New tip jar design accepts credit cards, leaves you without excuse
In the good old days, back before the GOP had an official 2012 candidate and Jersey Shore was to live forever, if you didn’t want to give out cash you hid behind one ironclad excuse.
When prompted to tip, donate or hand change to a homeless person, it was simple: “Sorry, man. No cash. I’ll get you next time.”
Done and done. On your way.
At least … in the good old days. Now technology’s getting so good that even tip jars take plastic, rendering your cashless reasoning critically endangered.
Indeed, where guilt-free anti-tipping used to reign, one new invention from a New Yorker is threatening its existence.
*Bing: What country has the world’s best tippers?
Ryder Kessler, just 26, has unveiled the DipJar (above), a new credit card scanner shaped like a tip jar that makes gratuities near unavoidable for the average patron.
The DipJar, according to Kessler, was inspired just as you’d imagine – the inventor noticed the baristas at his local coffee shop often went without tips, patrons regretfully not having change to pass into a jar.
“Everyone was paying with credit or debit, so the tips had plummeted,” Kessler told the New York Post. “Baristas take really great care of me, and I didn’t like that they were working just as hard and making less money.”
So what was born was the DipJar, which is now at two locations in New York with surely more coming soon.
The DipJar has been both a hit and drag so far. One barista said people hardly use it. Another patron said it’s great because it encourages tipping when a gratuity wouldn’t have been passed along otherwise.
Skulduggery against those that don’t want to tip? Of course. Now there is no “I’m out of cash” justification anyone can use. But then, we suppose, the writing has been on the wall: last winter, the Salvation Army began accepting credit cards for donations at their street-side kettles.
Just one final question: how will the DipJar affect patrons from Quebec?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Mr. Negative | Sep 1, 2021 1:10:52 PM
now you won't here the excuse that you don't have any money, you will just hear "NO".
Don't get me wrong - a tip is a great thing - but when money is tight - tips get smaller and smaller. It is up to the food business to pay their employees more - not the customer.
There are a lot of food businesses that do extremly well, it is time they pass some of the profits forward to their employees.
Posted by: Steve | Sep 3, 2021 5:27:56 AM
Why not just pay the staff enough so they don't have to beg?
Just imagine a surgeon or Judge begging for tips and what kind of a message that would also be sending.
Posted by: Alexis | Sep 9, 2021 12:14:22 PM
I have no problem passing a tip jar by. I think tipping is a ridiculous custom anyways, because it all goes into a pool and is shared evenly. I don't think that's fair that someone whom has worked exceptionally hard has to share their tip with someone who hasn't done a good job. I can remember being at an Earls in Edmonton, hearing a girl complain that her customer had a $200 meal experience and left a small tip. Judging by her snotty attitude, I can see why the person left a small tip. We have left less than 15% at restaurants if our service was crappy, just like we have given 20% + if our service was great. A tip is a tip, and it should not be mandatory. I am seeing more and more tip jars, and I've even seen one at a clothing store before. These places need to start paying their employees better. I live paycheque to paycheque myself, I don't have the money to subsidize someone else's crappy paycheque, just because they made me what I ordered and paid for.
Posted by: Rob | Sep 9, 2021 3:53:29 PM
The tip jar is seen everywhere you go to small takeout lunch, coffee places.
At Starbucks you see it to but to be fair for the amount of monies spent they should ensure their employees are paid well and judging by the numbers they must be making monies. Yes, I use my Starbucks card, not cash.
Most of us who use our Debit Cards or CC normally are faced with a menu structure that prompts if you want to tip or not, so you do have the ability. In my favourite coffee place I go to relax and enjoy a small meal I'll normally add a tip as the staff are friendly , bring my meal to the table and chat at times. I do not use a percentage, just add a $1 or two as the meal is less then $12 , tip included.
The places where you pick up your own sandwich and bring it to the cashier, come on, what gives. In my grocery store I do not tip the cashier where I might pick up a ready made meal.
Tip Jar of this nature is utter madness gone wild. IMHO
Posted by: Erika | Sep 9, 2021 4:10:43 PM
I don't know about the states, but in Canada retailers have to pay a fee per transaction for credit card and debit services. It's often a percentage of large transactions and a flat rate on smaller ones (ever been to a retailer that charges a fee for small debit purchases?). Exactly how much of the tip would the staff actually be taking home?
Posted by: Ban Tipping | Sep 9, 2021 5:07:15 PM
The time has come for tipping to stop altogether. If you are not an exemplary employee, you can suffer the consequences of termination--simply put. The vast majority of working people do not expect nor ever receive a tip for doing their job with a smile and hard work.
If you are looking for thank you--how about a thank you card left with the bill for your efforts? This is likely the most any one of us outside of the service field have ever received. It would also mean that these tips are no longer an underground way to make money (i.e., non-declared earnings).
Posted by: Rob | Sep 10, 2021 12:59:21 AM
@Erika
Debit Card fees are in the 5c-20c range I believe while CC fees are a percentage of !-2+ % so you pint is valid if I buy a Starbuck plain java at $1.78 do I leave a $1.00, nope, do I leave 25c , perhaps but there goes part of it. If I use my CC as a lot do then .17c fee is a cheaper process perhaps
Fun stuff, back to cash