4 Ways to Handle Point-of-Sale Tip Requests

Image supply: Getty Images

To quote the late Nancy Reagan, “Just say no.”

If you have got but to run right into a point-of-sale (POS) tip request, you undoubtedly will. POS tip requests are popping up in all places, from concession stands to automated automotive washes. That’s proper. Some automated automotive wash homeowners would love to be paid after which tipped — despite the fact that no worker labor is concerned.

How it really works

Here’s an instance of how POS tip requests work. You stroll right into a retailer to decide up a brand new prime, select the merchandise you want, and pay for it with a credit card. The retailer clerk swipes your card, then turns the cardboard reader again to you for a signature. Rather than discovering a line to signal your identify, you discover a immediate to depart a tip. Retailers decide the tip recommendations, however they usually vary from 10% to 30% of your whole invoice.

How you may deal with POS tip requests

No matter how nice the strain could also be to make the particular person on the opposite aspect of the counter glad, you have got choices whenever you’re requested to tip.

1. Just say no

Hit the button that reads “no tip” and stroll away with a transparent conscience. Only you determine when tipping is acceptable.

2. Create a tip checklist

Etiquette knowledgeable Thomas P. Farley, higher referred to as “Mister Manners,” advised ABC7 New York that he has a tip checklist, and solely three folks make the lower: Servers, bartenders, and washroom attendants. On your tip checklist, embrace anybody you’d normally tip with out being prompted. For instance, you may want to embrace your barber, hairdresser, or the one that cleans your resort room.

3. Stick with the checklist

Tattoo the checklist in your thoughts so that you by no means depart residence with out it. Pushing “no tip” when requested by somebody who doesn’t make the lower is a great means to depart cash in your bank account.

4. Pay with money

If you need to keep away from awkwardness on the register, pay with money. This is very useful whenever you anticipate to store in a retailer you understand will ask for a tip. It’s a win/win. You do not have anybody watching to see what you do, and you do not have further credit card debt to pay off.

The trickery behind POS tip requests

As you stand there, making an attempt to decide whether or not the service you obtained is worthy of a tip, the worker who ran your card is you, ready to your response. While tipping is meant to reward wonderful service, research have proven that most individuals are motivated by social strain to do what is predicted.

Imagine that you just’re strolling via a boutique, purchasing for a present. While the shop worker does not make it easier to discover what you are in search of, they’re pleasant, and also you strike up a brief dialog. Now, as a substitute of leaving the shop pondering how nice that worker was, you are requested to price their pleasantness by leaving a tip. And it is all whereas they’re you from throughout the counter.

Harry Brignull is an knowledgeable in methods design can manipulate folks into making particular decisions. In an interview with Vox, Brignull stated, “It’s straightforward to cross the road from sincere persuasion to dangerous manipulation.”

Brignull explains that touchscreens typically emphasize the buttons that depart a giant tip. However, they de-emphasize the button that leaves no tip in any respect. In the business, it is known as “darkish patterns.”

A rising development

ABC7 News in New York City spoke with Dipayan Biswas, a advertising and enterprise professor on the University of South Florida.

Biswas — who has studied tipping for a decade — says that companies permit ideas to make jobs extra profitable for his or her workers. The employer doesn’t have to elevate worker pay if prospects are prepared to foot the invoice.

As the observe grows, the priority is that extra companies will undertake POS tip requests to maintain their workers glad. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you are prepared to complement their revenue.