Always Carry Cash With You so You Can Tip
Earlier this year, New Jersey became the second state (after Massachusetts) to ban non-cash restaurants. To quote the Restaurant business :
The [New Jersey] law is directed at businesses that intend to expedite service, especially during peak periods, by requiring customers to pay with a credit card, phone flash, or use of a payment tag. Businesses have found that exchanging cash with customers can slow down the checkout process by seconds or minutes.
We need to save those precious seconds!
However, despite the fact that these cashless businesses effectively discourage people who don’t have access to smartphones, credit or debit cards, many business owners and customers prefer the simplicity of cashless payments. Nobody has to count coins, nobody has to make any changes, just swipe (or tap, or paste, or whatever) and go.
How about a tip?
If you’re in a restaurant, coffee shop, or food van, you will likely be asked to tip either on your credit card receipt or, more commonly, by tapping on your iPad. (Many of us have been “guilty” of leaving tips where we would not have had them otherwise, such as when the checkout software offers us a tip of 15%, 20%, or 25% for a pre-wrapped sandwich and a bottle of water that we carried to the counter ourselves.)
However, in non-restaurant situations, tipping without cash becomes much more difficult.
Take hotel cleaning, for example. If you don’t have cash, how will you tip the people who clean your room and make your bed? USA Today offers a sophisticated system in which you first ask the concierge if any portion of your hotel bill, such as a service charge, is allocated to the maids, and then “Ask the concierge to increase the amount of the service charge if the hotel automatically includes an amount that too small in your opinion. “
While this method may technically work, you still won’t be able to tip the airport transfer driver or the person who carried your bags to your room – and The New York Times reminds us of a few more people losing tips as we move on to (almost) a cashless society:
The problem is especially acute for apartment building employees, such as doormen and elevator operators, who do not engage in any deals with their “customers” and usually rely on change for taxi rides or food delivery for their tips.
“A long time ago, renters took a taxi home and paid in cash,” said [elevator operator] Mark. “So, if they get change out of that $ 20, they will give you that change.
“Now they swipe the card in a taxi, or when they come with Uber, they don’t pay, so they just get out of the car and walk right up.”
Mark says his tip has gone from $ 400 a week three years ago to a maximum of $ 100 a week in 2017.
If you are now thinking, “I carry my bags to my hotel room, and I don’t live in a house with a doorman, let alone an elevator operator,” this is normal. (To be honest, this is probably most of us.) But the point that both NYT and New Jersey are trying to get across is that we are not ready for a truly cashless society. Not yet, anyway.
Until then, we need to remember to carry cash with us. If possible in small bills. Because many employees rely on tips – and because you will feel better when you can leave them.