tipping with a credit card
 

I'm not a particularly frugal college student. I eat out at least once a week, and (since arbitrarily deciding my approach to fiscal responsibility after reading a thread here) avoid carrying cash. This leaves me with my check/debit card, and the lingering desire to tip waiters.

When you leave cash on the table, it very clearly goes straight into their pockets. But tips left with a credit card, written into that little line they give you, seem more to be gifts to the institution than the service employees who served you. Do credit card tips actually make their way to the waiters? And if I insist on continuing the justification for not paying waitstaff very well (admittedly, the minimum wage here is up near second-best-in-country), is it worthwhile to carry cash for the purpose?

A credit card tip is converted to cash (and pocketed) as soon as the waiter or waitress returns to the cash register.

Let's see if stacyv has a different take.

Even when paying for a meal by credit card (extremely rare event), I tip in cash. So do most of the people I know ... Don't CC tips get reported to the gubbermint automatically?

I think whether tips get reported depends more on the management of the particular restaurant. When I worked in food service (which was admittedly a long time ago,) the delivery drivers turned in their credit card receipts at the end of the night for cash, and no tips were ever reported.

In some cases I've seen (and only second-hand - I've never done a food service gig myself) the final transaction is recorded as a separate Total and Tip and only the Total is entered as revenue. I'm sure fancy schmancy computer technology makes reporting only food/drink totals and leaving out tips pretty easy. And if waiters were required to fork over 1-2% of tips for merchant fees, I imagine we'd all be serving ourselves when we eat out.

Here's an interesting tipping bit my cousin raised a few weeks ago at dinner: Do you tip x% *before* or *after* tax? She says it should be pre-tax - and here in NYC, where tax is 8.625%, that makes a big difference for any meal over $40-50. I agree with her.

Next time I have to wade through restaurant financials, I'm going to double-check how sales/service tax is booked.

Here in the communist stronghold of DC where the extortionary sales tax on restaurant food (ten percent) is enough to make a loan shark blush, tips are based upon the pre-tax cost of the meal.

The waiter gets a tip on the food, not on tax or alcohol.

If there is a sommelier who does their job well, they get 15% of the wine bill.

-ml

this isn't credit card specific but how about tipping bartenders? are you supposed to? sometimes they have a little jar set out for tips...(I guess these questions gives away the fact that I don't drink much, or that I don't go OUT to drink much)

Waiters/waitresses - I usually tip 15%, but I'll give 20% if they're good.

Bartenders - $1 per drink, if I'm paying cash. If I have a tab going, I usually tip 10-15%.

And as far as I know, they never have a problem collecting their tips from credit cards.

I'd rather get a credit card tip than NO tip.

I tip a buck a drink, and do so as I go rather than waiting for the bill. This accomplishes a couple things:

1. It saves me having to figure out a percentage if I'm a bit too twisted.
2. It helps ensure the waitress will come back often, ensuring that I do get twisted. :)

Well, a restaurant in Philadelphia went under and all of the waiters and waitresses tips placed on credit cards were placed into the pool of assets of the restaurant. The wait staff never saw any of it.

That's not really a normal scenario, though. If the restaurant went under, chances are decent those waitstaff never saw their last paycheck either.

What the hell? Why shouldn't you tip your waitress for alcohol?? :confused:
Because the bar made the drink? well, the kitchen made the food, so why do you tip on that? BECAUSE, I took the damn order, brought you the correct item and brought you refils as needed. In the case of wine, I ordered it, brought you glasses for it and ice if necessary, showed you the label, uncorked it, let you taste it, poured it for you and refilled your glasses. 1 bottle of wine makes 4 glasses. If the bottle of wine is $24, that's $6 per drink (an average price for any alcoholic drink). BUT, I did more work for that bottle than if you had ordered 4 different wines by the glass- so why the hell wouldn't you tip on it?? And don't order a bottle that's more than $24 if you're so f*&^%$^*ing cheap. Don't tip on alcohol? Jesus Christ, I'm still shaking my head over that one. Whatever, that doesn't happen to me. I make 18-20% of my TOTAL sales per shift. BY THE WAY, did you know that your server has to tip the bar out for that alcohol that you didn't tip on??
Yeah, that's right, I have to give the bar anywhere from 8.3% to 10% of my total tips earned per shift- regardless of whether I only sold food and soda or lots of alcoholic beverages. Don't be a fuckin cheapskate. The tax thing? Hey, whatever. I wouldn't get offended by that because it shouldn't put a huge dent in the tip, so be cheap there if it makes you happy. (But again, 99% of my customers don't do that either- it's just so trivial. If you're that worried about spending every cent, you shouldn't be eating out- you should be at the grocery store buying generic brands...)

OKAY, as far as credit card tips go, I never get mad about those!! I would prefer that I get all cash tips, but that's a pipe dream. Some shifts I get mostly credit card tips and that sucks, because yes, I have to claim every cent, but honestly, most of the time there's a nice balance between those who tip with credit cards and those who tip in cash, so that's really not a big deal. Go ahead, tip to your heart's contant on that credit card! :D
One thing to think about, though- they don't do this at my resyaurant, but SOME places actually charge their waitstaff a small fee out of their credit card tips, because businesses have to pay a fee on all credit card sales to a merchant processor...

i dont usually tip, its not what ppl do over here. i think its a rort! you pay for your meal, and they get paid to serve you from their employers.

When i worked in food service (3 yrs ago) you might get maybe $2 or $3 dollars from someone you were extra nice to. never a percentage of the meal like you do over there tho - seeing as meals were about $60 for a steak.

but we never got offened. its just not the custom here.

When i went on a PandO cruise last year they automatically deducted your tips from your card without even asking!! which ticked me off.. i really dont see the point in tipping.