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Aug 13, 2023

OUR PERSPECTIVE: Has U.S. reached a ‘tipping’ point?

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story on the expansion of digital tipping

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story on the expansion of digital tipping requests at self-checkout kiosks at airports, coffee shops, restaurants and stadiums and the fuss it is causing.

The checkout machines are typically programmed with a range of possible tips – including no gratuity – but some customers have called that "emotional blackmail" since there is no interaction with another human.

The problem with tipping at a self-checkout is that there's no proof the money goes to an employee, Wall Street Journal reporter Rachel Wolfe told CBS News.

"Machine don't have the same protections as tipping human employees, so while the law requires that something called a "tip" has to go to employees, when you’re tipping a machine, you can't be quite so sure."

According to Moneywatch, tips have traditionally gone to waitstaff, bartenders and other service workers who earned the so-called "tipped minimum wage" – which has been set at $2.13 an hour where it has been for decades – and thus workers rely on tips to earn the balance of their income."

To be sure, tipping has long been controversial in the U.S. with disputes over what services should be tipped and how much that tip should be – although generally the tip for good service at a restaurant these days is 20%.

That gets murky when you’re dealing with a digital checkout at a self-service kiosk. News reports last week told the story of a customer at San Diego's Petco Park who took a beer from a self-service beer fridge and was prompted to pay a tip on his order. "I was confused, because it wasn't entirely clear who I was tipping," he said. He still tipped 20%. With beer prices ranging from $13 to $16 a beer at the home of the Padres, that likely boosted his kiosk tap by $2.60 to $3.20.

But, we’re sure the self-service beer fridge gave exceptional service.

The Padres told the newspaper all tips go to employees.

Another consumer at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey said he was asked to include a 10% to 20% tip on a $6 bottle of water at an On The Go gift shop at the airport. He said it was a "bit of emotional blackmail" and declined to tip.

There is a guilt factor with the rise of programmed suggested tips. No one wants to look like an insensitive cheapskate when it comes to paying service workers. But we have to admit we have winced a bit when the tip prompt came up at a local "Take and Bake" pizza store. Yes, they made the pizza to specifications – sausage and mushroom – but we had no sense of exceptional service, recommendations on the day's selections or directions to a good table. There were no tables. We could have picked the pizza out of a pre-made cooler.

To be clear, Wisconsin residents are not stingy about tipping, nor are we, and we appreciate the efforts of service workers – especially for excellent service. And we reward it.

Money Magazine, in a recent report, ranked Wisconsin ninth in the country in highest average tips at 20.3%. Delaware topped the ranking at 21.8%. The stingiest? California at 17.5%.

But the day we tip 20% for a beer that we pull out of a cooler by ourselves at an MLB baseball park is a long way away.

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