I ran into a retail shop at the Austin airport that requires a tip when paying by credit card. This isn’t a sit down restaurant with table service. You pay at the counter, and I was buying a bottle of water.
My upgrade wasn’t going to clear so I decided to stop at the store closest to my gate to buy a bottle of water. The payment terminal at the concession requires you to select a tip amount prior to processing your card.
- They suggest amounts like 20% and 25%, but you can go to the extra effort for a custom tip aount
- The terminal would not accept $0.00. You must tip at least $0.01.
You can call me cheap if you want but when did we start tipping for bottles of water to go?
To be clear the terminal would not allow payment to proceed until a tip amount other than $0 was chosen. $0.00 would not submit. Staff confirmed this. As soon as the amount was changed to $0.01 payment was permitted. I’m also not the only one to report this:
I was at this exact location earlier today and the system forced me to give a tip so I gave 1 cent because it was the only way to proceed with the transaction. Very uncool
— Kris Reyes (@SantaCruzWoo) January 19, 2023
Maybe I should have boycotted that shop, but if I’d gone elsewhere I’d still be paying the same company, Delaware North! You aren’t usually doing business with a local brand when you walk into a store at the airport, regardless of the store name. You’re usually dealing with a company like OTG (iPads!), Delaware North, or HMSHost. The airport, for its part, promised to “check[..] on this.”
You might think ‘the employees just make a couple of bucks an hour and rely on tips’ and I’m being unfair to those workers thinking that the store should take some of the margin on their $4 water bottle to pay them But, in fact, starting salary is $20 an hour.
Tipping is out of control in the United States. Being presented a terminal requesting a tip, where you have to go through hoops to avoid tipping, while standing in front of the employee – when it’s not an activity that traditionally involved tipping at all – is a huge turn off as a customer. And I’m going to go out of my way to avoid dealing with these merchants in the future.
Unfortunately at the airport concessions companies are given a monopoly, which isn’t good for passengers but makes lives easier for management at the airport and often fills political coffers like in St. Louis, Baltimore, and Atlanta.
Shakedown
@Gary: One workaround. Austin has bottle fillers (usually located between the restrooms), right? Take an empty bottle and fill it.
Was just connecting through ATL today and bought a water bottle ($5.50). Same thing in that the credit card reader suggested a tip. This was just a grab and go by a gate. The options were $1, $2, no tip or customize. I pressed no tip and the woman working there didn’t seem to mind. Even she probably thinks that is crazy.
I believe instead of entering an amount you can press the Green Enter button the skip the screen.
Pay cash.
What’s next, tipping at Self Checkout!
@Anthony
I’ve seen one of OTG’s self check outs ask for a tip in a grab and go location at EWR. Absolutely ridiculous.
Culture or tipping gone crazy. This country is just a nuts case.
Raise your hand if you believe that the tip money will actually go to that employee behind the counter. Anyone?
This is why I carry cash.
Cash is king.
By the way, are the payment terminals throughout the airport all like this, since it’s a monopoly?
Oh andI hope you didn’t Harris the front line employee. I doubt they ordered or built or programmed the terminal…..
One of the self-serve checkouts in IAH asked me for a tip last month when I bought a bottle of water. Ridiculous.
I don’t see the problem. You still have the opportunity to cancel the transaction, use cash, or shop elsewhere.
A disclosure would be nice, but red Texas doesn’t like regulations in the interest of consumers, so the voters are getting what they asked for. If you don’t like it, you have to do your part to tell the market you reject this practice. Shop elsewhere or bring a water bottle.
@Uncle Jeff: It is a monopoly. Read the article before commenting.
In TX we deal honestly — that is why we don’t want the govt. interfering.
You could always dispute the charge with the credit card issuer on the grounds that this was forced on you and you received nothing. A deceptive trade practice. Make them work to get their penny.
File a formal, public record complaint with the D.O.T. As airports are ultimately under regulatory control with the F.A.A., a public record formal complaint will certainly light a fire under Delaware North (if they are indeed the operator of the concession), and their legal counsel to respond swiftly. An informal resolution by the F.A.A. to re-program the P.O.S. devices with the option not to tip will most likely be the outcome.
I’m somewhat surprised that the P.O.S. devices were set-up as a default with a requirement to tip. It would be interesting to know if the employees receive any of the tips collected. If so, how are they distributed? It appears the workers have a bargaining agreement negotiated by Unite Here Local 23. Could language for a share of the tips be included within their bargaining agreement?
If so, tipping must NEVER be forced upon the customer who chooses to use a credit and or debit card for payment. Do those who pay cash, are they required to tip before receiving change?
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
Scammers
That doesn’t sound legal.
Class action lawsuit. Do it.
I Don’t think the mandatory tip would go over well in a court of law.
BTW I am prepared to die of thirst vs. being extorted.
Those payment terminals feel very awkward where are prompted for a tip while employee is in your face staring, for takeout food orders and such, feels almost shameful to press “No Tip” in front of them even on a $2 self serve coffee at a local shop.
Who’s more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?
St. Louis, Atlanta, Baltimore…. this ex-TWA crew member knows exactly what you are talking about “Political Coffers”. Too bad our current society won’t let us have a discussion on this graft.
(sorry folks you have to read between the lines here)
The constant shakedown continues…
On the one hand, that’s obnoxious.
On the other hand, kind of hard to care about what happens to someone nitwit who’s paying $3 for a few sips of water when he’s 20 feet from a water fountain.
@Luke I agree, and the most frustrating part to me is it’s not even pretending to be logical either. The whole point of a tip is to reward someone for great service. Drives me crazy that a coffee shop or deli wants to shame me into giving a “tip” when I haven’t even tried the food or drink yet. What if they spit in your coffee and gave it to you cold? Too bad, you already tipped them $2 for “great service”
???!!???
It reminds me of all of these new delivery services—they make you tip before ever receiving your item, with their responsiveness depending on how much you tip.
The tip scam disease, which was a restaurant exclusive until COVID, is now spreading everywhere.
Those types of POS are common and I see them in all sorts of stores now.
They are mostly tablet/iPad based.
The programming is made by the business owner/manager, so if they don’t have a “no-tip” option then it is purposely designed to be a scam.
Another problem that is becoming a big issue and helped by those POS is the added fee when you pay with a card. I see more and more stores doing that.
Thanks Gary. Most folks don’t have the clout to get the Austin Airport’s attention.
Appreciate you calling them out on this crap, not sure that the Austin City Council will care about this anymore than the other issues we have in town, but thanks anyways and please keep it up.
Another point of sale scam is the “donate to the troops” buying additional snack items during checkout at airport mark up prices for the USO club. They don’t offer to sell the donated item wholesale …..
I’m so cheap I buy a giant water bottle before the trip and bring the empty bottle through security. Then I fill it up at a water station.
Recently I was with a group of friends at IAH waiting for our flight to EZE and we went to a Mexican restaurant near the gate for dinner as we were early. The restaurant is all self ordering on their table top devices and after I entered the food choices for the 4 of us the bill total jumped sharply.
I went what happened? A deeper dive into the bills math showed that the computer DEFAULTED to an 18% tip and we had not even seen a human yet!!
I changed the tip to $5 and shortly a human appeared with our food. She put it down on the table and departed with not so much as a word to us.
Yes – this should be outlawed and it’s sure not teaching a good work ethic to the employees.
Spence
@L3 it’s not a monopoly. You’re free to use another airport or another mode of transportation (e.g., driving), or better yet, just bring your own bottle.
This is what your so-called TX honesty looks like. People are so focused on marketing their ignorance as some sort of holier-than-thou behavior, when in reality they’re oblivious to the obvious — in this case, the impact of single use plastic bottles. So rather than bringing their own and using the government-provided (gasp!) fill station, they’d rather support a big, mega corporation, create additional plastic waste, and pay $5.50 + tax + mandatory tip for water they can otherwise get for free.
Enjoy your bottle of honesty, my friend.
This was brought up somewhere in the comments so I researched… here is the relevant portion of the labor contract between the workers and Delaware North concerning tips:
F. Tip Jars. The Company agrees that in any facility where tip jars are
currently used the practice shall be allowed to continue. Cashiers shall
be allowed the use of tip jars as long as there is no rule prohibiting the
use of tip jars by the respective airport.
The Union and Management must come to a mutual agreement
regarding the type of tip jar to be used in those locations.
G. Credit card transactions which have a signature line included shall
have a printed line on the receipt for customers to write in a tip if they
so choose. The full amount of that tip shall be given to the employee.
One other interesting note from the addendum letter for AUS is that the company will pay for employee parking and each shift provide a $10 meal voucher (at time of agreement, could have escalated in last 3 years) plus unlimited fountain drinks.
DELEWARE NORTH, free fountain drinks, where do I apply?
@Uncle Jeff: You don’t even know how to define the relevant market. Stop pretending to be an economist. You are a quack.
FOR THOSE WHO SAID GREN BUTTON IS NO TIP…THATS NOT THE CASE AT A STARBUCKS IN HOUSTON. THE CLERK PRESSES IT FOR YOU, MAKING IT LOOK LIKE SHE’S “RELEASING” YOU FROM TIPPING, BUT INSTEAD IT DEFAULTS TO A PRE-SELECTED 15% !!
ALSO THOSE WHO SAID “CASH IS KING”, SEVERAL PLACES ARE NO LONGER TAKING CASH. (PERHAPS TO FORCE YOU TO TIP WHEN USING CREDIT CARD).
I PREFER TO ONLY TIP WHEN YOU WAITED ON ME AND BROUGHT STUFF TO MY TABLE. OTHERWISE IT SHOULD JUST BE CONSIDERED “CASH N CARRY”!!
There’s one dumber than having to tip. Paying $4 for a bottle of water
Stop giving these companies your money
No, I do not want to round up my change at PANDA EXPRESS.
No, I do not want to contribute to whatever charity while buying my groceries at SAFEWAY.
No, I do not want to…..
I used to be intimidated when they’d swing the ipad around for me to sign…and tip.
Then I got smart.
All of them now get the same zero tip.
And I so own it.
I am the boss of the transaction, not them.
These vendors know most people just click random buttons especially when they are distracted and not paying attention. The vendors also know most people will just hate it but won’t do anything about it. And they know it will take regulators several years to start up investigation. I was getting coffee to go the other day and they implemented a new register that defaulted to 20% tip. If you wanted no tip it required many many clicks and not always obvious what you need to do and I’m a super nerd. So now I am defaulting to 0 tip across the board. People clearly needs to learn the hard way. I can be annoying too.
This is infuriating (probably illegal since you apparently had no choice) but even more infuriating is the idiots who without a second thought tip for anything and everything regardless of whether any meaningful, personal, exceptional service was given. I was at the coffee shop with my wife getting her latte fix. It’s a $3.5 takeout cup of coffee. It takes about 60 seconds to make, including the froth design. I am presented at the terminal with all kinds of crazy options, so I do as I always do, choose zero. If the clerk looks at the terminal while I’m selecting it I don’t give a shit. But the last time I went, I decided to pay attention to the people in front of us in line, assuming most would do the same and skip the tip. But I see two buck tip (so what, 50%?) from the gal in front of us. a college student spending her parents’ money. I see a buck here, three bucks there, so on a percentage basis it looks like 30-60% is not uncommon for small purchases. It’s out of control. I think they must be taking in at least $50 an hour just from tips. Just for doing their jobs. Anyone who tips in these situations deserves what they get, which will be more and more demands.
Whether I get my upgrade or not, I still carry an empty Contigo bottle through security. A seasoned flyer should know this…
To me the saddest part is that the author didn’t stand outside the stand and warn every single potential customer approaching the stand of their scam. I would have made that my mission until the last minute that I had t catch my flight. So may people have no backbone and just go along with this crap. It’s no wonder the country is in the mess it is…
Just was talking about this today. I live in Socal. Tip jars in the make your own yogurt shop. Gas stations. Even a 7-11. My fav breakfast place got the screens after Covid. First , the minimum started at 10, rose to 15, then 18 now is 20%. I stopped going there and I yelped it. Also, cashier’s now don’t give out small amounts of change. I don’t care if it’s 2cents like yesterday, I made the cashier open the drawer again and give it to me.
YES I want my change. BTW, I make a good living, and up until 2 years ago was always a 20% or more tipper. Now I’m a cheap cranky bastard.
Yes absolutely bring an empty bottle through security. You drink whatever you have on the way to the airport… water, Gatorade, iced tea, juice, etc and then fill it up with water once you get past the gatekeepers
The sad part is that this is starting to catch on outside of the US now… expected tips have increased in Canada, europe, and South America now.
Uncle Jeff…please do not skip your medication again
THis burger joint has a 75% TIP OPTION. You order at the counter and then they call your name & number. They don’t even bring it to you like some gourmet burger places, I could not believe 75% is an option.
How about paying a decent wage and removing tipping and already displaying the final price including taxes – works in many parts of the world 😉
austin infested with them dems now tipping is a way of redistributing ones’ money
New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, etc. prove that tipping is not a necessary part of life.
Paying $20 an hour and still mandating tips reflects a mafia shakedown culture run amok.
@Marco although in this case starting is $20/hr
And they won’t accept cash. I ran into that as well going through Austin May of 2022.
I was just as surprised to find that at Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco, I was charged a mandatory 5% fee to buy a bag of beans to go. They said that it was for finding their employees’ healthcare benefits.
Uncle Jeff,
Austin is solidly Blue, so all of your bleating is for naught. The local government sets up the airport monopolies, so there you go with your transparency.
Oh boo hoo. This is your hill to die on? Your priorities are fucked.
Easy solution: put in a tip equal to the price of another, cheap, item you want, and then deftly “lift” the other item which you essentially “paid” for with the tip.
I agree. Tipping in this country is out of control. Even places that pay employees a good wage are still requesting tips! Absolutely ridiculous! We gotta end tipping.
Raven Ross clearly works for tips
@David: That is different. Unbundling part of the cost to highlight local regulation. The other thing this is often done with is local minimum wages above the Federal level.
What Gary encountered was a scam appropriating a fee and describing it as a voluntary payment.
@ Raven Ross
Mr. Leff writes about the airline experience, this IS his hill.
This website is about the travel experience so it is a priority.
But yeah, this bigger picture is forced automation (self check out and such), forced Tips for service that may or may not have been provided ( sounds as if the retail staff did little more than ring up the item).
Sounds as if you’re triggered is there more to your context that you’d like to share so we all can understand your perspective?
I am confused- ABIA prides itself on locally-owned vendors at the airport and in fact just had several articles written about it. How are they actually all conglomerates? I’ve shopped at Annie’s a metric crap ton of times as its at the United end of the airport and I travel monthly for work and literally never had this happen. So I am guessing it was a problem with the terminal and they can fix it. Hopefully they will.
@Lara S- the BRANDS are mostly local (no longer exclusively local like they once were) but those are licensed by a national concessions chain, in this case Delaware North (other big ones include HMSHost, OTG)
Well the famous TSA force that,you cant bring a outside bottle of water outside value 1.00 inside airport 4.00 or more same wirh cokes.
As David said, it is SFO that really forces fees on you. I haven’t bought anything from SFO concessions in a few years now and I fly through there regularly.
I Gate the Airport Cartels of Over charging. Even more annoying is their NO CASH POLICY at US Airports and on US Carriers! My Fiance was flying from Sacramento to San Antonio and had to pay for a second bag at check in. She’s from the Philippines and has no CC That works in the US ! And the airlines refused cash ! Finally the agent had her go but Southtown get chanfe for a $100 and tge agent used their own card and accepted cash from my fiance to pay the Agent back ! This is nice of the agent but clearly SOO COMPLETELY WRONG ON THE AIRLINES AND AIRPORTS TO EXCLUDE PEOPLE DUE TO THEIR ECONOMIC STATUS OF NO CC OR ATM CARD
I was at DALLAS recently on a work trip and had to pay a $2 Airport toll just to enter the airport to drop off a traveler ? How is that even allowed I’ve learned traveling thru Texas ! That Texas Sucks
I dispute the charge with my credit card Telling them I was charged a surcharge for using it. I do have the receipt to prove it. This is called a charge back and most companies do not dispute them since they are so small. You should also file a complaint with the state AG as the workers areNOT getting those tips
I don’t think it’s that big of a deal because all things considered the tip itself isn’t a lot, but I sometimes wonder what the justification is. I’ll tip a hotel shuttle driver who puts my bags up and retrieves them, I’ll tip waiters because I feel like they’re all providing a service for you. Operating a cash register isn’t really a service on top of what you’re already being paid to do, but I see it more and more. I’m a pilot so maybe next time I deliver you safely from A to B I’ll stand in the door and smile nicely as I hold out my hat for tips.
It is fascinating that elsewhere in the union contract, it states that in some venues (doesn’t specify exactly which) that the company has no hand in distributing at least cash tips and leaves it up to the union/employees to do so equitably and report results back to Delaware North for tax filings.
I find it interesting, and these don’t get as much coverage, that the big proponents of things like using new laws to force work rules or fighting for tips in every which job (anybody remember after 9/11 when TSA had tip jars out and how well that went?)… there are unintended consequences they don’t always think of, or were warned by others in their organization.
-Take Seattle airport and the living wage ordinance (LWO). This was successful in passing and for awhile meant fewer jobs and outlets but market has somewhat adjusted. Alaska Airlines formed its own ground handling company McGee Air Services and took its outsourced ramp from Menzies to this new wholly owned. They touted being worker friendly and approached the IAM to organize it as a union shop before they even hired a single employee! Well, guess what – LWO doesn’t apply if you are under a collective bargaining agreement so Alaska was able to pay less in exchange for flight benefits.
-California flight attendants getting legislation passed to extend CA labor laws concerning breaks/lunches to flight crews. The national AFA cautioned them and wasn’t for it. It got passed. American announced closure of its SFO crew base. Alaska significantly changed schedules so many are less than desirable, but comply with the laws (all of this they somewhat warned of ahead of time). Now, the same flight attendants are wanting an exception carved out to the law allowing union contracts to govern their break times as long as it follows the spirit of the law. They got what they want and then didn’t like how it tasted.
-Some Starbucks outlets unionizing are now complaining about lower takehome pay than non-union store workers. Why? Well absent a contract, or while organizing, the company cannot make changes to anything like compensation so it stays status quo as it did on day one of the union recognized as having enough interest to hold an election (laboratory conditions). Starbucks implemented the iPad screen default to tip screen after that date in some areas but now cannot put it in recently unionized stores. Some new union members have been in media complaining they have to pick up shifts at non-union locations to make sufficient money because it includes the pre-set tip.
-What’s next? I think all credit card merchant agreements don’t allow businesses to put up barriers to using credit cards or charge a fee outside of some sort of uniform processing charge they can substantiate. How long before they weigh in on the tip issue and start penalizing merchants, or someone make an extreme case and drop a company? Can you imagine being a business owner at LGA and not being able to accept American Express? Even when Spirit Airlines looked at the savings associated with stopping taking Amex (like Allegiant had at one point) the reason they did not was the CEO loudly saying that you can’t do business in New York without Amex.
I picked up the water bottle.
I scanned the water bottle at the iPad/Register
I processed the payment at the iPad/Register
I (might) have even bagged the purchase
So who am I tipping? The stock person who put the water bottle out? Is that the service I’m tipping for?
@Tomri – merchants in all but a handful of states can add a surcharge for using a credit card (usually 2.5-3%) and I’m seeing it more and more as margins get squeezed. I hate this practice since numerous studies have shown merchants benefit from credit cards (larger purchases, reduced admin cost, less theft, etc) so really hate this fee. However outside of not going back nothings you can do. Disputing it won’t work is you willingly signed the receipt. Similar to the forced tip – if you made the purchase and agreed to the transaction you will not be able to successfully dispute it.
At a Starbucks in the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu I grabbed a sandwich and a juice from the rack. When paying, the cashier turned the terminal to me so I could select a tip. I told the guy when he goes to the rack to pick out my sandwich and drink, I’d provide a tip. Boy, did I get the stink eye. This tipping for no reason has gotten way out of hand.
Meanwhile as a rideshare driver no one is tipping anymore. I back track 20 miles to the airport to pick them up then another 30 miles to their destination and leave me hanging l. I have a ton of overhead to keep operating . Tip your drivers and actual severs or they loose money serving you.
One benefit – the Delaware North run airport gift shop in AUS codes as fast food for those with dining category multipliers like US Bank Cash + or Chase Sapphire Reserve. Not sure on Amex since their merchant categories can vary from Visa.
America has gotten so out of control with tipping because it’s disguised panhandling. Businesses can ask for more money, with zero services provided, and people will give it out of guilt.
This sounds very illegal. They cannot charge more than the displayed price and by forcing a tip they are charging more. I would contact the states AG office to investigate.
Tipping should only happen for actual service as it was traditional. Self- service must not be tipped unless the person taking or making your order did something above and beyond the norm. Reserve your tips for people that put in the extra effort like when someone chases you down because you forgot your cellphone at the counter. We need to stop this stupidity of everyone getting rewarded for normal behavior like when all kids get a medal because we all of a sudden cannot disappoint anyone.
at local restaurant I got my bill and they were suggested tip starting at 18% and going up from there! At counter ordering I do not like having to feel I have to tip !They’re really not doing anything other than taking my order !recently the two employees were chatting the entire time I was placing my order, annoying.! One last rent if I’m ordering french fries at a fast food restaurant, I should not have to ask for ketchup!
I have always heard that the word ‘TIP’ comes from the words “To Insure Performance”. Unsure if that is indeed accurate but it makes sense.
Also, in one way, this Tipping tsunami sweeping our country seems to be just an extension of the ‘Nickel and Dime’ mentality that has swept our country since airlines started charging for checked luggage.. For example hotel resort fees, early check out/in fees, airline seat fees, change fees (particularly galling when you do the work on line) a gazillion separate taxes on your plane ticket, rent a car fees, phone fees and on and on and on. If we keep paying it companies will continue to come up with new but stupid ways to ‘nickel and dime’ all of us.
Picard
@Raven Rose- Really? You wish him to die on a hill? Isn’t that kind of harsh and mean? Many of us enjoy his take on anything that has to do with traveling… sounds to me you are extremely jealous of him and his success and followers…..
@Judy L Gilbert-Blanchard – it is an expression snowflake. Clutch your pearls a little tighter and get over yourself
Bring an empty drink container in travel bag and fill it up at a drinking fountain.
Cash is king and is considered “LEGAL TENDER” How are these places saying NO Cash. I’ll either pay with cash or just take what I need. Call the “mall” cops – water is a necessity. Corporate greed needs to stop
Being a retired airline employee, I can fly for free. Airports, airplanes and passengers make it more enjoyable to drive on my domestic trips. Certainly cost me more but well worth it. “Happiness is a journey, not a destination.”
@Maxine – you are mistaken. Cash is legal tender “for all debts public and private” but numerous courts have ruled it isn’t required for businesses to take cash (and they can limit cash to smaller bills (e.g., no $100 bills). Purchasing an item is not the same as paying a debt.
Outside of concepts of “free speech” the concept that businesses have to accept cash for payment is one of the most widely misunderstood concepts.
AC…with respect …when you purchase an item it is a debt you are responsible for to the vendor. How many times have you said to the cashier “what do I owe you”?
Picard
@AC elaborate on why free speech is misunderstood.
@Jean luc Picard – that is an expression not a legal debt. Trust me – courts have ruled repeatedly that businesses do not have to accept cash (or can limit what denominations they accept) and the language about cash being legal tender for “all debts public and private” does not apply. This isn’t my opinion – it is the law which obviously many, including members of this blog, do not understand.
FYI the pushback of going totally cashless (and some cities have prohibited the practice) has nothing to do with this phrase or the legal validity of accepting cash. The reason is that unbanked people (or those without debit or credit cards) are excluded from making purchases. This is still a very small number of cities and I expect the US to be largely cash free (like a number of countries in Europe) within the next 10 years.
@Andreblaze – because when people are fired or otherwise held accountable for something they say there are numerous idiots posting the the person’s free speech rights were violated.
Very few seem to understand the free speech rights in the constitution only apply to government prohibition of speech and, even then, there can be adverse actions (e.g., threats or to incite action). The actual right is much more limited than most believe.
Now don’t you feel smarter
I never tip. It’s total BS. I worked for 26 years as a lecturer at Texas Tech and was paid less than starting teachers in the LISD at the end of my career and never, ever received one red cent as a tip. If you don’t like your job, get another one. $0.00 is the tip amount that I pay. Nada mas.
This thread is off the rails but would just point out that I encountered this at DCA this morning for the first time. Press the red button twice. No tip and the transaction processes.
The whole “take it or leave it” gambit. You could have just left without purchasing anything and gone to another vendor as you said, but as you also said, there are no other vendors because the vendor has a monopoly. So an airport that has a monopoly gives a vendor a monopoly but fails to regulate them when they have a captive audience. And the airport says they will “look into it”.
I would have demanded to talk to a manager and demanded a 1 cent refund on the involuntary “tip” just to make a point. If a tip is “voluntary” then $0.00 should have been sufficent. And I would have refused to move out of the way so they could check out other customers while waiting for the manager just to make another point.
This tipping needs to stop. Employers need to pay their people and stop expecting us to do it for them. Charge 10% more for what they are selling, or what ever it takes and eliminate tipping. Or better yet, the states need to ban tipping altogether.
This is just another gotcha. Sales tax has long been a pet peeve of mine. Just increase the cost of what ever it is by the sales tax so I know what the out the door price will be in stead of charging the sales tax when I check out. I was figuring that TV would cost $1000, but now I need to cough up another $100 for sales tax? Just set the price at $1100 out the door and stop upselling us.
Do you think they will do that in Texas? Probably not since they seem more concerned about mandating putting the 10 commandments in every classroom and mandating the ability to pray and read the bible during school time even if you are religious. We know where Texas’ priorities are, and they aren’t with the people or the consumer.
Let’s be totally honest, a $Multimillion or $Billion corporation is effectively expecting its employees to beg for money, so they can buy food for their little kids, pay the rent, and utilities while simply having the privilege of working there. While at the same time that company rakes in more in profit. Time to unionize!
@UnionTHAT: You on’t understand the reason for tipping. It is to adjust customer – supplier incentives.
Here’s a Tip: Learn a real trade.
@ UnionTHAT: The shop and restaurant workers at AUS are already union.
And this is one reason I carry my own water bottle in my carry on. There’s nothing wrong with city water.
@Dean Salter. The last time I flew was before the pandemic. I don’t recall any fee to enter DFW or Love field in Dallas. I’m planning a trip in June 2024 so I might see it then. By the way you are mistaken. The fact is the only reason Texas doesn’t slide into the gulf is because Oklahoma sucks. Not Texas.
@Carol Lewis – the road through DFW is a public highway and there has been a toll on it for at least 30 years (moved there in 1992 and there were tolls then). At one time people were charged if they spent less than 5 minutes on airport property (to cut down on people using it as a short cut) but no charge of over 5 minutes and less than either 30 or 60 minutes (so people could pick up or drop off passengers). Not sure if there is any waiver now or if everyone is charged.
This really isn’t new for anyone familiar w DFW
@AC I fly out of Love when I can. It’s closer, smaller, less complicated to me. I hear bad things about Southwest but I haven’t had any significant problems with them. I have taken shuttles and parked my car at the airport garages while I was on trips. It seems like I have heard something about DFW road and them not wanting people driving there with no airport business. The toll part just doesn’t stand out for me. A long time ago I-30 going to Fort Worth was a toll road. When I get on George Bush I know it is a toll road. When I visit my cousin in Little Elm I get on 635 West and exit Preston. I get a bill for that from NTTA. I’ve been on flights from DFW. I’m just not familiar with this.
I tried buying a beer at newark last month. Had to have a QR Code & smart phone – and could NOT PAY WITH CASH!
I told them all to eff off.
My suggestion? Terminate the purchase, telling the counter person why, leave the item desired on the counter and walk out. If enough people use this approach, personnel have got to act to stop the clutter and reshelving nuisance.
If you can’t fail to leave a tip, leave one cent and protest the charge through your bank. Tell the bank it was an overcharge.
If enough people protest and the business must take time to respond to the bank, that practice will disappear.
I would definitely have told them to kiss my $4 and my @@@ goodbye.