Why the f*ck are we tipping for everything now?

Welcome Back!!

We’ve all been there… You’re craving a coffee, but you know it’s a little pricy. Regardless, you say “screw it!”. You get in the car and head to the cafe.

You go to the cash register and start placing your order but then all of a sudden BANG…

The person you’re ordering from turns the iPad around and asks if you'd like to leave a tip of 18%, 20%, or 25%.

You REALLY wanna click “no tip” but you don’t wanna be an asshole, so you click the lowest one. And just like that, they got you…

We have officially reached the point of “tip-flation”.

We live in a world where everyone has “no money” but yet we have enough money to go grab a coffee and tip every single time. We need to talk about how much of an affect this is having on us and our finances…

Why Tipping Actually Exists

Let’s quickly talk about WHY tipping exists.

So there is minimum wage, and then there’s TIPPED minimum wage. Tipped minimum wage has been stuck at $2.13 an hour for over 25 years. Restaurant owners are only required to pay tipped employees $2.13 per hour, and then the rest of their pay comes from tips. Which makes sense! 

So tipping wasn't born out of generosity. It was born from a system that lets restaurant owners pay their servers almost nothing and pass the rest of the bill onto the customer. When a server is running your food, refilling your water, managing your entire table for two hours straight, they are earning that tip.

I totally understand that servers, bartenders, and valet drivers are underpaid. I get it. So tipping them, makes the most sense.

Here Comes the Bullsh*t

Now that you understand tipped minimum wage, what about the Starbucks employees that ask us for tips?? How much do they make per hour?? The average Starbucks employee makes between $15-$24 an hour.

How have we gotten to a point where we tip people that are WAY ABOVE the tipped minimum wage???

Oh I know!

In the mid 2010’s, Square slowly started gaining popularity and alot of businesses began to implement it.

For those that don’t know, Square is the name of the tablet that they flip and ask you to tip on. 

Square gave every business in America the ability to flip a screen at you and guilt you into tipping. And now we're tipping for... everything.

But there’s a catch to this, these businesses actually diversify the money you tip them. So the barista that handed you your drink does NOT get all the money you tipped. It gets split across the staff. And last time I checked, it is not our job to pay an entire staff their paycheck. The company that employs them already pays them.

The Crazy Math

Here's what the guilt costs you if you say yes every time. Let’s say you go out to coffee shops 3-4 times per week and tip $3-$4 each time. That adds up to roughly $500-$800 a year. That's actual money leaving your account because a screen made you feel like a bad person for five seconds.

Tipping people who genuinely earn it is one of the most Responsible Adult things you can do. But letting a tablet guilt you into tipping for a smoothie is just insane.

We are not anti-tip around here, but we are very much anti-manipulation.

What Would Stack do?

Stack keeps it simple. If he received a full service, he tips. No question.

And some people may disagree, that’s okay! 

This isn't about being cheap or being a jerk. It's about what tipping was actually designed for. It was made to compensate service workers who depend on it because their base wage was designed to be unlivable. When you tip everywhere for everything, you're not being generous. You're being pressured.

ALSO!!!!

Responsible Adults also follow the Responsible Adult Instagram 🤣 If you guys haven’t already, there’s tons of daily content being posted on the Responsible Adult IG that Stack and I would love for you to check it out.

Go be a Responsible Adult and have the best day ever! ❤️ 

Mikey (& Stack 🦥)