When I get take-out from upscale restaurants for special occasions a few times a year, I’m always amazed by all the little containers of sauce.
One bistro in particular.
Each dish is packed separate from garnishes and sauces.
I usually pick up my order at the very beginning or end of the night, because it is fussy work for the kitchen.
I’ve noticed, in London Ontario and in Toronto, some restaurants don’t expect tip on take-out, so it’s a surprise when I’ve insisted, if the terminal didn’t give me an option. Others seem to expect 18 to 22 percent.
I’ve talked about this on a Toronto Food Reddit, and I’m guessing, out of Food Redditors in Toronto, probably half don’t tip at coffee shops, on take-out or delivery. Some Food Redditors become triggered by the topic. But some Food Redditors also become angry when a Breakfast Sandwich costs $12, or a whole pizza costs $22, so I take anger on Food Reddit with a grain of salt.
It’s become common at bakeries in Canada. No pressure to tip. A tip jar is there for people who want to tip, and the terminal might offer the option to tip.
My butcher, fish monger, greengrocer and cheese shop don’t have a tip jar.
Wow. I’m really an outlier. There are only four kinds of food that I buy takeout - Burgers, pizza, banh mi, and mediocre Chinese. I’m specifying mediocre, because for good Chinese food, I want to eat it in the restaurant. I don’t think I’ve ordered delivery in over 30 years, not even pizza.
Having set the context for my answer to the OP, then, I do not tip on takeout. I assume that those businesses, which are designed for a lot of takeout business (and some of them are takeout ONLY) have baked in the costs that the tip would otherwise cover. The last time I ordered delivery was for Spawn1’s 3rd birthday, and I did tip the driver. I remember this because I guess I was more generous than he expected. He broke into a huge grin when I gave him the receipt.
But it is getting more extreme as I have seen now at some smaller grocery stores (often specialized ethnic shops) that they have tip lines on their card reader - tip for what, that I shop in their place ?
That’s a little ridiculous. I will keep at eye out for that.
I round up at the Portuguese bakery in my neighborhood because I like even numbers on my statements, and I’m usually grabbing an espresso drink. I’m also sort of becoming a regular. I wouldn’t tip it I was only buying canned sardines from them.
Starbucks has added the tip encouragement option at the counter and drive through terminals. It’s interesting, because at some locations, the staff member has clicked to bypass the tip option, right to the total.
Other times, I’ve had a young staff member try to explain the tip option to me, encouraging me to tip them. Like I wouldn’t be familiar with an option to tip on a terminal. Now that the terminals have been around with the tip encouragement for a while, I’m getting less sales pitches for tipping at the drive thru. There is no tip option at Tim Hortons, Wendy’s, Burger King, McD’s, Mary Brown’s or Harvey’s yet.
Thank you for this.
I hate the tip system in the US, but until every restaurant changes, restaurants who eliminate tips and raise the price of food are going to lose customers.
And if restaurant customers don’t tip, servers are not making a living wage.
My refusing tip is not going to change the system, it’s just going to hurt the workers.
I never worked as a server, but during college I worked the graveyard shift 7 days a week for three months in the summer in a textile mill where ear protection was required so you couldn’t even talk to people except during your two 20 minute breaks a shift.
I worked in the textile mill because in the small North Carolina town where I lived, I made more per hour than I would have as a server in a town where it was illegal to serve or buy alcoholic beverages.
I’m on the side of the servers to get paid fairly. They didn’t invent the tip system and neither did restaurants who are currently open. In the US, it started after the Civil War as a way to exploit the labor of newly emancipated formerly enslaved people.
One person’s decision wouldn’t change anything but sometimes I wish that there would be nationwide initiative to not tip for a month. That would have a huge negative effect on the restaurant industry but sometimes you have to break a really bad system to urgently start a discussion within a society and change the system to something much better
A nationwide initiative to not tip for a month would have a huge negative effect on the servers, some of whom would not be able to pay their rent and another crucial expenses.
My practice has changed since COVID, so I thought a new reply is in order. I still stand by a “full” tip for me is when I am getting full service - attention to ensure my meal, food, and overall experience at a restaurant is at minimum good to the high end of memorable (in a good way).
For delivery, it varies by amount of food and how far away the place is from where I live. I don’t delivery very often. During COVID years, I know this was sustaining a lot of people as their primary source of income so I admittedly erred to more generous tipping to pay any kindness I could forward. My UberEats and other delivery meals now are fairly few and far between again.
For takeout, I am still mixed. Again, if I’m ordering a big, complex order, I lean towards tipping more. If someone’s bagging me a sandwich or a cookie or making me a drink, not so much. These cashiers are not making tons of money, so I’ll throw them a bone for a few bucks.
Which would require restaurants to step up their involvement if they want to keep being open - there is no easy way to change the system but I don’t think this tipping system will be sustainable for a longer time with the changing (business) environment over the last 4-5 years.
That doesn’t seem to account for what I perceive as an incentive to increase the minimum wage for those in industries that are used to depending on tips. It seems to me there are several states and cities moving in that direction, and maybe less down side for those in the service industries.
"Some examples of tipped employees include:
Bartenders,
Waiters,
Delivery drivers,
Hairstylists, and other positions — primarily in service industries."
But I guess that is grist for a different tipping thread. I did end up wondering what type of employee the counter guy at the cheese place in Oakland was considered. He told me he’d been there 6 months, so I’m guessing not the owner, but something like manager. Tough industry in Oakland right now. Minimum wage there is $16.89. He was apparently the only one there on both a Friday and a Saturday.
Yes Natascha, I am, for it’s exactly what they do. Their (the people and the country) choice and they allow it to happen. I can’t be a part of that demeaning method of payment so I don’t what to participate in such transactions.
Well, Apple, most of us didn’t set the rules of any given society, and simply try to do the best by those most vulnerable, which in this instant is tipping underpaid staff.
I’m sure there are things in your home country that you don’t agree with, yet aren’t able to change.
We can only do our best under the circumstances we are given
Would “they” be at the state or federal level? I am still learning about all the branches of the government here, but I am getting a handle on that one.
