my example would be mexican food places like Los Burritos Tapatio. I go in and order carry out or call ahead. girl takes my order, couple guys on the grill making the food. food is bagged and given to me. not 100% of the time, but most of, I'll put a couple bucks or $5 on the counter top. Mainly because i'm not sure how those types of places pay their staff. a lot of them are family owned and operated and the hostess/cashier is also usually clearing the tables and serving the food to people at the tables. not sure if they get a proper hourly or not. but the food is always good and the effort is always consistent. have some extra cash to distribute among themselves at the end of the night.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

The one in Glen Ellyn is friendlier than the one in DG. They always appreciate the tip too.

Yep, the Glen Ellyn one is definitely the best. Most consistent on quality too. Some of the other locations can be hit or miss.

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Im usually the one in Westmont or DG, but Ive had the Glen Ellyn too.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

I wasn't sure where else to put this, and here seemed like as good a place as any.

There is a local greek diner by our place. Its nothing terribly special, but the food is generally pretty good, usually freshly made, its affordable, close and convenient. Kind of our "go to" for a quick breakfast or lunch outing. Being so close, even take out works and the food doesn't get soggy or anything because its a quick drive home. My wife and I (and now our little guy) have frequented this place since we moved into our home in January 2013. When JB shut down indoor dining for the second time in the fall, they kept their dining room open so we made sure to order from there at least 2-3 times a month to support a local business and help local employees.

After golf Saturday, I was in no mood to grill and the rest of the family was hungry. Called in a carry out order. Standard fare and everything seemed to be fine. I get there and go to the register and there is a handwritten sign that says, "4% surcharge on ALL Credit Card transactions. Effective 7-16-21."

I was appalled. In this Covid world where MANY businesses are going cashless, this seems even more silly. I know these processing companies charge money, but to me, that's the cost of doing business. You can't ask your customer to pay more to line your own pockets. Furthermore, I have NEVER seen this before outside of a gas station where a place adds a surcharge onto every credit card transaction. It wasn't the buck and a quarter extra I had to pay to swipe my card, its the principle of it. And that said, there are least a dozen other restaurants within a mile or two of us that have no such policy, and thus we will be frequenting them from here on out.

Thoughts?

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I'm pretty sure that's frowned upon by the credit card companies. But who knows in the post-COVID economy. A lot of shit has changed.

I ate at a Lettuce place recently and they had a 4 or 5% "COVID fee"- I forget exactly what they called it but the terminology suggested it was for the servers. 25% would have rounded the bill out to a real even number. Normally that's what I would have done. But that fee made me do the exact math to make the tip 20%. I know I'm a very good tipper- nobody could dispute that- but glom fees really bug me.

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His mind is not for rent to any God or government.

I'm not a fan of the surcharge, but to be honest the places I've long frequented didn't seem to lay off staff, so I'm willing to pay a little extra.

And yeah I still tip on carry out at non fast food places, especially if it's curbside service.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I picked up 3 pizzas the other day...when I ordered, the girl gave me the total and I said I'd pay when I got there and hung up. The number she told me started gnawing at me so I called her back...Wait,what?!...$78. Why? She said everything is more expensive, especially labor.

I added an extra $10 anyway...but I'm definitely not ordering indiscriminately again.

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I get it Reader, but this charge does nothing but help line the owners pockets. That's it. To me it was basically a 4% greed surcharge. If there was a "take out fee" that was going to the server, I would have no problem with that. I don't know my place in question had to lay off staff or not, but I do notice some of the "regular" waitresses are no longer there.

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A couple of places near me have had a 15-18% surcharge for curbside delivery, which seems a bit high.

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The growth in these tablet payment systems are miserable where they present a tip screen for any transaction.

I went to bakery where I bought two baked goods. All they had to do was throw the baked goods in a bag. "Sir, would you like to leave a tip?"

Same thing at the Thunderbolts game. No, I'm not leaving a tip for two hotdogs, a bag of chips, and a juicebox for my kid. And I won't apologize for it either.

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I was at Wrigley recently and it’s cashless now. I always tipped the concession workers a few bucks. But now via ordering on the app, the 15% on two beers, two dogs and some nachos is about $10, which is a bit steep to me. Lowering the amount means navigating the app, which is a pain.

A lot of places won't take amex because if I'm not mistaken the establishment can't charge the convenience fees to the customer or the rate is higher or something. If your restaurants ate the cost before they probably won't do it going forward. Their margins are thin anyway the cost of labor and supplies plus "covid procedures/supplies" and possibly low patronage are fucking them to the wall. They aren't making a ton of money and I would be surprised if they were trying to screw their customers. Honestly I think you'll see a lot of "fees" going forward or volatile menu prices.

I get it. Then raise your prices, don't add on a bunch of fees that could piss off customers.

But its cheaper to put a handwritten sign on your register than it is re-print menus.

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I have a tip jar, I shouldn't, but I do. People appreciate great service, realize when they are being a pain, or are super generous by nature. I probably come away with an extra 15 a day one person dropped a 20 in there a few weeks ago and I tried to get them to take my change that was already in the jar. It was way too much. I don't need it and always tell them it's not necessary but am super thankful. Sometimes I leave it for the high schooler that comes in after me.

I wonder what the Venn diagram looks like for the people think service workers should be paid 15+ an hour but shouldn't tip even for the simple services?

Raised prices won't piss off customers...said no owner ever. And raise what to what? How often? I ain't paying $.50 for no coke. What if it doesn't cover the fee? Should they lose money? their food prices won't be static or necessarily predictable going forward either.

This isn't about tipping. I know the thread is, but my recent post has nothing to do with a tip for good service.

Making your customers pay 4% to swipe their credit/debit card because you have a bad merchant service account is poor form, IMO. If you don't want to take AMEX that's fine too.
Seeing a 4% increase on your regular lunch tab will be much easier to deal with than adding an extra 4% at the register because of the owner's policy.

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When I used to run temp waiters for Berghoff Catering we'd do a wedding or other big event at the Field Museum almost every weekend. Berghoff had a strict policy that bartenders could NOT put out a tip jar. One of my knuckleheads had the balls to stick a fin up out of his pocket just begging for tips. When the Berghoff catering manager saw it, she lost her shit and sent the guy home and I got an earful on Monday morning.

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His mind is not for rent to any God or government.

i've seen this charge at convenience stores. like minimum purchase is $5 or $10 to use a credit/debit card. actually, i'm fairly certain that all credit/debit card purchases have a fee associated with it that most places just accept. charge me an extra $0.33 for my fries...

our Vet now has a $5 covid fee bc of whatever, unless you bring your dog inside and wear a mask.

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@audioidkid

Minimum purchase amounts for CCs and surcharges for using credit was not legal not long ago.
Now I recall this being illegal until the mid oughts. I think this changed with Dodd/Frank act. That act was supposed to help consumers. I'm not so sure it really did.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I was at a brewery in Buffalo last week. They had ordering stations where you just punch in your order, swipe your card then pick up your food at the counter. The tablet recommended that you add a tip for the “food runners” and kitchen staff. Mother fucker, I’m doing the god damn food running. This shit is getting out of control.

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-- source

What makes it worse now is that you feel that if you don't leave a tip upfront (or a good enough one), something might happen to your order.

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But do you tip your ac repairman on a 90+ degree day?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

It used to be illegal to ask to see I.D. as well (if the card was signed).

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If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed & we'll deserve it.- L Graham
I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.- DJT 2016
MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!- DJT 12/25/23

How would you feel if they offered a discount for paying with cash?

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If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed & we'll deserve it.- L Graham
I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.- DJT 2016
MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!- DJT 12/25/23

If you want to get real silly with technicalities, I believe that if a card has "please ask for photo ID" the card is invalid for use. I think it has to be signed. Fwiw I don't think I've signed a card in 20 years.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Luckily I’ve never been in that situation. I usually spring for food and drinks if I’m having contractors over for an extended period.

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-- source

Do you guys get tips? I'm never sure what to do.

Yeah sometimes someone flips me a 20 or a 10 or something. Depends on the job I guess. I never expect it.
I'd say it's not typical. So don't do it if you don't want to. But if someone goes above and beyond and you wanna flip a couple bones his way he would really appreciate it.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014