RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Las Vegas - 19 January 2023
1. Wide inside Good Pie pizzeria
2. Close of slice of Sicilian-style pizza
ANNOTATION: As more businesses adopt digital payment methods, customers are being prompted to tip more generously and at places they normally wouldn't.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York - 18 January 2023
3. Close of digital tip screen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Las Vegas - 19 January 2023
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Vincent Rotolo, owner of Good Pie in Las Vegas:
"Any time you have a suggested tip amount, whether it's on a printed bill or whether it's on a computer screen and you press, it's always going to make it easier for a customer to want to make a gratuity."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York - 18 January 2023
5. Mid of etiquette expert Thomas Farley walking on sidewalk
ANNOTATION: Experts say the digital requests can produce social pressure and are more difficult to bypass.
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Thomas Farley, etiquette expert known as Mister Manners:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY OVERLAID++
"It's difficult when you're staring at an LCD screen with three giant percentages and then a red 'no tip' at the bottom to select that no tip, particularly when that the server who's just handed you your food is going to be looking at the screen seconds after you push that button."
7. Close of digital tip screen
8 SOUNDBITE (English) Thomas Farley, etiquette expert known as Mister Manners:
++SOUNDBITE COVERED++
"Suddenly we are being prompted into what I call a guilt tip. So we know the guild trip, this is the guilt tip."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago - 19 January 2023
9. Wide of customers seated inside coffee shop
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rosemont, Illinois - 20 January 2023
++SOUNDBITE COVERED++
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Avella, instructor, DePaul University School of Hospitality:
"Tipping went from service industry, restaurants, salons. All the sudden, everyone seems to be wanting to get tipped."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York - 18 January 2023
11. Close of digital tip screen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rosemont, Illinois - 20 January 2023
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Avella, instructor, DePaul University School of Hospitality:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY OVERLAID++
"That screen is prompted because that company that sold the was set up to ask for a tip. It's okay not to tip."
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Avella, instructor, DePaul University School of Hospitality:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY OVERLAID++
"I go buy a pair of socks, whatever it is. I get rung up, the screen's flipped over, there's a suggested tip amount. I hite no tip, because why am I tipping? Why am I tipping at the counter for a service that's not being done?"
14. Close of digital credit card reader
Across the country, there's frustration brewing over the ever-presence of tipping.
Some fed-up consumers are complaining about tip requests at drive-throughs, while others say they're tired of being asked to leave a gratuity for a muffin or a simple cup of coffee at their neighborhood bakery.
As more businesses adopt digital payment methods, customers are automatically being prompted to leave a gratuity at places they normally wouldn't.
And some say it has become more frustrating as the price of items has skyrocketed due to inflation, which eased to 6.5% in December but still remains painfully high.
For workers, though, the surge in tip requests is a welcome development.
Tips at full-service restaurants grew by 25.3% in the third quarter of 2022, while gratuities at quick or counter service restaurants went up 16.7% compared to the same time in 2021, according to Square, one of the biggest companies operating digital payment methods.
Data provided by the company shows continuous growth for the same period since 2019.
Unlike tip jars that shoppers can easily ignore if they don't have spare change, experts say the digital requests can produce social pressure and are more difficult to bypass. And your generosity, or lack thereof, can be laid bare for anyone close enough to glance at the screen — including the workers.
Traditionally, consumers have taken pride in being good tippers at places like restaurants, which typically pay their workers lower than the minimum wage in expectation they'll make up the difference in tips.
But academics who study the topic say many consumers are now feeling irritated by automatic tip requests at coffee shops and other counter service eateries where tipping has not typically been expected, workers make at least the minimum wage and service is usually limited.
Mike Avella, general manager of Murray Brothers Caddyshack restaurant in Rosemont, Illinois, and an instructor at DePaul University's School of Hospitality, says tips are appropriate and needed in full-service restaurants where servers actively serve guests, but not appropriate in some of the places where digital tip screens are popping up.
Digital payment methods have been around for a number of years, though experts say the pandemic has accelerated the trend towards more tipping.
As tip requests have become more common, some businesses are advertising it in their job postings to lure in more workers even though the extra money isn't always guaranteed.
Regardless, some consumers might continue to shrug off the tip requests.
AP Video shot by Ty O'Neil, David R. Martin and Teresa Crawford
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