My hot take on why tipping is a terrible customer experience...

Happy Tuesday! Today I want to discuss a topic with you that may be controversial, but here me out: tipping has become a terrible customer experience.?

Anyone else feel confused these days about when and how much you’re expected to tip?!?

Let’s discuss!

Brittany

Do I really need to tip for this?

A few nights ago, my husband and I took our two boys to the Nashville Sounds baseball game.?

I ordered burgers and chicken fingers for the four of us from one of those overpriced food stands inside the stadium. When I waved my card to pay for the $60 tab, the tablet prompted me to tip 20%, or $12. Instead, I tipped $3. My friend got two Dasani water bottles from one of the stands and was also prompted to tip.

A few minutes later when I got my son Dippin’ Dots from another stand, the suggested tip was $1.75. I ended up tipping a dollar. In the fifth inning when I got the kids cotton candy, I ignored the tipping prompt and left $0. Surely the $8 I paid for a product that probably cost less than 40 cents to make was enough to cover generous labor, right?

When we stopped by the pro shop on our way out to purchase hats and t-shirts for the boys, I was floored when, yet again, the tablet asked me to tip. What’s next, tipping at Target and Whole Foods?

I was hit up for the same 20% when I placed a take-out order at Olive Garden a week ago. Because I added some frozen, next-day entrees (which you should 100% do, by the way!), the order came to $70. A $14 tip for an order I was driving to the restaurant to pick up myself??

I bet you’ve encountered the same thing recently, as more locations go cashless and more transactions are happening in apps and at card readers.?

If a waiter is taking care of you — presumably a waiter whose hourly rate may be below minimum wage — I’m all for encouraging a healthy tip. But 20% tips for takeout? Does that seem excessive to anyone else?

I don’t have a problem with baristas or other food service employees increasing their chances of getting tipped on the point-of-sale tablets, especially with fewer people using cash these days. But to preselect a 20% tip by default (with the other options often being 25%, 30%, or ‘other’) and awkwardly make the customer switch their preferred amount isn’t a great customer experience.?

Why? You’re putting your customers on the spot and can make them feel super-uncomfortable when they press “no tip” or “10%” and turn the tablet back toward the cashier. It’s such a buzzkill way to end an otherwise positive interaction.?

I’ve even walked away from these situations questioning myself, like have I always been expected to tip 20% minimum at Starbucks? Maybe the dollars I’ve been throwing in for my ice teas all these years have been insufficient?

So much of customer experience comes down to how you make your customers feel. Loyal readers may remember the easy formula I shared for measuring customer interactions. In short, after interacting with your business, customers will either feel better, worse, or unchanged from when they started.

If people leave most interactions with you feeling better than when they came, you will naturally build a reputation as someone people want to do business with.?

If your customers leave feeling confused, awkward, or frustrated, you’re less likely to create superfans. No detail is a “small” detail, including if and how you frame tipping.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a generous tipper and gift-giver, and I’m certainly sensitive to the staffing shortages that are hurting businesses right now. But amazing customer experience begins with amazing employee experience, and that means paying your employees not just a fair wage, but a great wage. When you do that, they’re going to deliver better service to your customers, and customers will be compelled to tip because they want to, not because they feel pressure from a Square reader.

Tipping in America is a highly flawed system anyway, if you think about it. Businesses set costs artificially low so they can pay employees less and then expect customers to make up the difference? It’s so strange. Why should someone’s earnings be tied to the generosity of the customers they encounter? (Hint: it shouldn’t!)

Plus, tipping amounts seem so arbitrary. Why does the same app that prompts me to tip 20% to pick up my own take-out suggest a much-lower tip for a delivery driver?

If you’re anything like me, you always try to be generous and leave more than is expected, especially when so many businesses are experiencing staff shortages. But constantly being peppered to give more for less (e.g. 20% for take out or counter service) is annoying and detracts from the customer experience. It can also make your customers opt to spend less with you in the future.

We went to another Nashville Sounds game on Sunday night (two in one week) and, instead of shelling out $60 plus tip for ballpark food, we fed the kids at home. The frozen pizza was just as tasty (shout out to Home Run Inn Pizza, the best in the world!), and I was spared the awkward experience of pressing extra buttons on the card machine at the ballpark.

For all those customers who are just as confused as me on tipping, here’s my internal rule book for when and how much to give:

• Seated restaurants with full service: 20% or more of full amount (including tax)
• Takeout restaurant: $2-4 per order
• Food delivery: $5 or more plus service fees
• Hotel housekeeper: $2-$5 per night
• Valet: $2-$5
• Coffee shop: $1 per drink
• Ice cream shop $1 per order
• Salon services: 20%?
• Uber/Taxi: A few dollars
• House cleaners: $20/visit
• Retail clothing store: Nothing
• Professional services: Gifts or cash during the holidays

What are your personal tipping habits? Let me know if I missed anything!

"Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement."?

– James Cash Penney, Founder J.C. Penney Stores

If you’re looking for more ways to be customer-centric, check out my latest blog post: Customer Centric Marketing: 4 Strategies You Need to Know.

Have a great week and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!