waters, etc. She didn't complain about the $0.75.
• Our bartender at the fourth stop. He broke a $20 for me, when our check was going to be $19, giving me a $10, a $5 and five $1s. His was the only check that was a round number. He probably got shafted a bit because there wasn't any extra change to leave.

JBord

As a man (not carrying a purse), I always leave the extra change when I use cash. I make sure the round dollar amount is enough of a tip and leave the change. I don't want to carry around a pocket full of coins all day long. Honestly, the fact that I have to do that when I'm in Europe drives me crazy. Even at my haircut yesterday, when I paid with cash, the barber got an extra 25 cents in the tip because of this.

Either a) I have some type of psychological issue with coins, or b) this is probably a common practice, at least among people who don't use purses or some other type of bag.

The funny thing is if a server EVER complained about me leaving extra change, I'd just smile and pick it up off the table. They make less money, problem solved!

kipper

I don't mind carrying around change, but it is much easier to say, "Keep the change" rather than waiting for a server to scrounge up the coins.

milepig

I first read this as "nearest $100" and thought that you either eat at better places that I do or you're a very good tipper!!

My practice when paying by CC is to add about 18% (or more for great service) and then use the next highest dollar - so, to make it easy, if the bill was $100, that would be $18, and I'll just write $20 making the total $120.

When paying by cash I'll sort of do the same thing, hand the person $120 and say "keep the change" or "you're all set".

I think it would be rude to hand the person $120 and say "can I have $2 back, please"? Or, worst "50 cents" or even worse "64 cents."

If they grab the money and run to get change before I can stop them I'll tend to take away any small change and then use bills to make up the tip. I don't it "rude" but do find it "odd" to leave a bunch of loose change.

My mother, who was cheap beyond belief, would actually figure out exactly 15% and find the exact change. Even worse, she believed for some reason that you didn't tip on the tax. This whole thing just made it seem like a necessary chore as in "I don't like it, but I know I have to tip 15% but that's as far as I'm going" instead of "I had a really great time, thank you, here's a nice tip for you."

krazykanuck

I see no reason why you'd tip on the tax. I always go off the pre-tax total.

I've found a number of places will do this, and as somebody who has worked in a restaurant before, tills are very rarely 100% on. There's often an over/short and as long as its within a few dollars IME it's rarely an issue.