3 ms·

Starbucks isn't taking anything; they are receiving from people who give willingly. If you choose to give them your money, you've got nobody but yourself to bl

by JackCh 8y ago

Starbucks isn't taking anything; they are receiving from people who give willingly. If you choose to give them your money, you've got nobody but yourself to blame. In the case of tip jars at counters you can't even blame social pressure, participating in such a scheme is completely voluntary and most people do not.

listenallyall 8y ago
Your argument is reductive. ALL tips are given willingly. Starbucks could, at any moment, bar individual stores from placing a tip jar at their registers. Just like McDonald's. No tips, no issue, no should I or shouldn't I?
- JackCh 8y ago
  Tips to wait staff are voluntary but have significant social pressure behind them. Tip jars at counters have no social pressure behind them. That's not reductive, that's just the practical reality of tipping culture in America. If you refuse to tip a waitress a very significant portion of the American population will consider you tantamount to a thief, a morally bankrupt person. Refusing to put your change in the tip jar doesn't even cause people to bat an eye. The social dynamics between these two scenarios are worlds apart. Ignoring these disparate social dynamics is reductive. If you're going to be outraged that Starbucks offers you the opportunity to tip people at the counter, perhaps I should feign outrage that you spend your money on starbucks instead of making your own coffee and giving the difference to the homeless. Starbucks has a significant profit margin after all; that is money you could be donating!
  - listenallyall 8y ago
    Your outrage would be misdirected, as I have not patronized Starbucks in many years. But among friends who do, they absolutely feel pressure to tip, especially when they see the same barista every single day. I'll trust them over you, thanks.
    - JackCh 8y ago
      > "But among friends who do, they absolutely feel pressure to tip," I'm pretty damn skeptical of that, since in America the vast majority of customers do not put anything in counter tip jars. Maybe you've got some sort of strange selection bias going on...

by JackCh 8y ago

listenallyall 8y ago

Your argument is reductive. ALL tips are given willingly. Starbucks could, at any moment, bar individual stores from placing a tip jar at their registers. Just like McDonald's. No tips, no issue, no should I or shouldn't I?

JackCh 8y ago
Tips to wait staff are voluntary but have significant social pressure behind them. Tip jars at counters have no social pressure behind them. That's not reductive, that's just the practical reality of tipping culture in America. If you refuse to tip a waitress a very significant portion of the American population will consider you tantamount to a thief, a morally bankrupt person. Refusing to put your change in the tip jar doesn't even cause people to bat an eye. The social dynamics between these two scenarios are worlds apart. Ignoring these disparate social dynamics is reductive. If you're going to be outraged that Starbucks offers you the opportunity to tip people at the counter, perhaps I should feign outrage that you spend your money on starbucks instead of making your own coffee and giving the difference to the homeless. Starbucks has a significant profit margin after all; that is money you could be donating!
- listenallyall 8y ago
  Your outrage would be misdirected, as I have not patronized Starbucks in many years. But among friends who do, they absolutely feel pressure to tip, especially when they see the same barista every single day. I'll trust them over you, thanks.
  - JackCh 8y ago
    > "But among friends who do, they absolutely feel pressure to tip," I'm pretty damn skeptical of that, since in America the vast majority of customers do not put anything in counter tip jars. Maybe you've got some sort of strange selection bias going on...