That is a broad oversimplification and not quite the full story. Most people aren't "lazy"--a lot of them are quite willing to hustle, but don't want to be subjected to certain unpalatable working conditions, work for the low pay, and/or be underemployed (especially if they have a degree). The cost of living is getting pretty high these days, and it's really tough to survive just on minimum wage. The landscape has changed a bit in the last decade or two.

I tip at sit-down restaurants that have wait staff, and tip bartenders and barbers. There's probably a few other random situations where tipping has been traditionally expected/accepted, but I can't say I recall encountering anything else in a good while.

[edit]: Oh, forgot about delivery--but that's a service I never use.

[Edit 2]: And furnature movers if they don't damage anything

Everywhere else that suddenly started prompting for tips for every transaction (retail, take-out, and counter service), no.

It probably goes a little something like this:

Hey this thing we're doing helps and rewards other people....let's keep doing a little more of it.

Sprinkle in a little greed and selfishness, leading to...hey, those people over there are benefiting from this thing, why can't I too?

Then that leads to a lot more of that thing, resulting in someone later saying: ok guys, it's getting a little weird now. The thing is everywhere now, and it's starting to cause some harm.

And then leads to...ok, we should probably dial back on the thing now and maybe move onto something else that's actually more beneficial and rewarding.

And the cycle repeats. Or something like that.

With tipping, we're probably at the "it's getting a little weird now" stage.

You can't do that with the self-checkout machines in grocery stores & walmart in my area. The bagging area is weight sensitive, and if you don't put the items on it after 2-3 items, it halts scanning additional items until you set them there. Big box hardware stores here don't seem to have that feature on their self-checkout machines, though.

I always park far away from the entrance to avoid stuff like that. I don't need to fight for a spot close to the door, or subject my vehicle to all the hustle & bustle and tightly packed parking spots. That's how car door dings happen.

Some ads you can't actually skip until the initial timer (displayed in small text) runs out.

I've noticed that with certain individuals, touchscreens have a real hard time registering their touch.

Obviously frustrating for them, so for people who experience consistent issues across a wide range of screens, I try to suggest a soft tipped stylus or gloves with touch sensitive pads on the fingertips.

It's a bit difficult to block ads in the app.

I would imagine most younger folks don't handle cash all that much...most people seem to just use cards. I've encountered a few who were actually repulsed by cash, and wanted digital/card payments instead. Go figure *shrug*.

If you really want to throw them for a loop, show them a $2 bill or a $1 coin. There's probably going to be a 50/50 shot of them accusing you of trying to pass off counterfeit money, so be prepared for that.

I've also noticed some younger folks have trouble reading a clock face since they're so accustomed to a digital readout.

I'm sure there's lots of other skills (like cursive) and knowledge that are fading out and not being picked up by younger folks, simply because they aren't getting used any more.

I went to a local restaurant over the weekend that I hadn't been to before. Nice place, good food, fair prices, but portions were excessive (meaning they could've taken half the meal away and I still would've had trouble finishing it).

Anyway, there was a line printed at the bottom of their menu that said something like: gratuity of 20% will be automatically added to your bill.

I think that's the first time I encountered something like that at a restaurant.

I don't disagree with the amount, but it does take away your choice, which seemed odd.

Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary on Vancouver Island

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Donations? Tips? Is this even official? Where does the collected money go?

Maybe it wasn't actually a "gift". Maybe it's a company gas card.

Or, occasionally I might buy "gift" cards for myself if there's some sort of promotional deal (for example: buy a $50 gift card, get an additional $15 credit free!)

Well, just in case this was a photoshop job, I went down the rabbit hole of reverse image searches, and found the largest source image of this that I could find, which was 3000x4000 pixels and posted May 2023:

https://twitter.com/_tomtomato/status/1661905149932044289/photo/1

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The poster on twitter said he found the image on reddit.com/r/dallas. However, I wasn't able to find the post. Or any sources earlier than May 26, 2023.

I saw someone else bring up the point that those LCD screens aren't typically touchscreens, since they have the buttons on the sides.

Additionally, with the higher resolution image, it looks like the screen was actually a composited image--the text on the screen has far more jpg artifacts than the valero logo in the corner. The logo is so much more crisp than the other text and blue tip boxes.

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And finally, other photos of valero gas pumps seem to indicate that the screen is very glossy. But the one with the tip screen is matte, like most touchscreens would be.

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So, I'm inclined to believe that this was a photoshop gag.

Someone probably took a photo of a tip screen from a Square-branded kiosk (if you zoom in, there are water spots, so it was likely a real screen), maybe manipulated the numbers to match the gas pump, fit the image over top the gas pump's screen, and dropped the valero logo over it.

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I never liked the idea of complete randos off the street handling your food to begin with.

Between that and the bonkers pricing of the delivery services didn't make them appealing to me, so I never used them.

Pre-tipping is really just another fee. Pretty much like paying more for a faster shipping service...so technically not a tip to reward good service.

Not quite the same--pizza deliverers are employees of the pizza place, which means they're directly vetted, supervised, and trained by the pizza place.

The bar is much lower with general delivery services--less vetting, less food safety training, temperature control is hit or miss, and they're 3rd-party contractors who don't have any connection to the restaurant, are not answerable to the restaurant, and the restaurant has no supervisory control over the deliverers.

I paid $900 for my first car...served me well for many years.

Good luck finding anything for that price now...

Divorce asset?

Tipping for an automated system where no services are provided? That's ridiculous.

That's essentially what I said.

There are no (human) services provided to the donor that would warrant asking for a tip.

I wonder if lotto ticket terminals ask for tips now.

I would call that the bare minimum for them to provide what you paid for.

They do the exact same thing at a drive-through, yet no tip is required there.

There's no way to tell if these tipping prompts actually sent the tip to the person doing the work, or if it gets directed to the business itself. It's not really the server who was requesting tip screens, but all of a sudden in the last few years businesses made a large push for putting these tip screens in front of everyone, whether or not it was something that was traditionally a tip-based job.

The thing about "not wanting to work" is more an issue of working conditions & pay, rather than laziness. Younger folks have learned that they don't have to put up with toxic work environments or menial/unappreciated and/or low paying jobs if they don't want to. So they take their labor elsewhere. That's where you get businesses that have stressful/toxic work environments, poor conditions, and low pay complaining that "nobody wants to work", when actually they have trouble filling positions given the specific conditions/pay attached the job.

If a burger flipping position paid $5k per day, I'm sure there would be a line out the door for people applying for the job. But everyone knows that retail & food service jobs suck, the pay is usually low, and advancement is basically non-existent, so it stands to reason why those types of jobs aren't in high demand, and why employers have a hard time filling them.

That's where everybody makes their real money, lol. Admin fees, convenience fees, improvement fees, service fees, billing fees....

Not directly related to tipping, but some changes that could increase the size of the tip:

There's a local restaurant I go to maybe a couple times a year to celebrate special occasions. I just went there to celebrate Mother's Day, and there have been a few changes since the last time I was there.

1) Most meals are around $30-$40 a plate. They used to include a salad or small bowl of soup as an appetizer. Now they're extra for $4 each. But, the price of the meals have mostly remained the same.

2) The waitresses now carry ipads around to show photos of all the available meals and desserts. While I think all restaurants should have been doing this years ago, the waitress kept trying to show us more photos even though we indicated that were ready to order and didn't need to see them. I'm not sure if it was house policy to show customers the photos, if she was trying to get us to order more items, or if she was simply over-eager to share the new feature in the dining experience. Otherwise, the meal and service were great as usual.

Less people are actually carrying cash these days. I know a few people who carry no cash at all. I think that's crazy not to at least have a small amount of cash as backup, for tips, or other unexpected transactions.

But then again, the only places where I use cash these days are at flea markets, auctions, events/shows that have vendors/sellers, and in-person craigslist/facebook transactions. Usually not normal day-to-day stuff.

I noticed that starting this year, some places are starting to charge 2-3% for using a card, which wipes out any credit card rewards gains.

Are people going to start going back to cash if this becomes more commonplace?

On the customer side, they offer a few different layers of protection that I like.

If something goes terribly wrong with a transaction, I have a last resort for getting my money back.

There is no direct line to my assets, unlike with cast or debit. So if a card is stolen or compromised, I don't actually lose any money. I just inform the credit card company ASAP, they wipe any fraudulent charges, and issue a new card.

Most credit cards also extend warranties, although I don't think I've had to use it.

However, as a seller, I always worry about potential chargeback fraud. On the other hand, it gives a customer more buying power, especially for impulse buys.

True, but merchant fees aren't their only revenue stream.