I’ve never ever seen that at Target. I always use their self checkouts. There is nothing about any tip. That doesn’t make any sense.
Are you talking about buying food at cafes inside Target and the iPad checkout having a tip option?
Same in our local Target stores. Definitely no tip option at the self-checkouts where you check out retail goods, groceries and the like.
Next time I go to Target I’ll take a photo. I live in Las Vegas so anything is possible.
I’ve been to two restaurants that accepted credit cards but their system wouldn’t allow a tip to be added!! I always remember to have cash for my tip.
One restaurant has a sign “tipping by cash only”, the other place surprises diners.
No clue why a restaurant would be set up like that.
I’ve seen that in counter service places like ice cream parlors or small coffee houses. But it’s still pretty darn rare. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it in a restaurant in the USA.
Only thing I could imagine is somehow getting the register configured for that is extra hassle or effort and the owner doesn’t care enough to bother; it’s not their money that’s not getting collected.
IMO that’s real short-sighted since you can’t retain good employees if you pay a bunch less per hour than the next similar store down the street. Which is exactly the effect of a “cash tips only” system. Maybe the owner is hoping the 10-20% “discount” will result in more sales for them.
I know I would never be able to remember to bring tip cash, so I’d be stiffing the employees repeatedly. Not out of malice or greed, just inattentive forgetfulness. I expect there are a lot of customers in that same boat.
The one restaurant is a nice Italian place that has been there forever. If we go there I definitely remember cash. The other place is somewhere we rarely go.
Also, I never go anywhere without at least some cash. For example, last night we visited a brewery and a woman was playing acoustic guitar and singing. We absolutely always tip musicians. I had a five, but if I didn’t my gf would have hunted down an ATM.
Only thing I can think of is that credit card tips are much more easily reported as income to the IRS, and some folks prefer to be paid under the table. Since I’m a government employee paid through taxes, I’m not down with that approach.
That’s true as far as it goes. But the cash register is configured by the management / owner, and it’s the servers who might prefer tips in cash.
I do not know the details of how employers are supposed to report tips on W2s. But I could imagine a smallish business run by a lazy or antigovernmental type who decides it easier to just not get involved in any of that. Sorta “don’t ask; don’t tell” on whatever cash tips might or might not be happening while the owner’s blind eye is turned.
Another idea: By requiring cash tips that probably increases the number of complete meal checks that are also paid in cash. Which lets the owner get in on that sweet, sweet tax evasion by not reporting those sales.
In effect it’s a way to encourage cash purchases without falling foul of the credit card companies, although at some expense to the server’s income. Which sounds like the sort of skullduggery a lot of small businessfolks might find right up their alley.
One reason I like to tip in cash, especially at places where I don’t know the owners/managers, is it makes it harder for unscrupulous bosses to steal the server’s tips.
Probably not happening in a place with a sign, though.
ETA: and there’s also the processing fees CC companies stick small businesses with.
I would think this is the main reason - generally a percentage of the total AIUI, so the owner ends up paying the CC company something for the tip the server gets.
I haven’t read the thread but I’ve come to really prefer self check (SCO) for almost all transactions. A recent trip to good ol’ Dollar Tree for some foil drip pans is the latest one. The cashier is, for me, overwhelmingly the worst part of a dollar store and self checking does away with that pain.
ONE of the Aldis in my rotation has not yet installed SCO and I acoid it for that reason.
The only store I can think of where I’m glad for cashiers is the produce market where a majority of items in my basket aren’t barcoded.
As I noted way upthread, a possible solution would be to take a second, empty cart with you.
Yeah, that’s actually a very good idea
Sometimes when I’m shopping, I’ll buy multiples of something. But the self-checkout register doesn’t allow me to scan something once and enter the quantity. So I have to scan each item individually and hope that I didn’t accidentally double scan any of them. That hasn’t normally been a problem but the store cashiers can do that.
Tipping is traditionally cash to insure it does not get diminished by going through the till or management.
At my local Wal-Mart, the self-checkout units used to allow a supervisor to enter a multiple quantity. Since I often had a Supervisor around for liquor or glue purchases anyway, I would ask them to do my multiples (which negates the advantage to the store of self-checkout!). But the recent revisions of the scanner software have removed that option. Still, if I get a rhythm going, I can repeat a scan of multiple items every 2 seconds, not so bad. 10 frozen orange juice cans in 20 seconds, a tolerable wait, and still faster than a clerk, who can’t assume they are the same item.
I think one reason they don’t want multiple items entered as duplicates is because it’s too easy to say these are all the same product if they aren’t, and store wants an accurate inventory count.
The trouble is when the SCO system uses the scale under the bagging area to advance the transaction sequence. A second item can’t be scanned until the weight of the first is added to the scale and a delay elapses, probably to evaluate a stable weight.
Not all stores use the scales like this. Most groceries do but not the home improvement places. WalTargs seem to be a mix.
Any store that uses the obsolete weigh-product system won’t get my business, or at least I won’t use the self-checkout there. Too much hassle. My local Wal-Mart discarded that system long ago.
Stop N Shop’s system is the worst. Extremely sensitive scales, to where putting a paper bag on there will trigger the unexpected item. And how dare you lift something to put the new item underneath it. I swear, I can’t get through that place without three interventions. It makes my trip longer, and honestly, my time is worth way more than any incremental cost of a cashier and bagger. Of course, they never have more than two fully staffed lanes open.
I’m almost exclusively Wegmans now, since they always have plenty of fully staffed lanes open.
Yes, it is - that’s why at the store where I work we’ll do that very thing for someone with a large order at any register, self-check or regular.