I think the expansion of tipping, to the point where every point-of-sale machine is asking for it, is a dark pattern. I highly doubt that those tips go directly

I think the expansion of tipping, to the point where every point-of-sale machine is asking for it, is a dark pattern. I highly doubt that those tips go directly to employees, like restaurant tips would, but almost certainly directly to the shop. I'm cynical but I see these new places where tipping has showed up as a way shopowners backhandedly raise prices and depress employee wages. And given that there is basically no human interaction, not even eye contact involved in the transaction, I'm not doing it.