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You say "just" the psychological impact. Which is of course true, but I would leave out the "just" and emphasize that, yes, this is all about psychological imp
by hsitz 10y ago
You say "just" the psychological impact. Which is of course true, but I would leave out the "just" and emphasize that, yes, this is all about psychological impact. I go to these kind of POS restaurants/coffeshops all the time, and I can't recall one where it didn't have a tip screen. I know of several that are also set up so that "no tip" is not even one of the options, the only easy options you have are to select 10%, 15%, 20%, and if you want to leave no tip you have to select 'custom' and then set it to 0.00. This is all about psychological impact.
RE psychological impact: It has often crossed my mind, but I have never investigated, whether the employee on the other side of the POS screen sees whether I have entered a tip or not after I click 'DONE' and the screen is swiveled back around. My decisions are mostly based on thinking they can see this, and I would be less likely to leave a tip, or more likely to leave smaller tip, if I knew that they don't see this info.
- jghn 10y agoIf you try hard you can make it so they don't see it but usually they will. When I see people click through far enough to get to that point they almost universally have left 0% which IMO speaks to that psychological impact. They don't want to leave anything but feel bad not doing so. Me? I'm a sucker for those things. For one I admit that I don't want to seem like a cheapo, and then on top of it it's often at most a buck or two that we're talking about, not a big deal. So I fall for the scam and click the button that leaves money.
- nommm-nommm 10y agoNot only that but you've got people behind you in line who can see what you are doing, and you don't want them judging you! What if you we with a date, or a friend, or your boss or coworkers? They can see the screen and you want signal you are a good person to these people.
- dragonwriter 10y agoA good person, by the standards of tipping culture, tips appropriately after service; tipping before service destroys the link between service and tip that is the fundamental conceit of the tipping culture. Visibly tipping before service is not signalling that you are a good person.
- hsitz 10y agoThat is precisely the thing. The link between service and tip was the "fundamental conceit of tipping culture". But no longer. You simply tip for certain kinds of jobs (e.g., coffeeshop baristas) and not others (McDonald's cashiers). It is pointless to try to make sense out of it; it makes no sense.