But today, who's getting tips in cash? Not many. Customers are paying for everything with credit cards or contactless, save for the occasional cash-only coffee shop or restaurant.
About half of the large tips at high end restaurants in my town are cash. Sounds like it is about a third in New York. Especially if it is folks who work at a restaurant.
How is the trend? I imagine it’s already possible to estimate what year it will be almost zero from that trend. It also tends to accelerate: once a restaurant has very few cash customers they tend to become no-cash because the cost of cash handling is more than the potential loss of business. I’m unsure if there are any legal obstacles to going cashless in the US however. But where I live no one uses cash and more and more places are cash free (a chicken and egg problem).
Sure, but I think you have to admit that tips have been moving more and more to credit cards, and fewer and fewer people tip with cash. You can keep doing what you do (and good on you for doing it), but at least acknowledge that the norm has been shifting for a while now.
This is easier to understand when you actually understand what the tipping law is. That tips may act as a credit towards an employee's wage (up to a max that's < 100%). How is the credit calculated? Besides video, the only hard proof is by whatever you write on that receipt.
So like you, I carry cash for tipping. I leave the tip section blank and write the provided total in the "total" line. Then I leave cash. Employee gets to decide if they declare or not (or in other words, if my tip may be credited towards their wage).
Same, but gotta acknowledge that few people do this still. A lot of businesses were even cash-only before coronavirus, now I see 0, at most they do a CC surcharge.
Exactly. My girlfriend who works in sales (sells food) in LA barely gets tips in cash. Most people use their cards. And thus, her tips are tax deductible.
I should have specified that I live in the east-coast United States. Tap-to-pay is almost as common as someone writing you a paper check or an IOU, out here.
Saying east coast is too vague to be useful. I live on the east coast too and there are entire weeks where leave all my credit cards at home and only pay via tap-to-pay.
I know America has always been backwards (cheques were still in use well into the 21st century, card pins didn’t seem to catch on before contactless became a thing about a decade ago), but I thought contactless was quite high nowadays, especiallly with phones and watches.
Certainly I’ve had no problem paying contactless in the cities I’ve been to recently - New York, DC and Miami.
I have an honest question: what's the cash vs card tip ratio? 99.999% of the time I am not carrying cash and I don't see many (any?) people paying with cash ANYWHERE in the last 10+ years.
At this point you are litterally a sucker to pay for anything in cash, because everything is marked-up to cover CC fees, which you get a portion of back in the form of rewards.
Yes, I know some places give cash discounts. Most do not.
Almost no one can give you a good answer because it varies by business type and location.
My business does not involve tips (exactly) but I can tell you that I’ve seen anywhere from 20-40% of money run through my system being in cash, depending on where I am in the country.
NYC here, whole lot of cash still showing up in tip jars - there are still and loads of cash-only places around, from bars, restaurants, to street carts, you name it. JG Melon, for instance, is famously cash only. But so too is the bar around the corner from my apartment (Dynaco, do recommend).
...So people often tend to be carrying cash still.
We had to declare our tips at the end of the night, and 10% was the lowest you could claim without needing manager approval. You can guess what everyone declared.
Haha, I had the same thought but now basically everyone is digital so I think its a different ball game than we are used to. At least as a restaurant server/bartender.
The negligence of their national responsibility will be felt like an earthquake by millions of Americans. It's hard to imagine how they live with themselves.
Which made a difference 2 or 3 decades ago.
But today, who's getting tips in cash? Not many. Customers are paying for everything with credit cards or contactless, save for the occasional cash-only coffee shop or restaurant.
> who's getting tips in cash?
About half of the large tips at high end restaurants in my town are cash. Sounds like it is about a third in New York. Especially if it is folks who work at a restaurant.
How is the trend? I imagine it’s already possible to estimate what year it will be almost zero from that trend. It also tends to accelerate: once a restaurant has very few cash customers they tend to become no-cash because the cost of cash handling is more than the potential loss of business. I’m unsure if there are any legal obstacles to going cashless in the US however. But where I live no one uses cash and more and more places are cash free (a chicken and egg problem).
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> But today, who's getting tips in cash?
Every server who waits on me.
I make it a point to carry cash and tip the waitstaff in cash even if I pay the bill on my credit card.
1) Tips on credit cards are a "dark pattern" meant to increase the house rake of the credit card handling companies.
2) Tips on credit cards are controlled by the owner and often never make it to the waitstaff.
I can short circuit this by giving my servers tips in cash.
Sure, but I think you have to admit that tips have been moving more and more to credit cards, and fewer and fewer people tip with cash. You can keep doing what you do (and good on you for doing it), but at least acknowledge that the norm has been shifting for a while now.
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This is easier to understand when you actually understand what the tipping law is. That tips may act as a credit towards an employee's wage (up to a max that's < 100%). How is the credit calculated? Besides video, the only hard proof is by whatever you write on that receipt.
So like you, I carry cash for tipping. I leave the tip section blank and write the provided total in the "total" line. Then I leave cash. Employee gets to decide if they declare or not (or in other words, if my tip may be credited towards their wage).
Same, but gotta acknowledge that few people do this still. A lot of businesses were even cash-only before coronavirus, now I see 0, at most they do a CC surcharge.
Exactly. My girlfriend who works in sales (sells food) in LA barely gets tips in cash. Most people use their cards. And thus, her tips are tax deductible.
tbf it's one of the few times i try to carry cash.
I just don't trust management of places not to take a cut if it's done digitally.
I should have specified that I live in the east-coast United States. Tap-to-pay is almost as common as someone writing you a paper check or an IOU, out here.
Saying east coast is too vague to be useful. I live on the east coast too and there are entire weeks where leave all my credit cards at home and only pay via tap-to-pay.
Contactless is basically non existent in America?
I know America has always been backwards (cheques were still in use well into the 21st century, card pins didn’t seem to catch on before contactless became a thing about a decade ago), but I thought contactless was quite high nowadays, especiallly with phones and watches.
Certainly I’ve had no problem paying contactless in the cities I’ve been to recently - New York, DC and Miami.
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I have an honest question: what's the cash vs card tip ratio? 99.999% of the time I am not carrying cash and I don't see many (any?) people paying with cash ANYWHERE in the last 10+ years.
At this point you are litterally a sucker to pay for anything in cash, because everything is marked-up to cover CC fees, which you get a portion of back in the form of rewards.
Yes, I know some places give cash discounts. Most do not.
Not everything is marked up to cover CC fees, and any time there's a CC surcharge, it's more than the points you get. That and the tip is separate.
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I pay tips in cash. There's technically no CC fees on that.
Almost no one can give you a good answer because it varies by business type and location.
My business does not involve tips (exactly) but I can tell you that I’ve seen anywhere from 20-40% of money run through my system being in cash, depending on where I am in the country.
in SF I only carry cash for dive bars and the occasional mom n pop diner
NYC here, whole lot of cash still showing up in tip jars - there are still and loads of cash-only places around, from bars, restaurants, to street carts, you name it. JG Melon, for instance, is famously cash only. But so too is the bar around the corner from my apartment (Dynaco, do recommend).
...So people often tend to be carrying cash still.
Sure, but more places take card, and fewer people carry as much cash. Or rather, people carry less cash.
The fact that a business "famously" is cash only seems to support this, as that implies that it's becoming more unusual.
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When I worked as a waiter (many years ago), my pay check included tax withholding based on 8% of my tables for that pay period. This is driven by IRS rules: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc761#:~:text=If%20the%20total...
We had to declare our tips at the end of the night, and 10% was the lowest you could claim without needing manager approval. You can guess what everyone declared.
Haha, I had the same thought but now basically everyone is digital so I think its a different ball game than we are used to. At least as a restaurant server/bartender.
Sounds like those Americans aren't paying their fair share.
The negligence of their national responsibility will be felt like an earthquake by millions of Americans. It's hard to imagine how they live with themselves.