Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

There's a delicious burrito cart near my office that I hit up frequently for lunch.

Most items cost $4. They have a tip jar sitting out, and I frequently see people buying $4 items with a $5 dollar bill, then tipping the $1.

I have a couple problems with this.

1) Since this is a burrito cart, the people you're tipping are the owners. So what's the point? I'd happily pay $5 for a burrito if they decided to charge that much. All the money is going to the same people anyway, so what does tipping accomplish?

2) Since all their items cost a round dollar amount, one would have to usually tip a full dollar unless one carried change on his person. I do not make a practice of this. $1 tip on a $4 item seems excessive.

3) It's a freaking burrito cart! It's not like I can sit in some nice atmosphere while they prepare my food. I have to stand outside and wait.

4) The service is very very very slow. Friendly, but slow.

Am I wrong to not tip $1 on my $4 burritos? Their food is great; I guess I see it as lame that they have this tip jar out rather than just charging what they want to get for their burritos.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

Tipping over a burrito cart is almost never a bad idea. Just make sure you can outrun the owner.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

why would you tip the cart guy? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

i'm assuming the jar is just to make an extra buck.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

Why are you tipping them in the first place?

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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Tipping over a burrito cart is almost never a bad idea. Just make sure you can outrun the owner.

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lol. This is exactly what I thought he was talking about when I read the title.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

I would only tip about 1 out of every 3 or 4 times just so the didn't spit in my burrito while making it. But make sure they actually see you putting the money in.

[img]http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=seinfeld+george/v=2/SID=e/TID=I999_73/l=IVS/SIG=12m2r3vsu/EXP=1132178332/*-http%3A//www.seinfeld-fan.net/pictures/george/george_costanza011.jpg[/img]

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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Tipping over a burrito cart is almost never a bad idea. Just make sure you can outrun the owner.

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lol. This is exactly what I thought he was talking about when I read the title.

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Ha. Me too - I was about to ask him if he'd ever seen Sleepers.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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Why are you tipping them in the first place?

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Ok, that's exactly what I was thinking.

I've seen people tip $1 or $2 there and I'm just like whaaaaaaaaaat?

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

I don't get why every time a tipping thread comes up, people are so dead set against throwing a buck or two to a guy who does you a service.

You don't have to tip him 20% every time you go, I'll admit that that seems more than neessary, but if you go there a lot and the burritos are decent, throw the guy and extra buck every now and then.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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I don't get why every time a tipping thread comes up, people are so dead set against throwing a buck or two to a guy who does you a service.

You don't have to tip him 20% every time you go, I'll admit that that seems more than neessary, but if you go there a lot and the burritos are decent, throw the guy and extra buck every now and then.

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No, I like my tipping to be consistent. It's always or never for me.

At my favorite pizza place, I always tip $1. But the order is more expensive than $4, it's a cool place to hang out and wait, I'm actually tipping the employees rather than the owners, etc...

With the cart, it's like, if they want more money for their stuff, they should just charge more. The tip jar seems like a scam since the money's all going to the same place.

And there's no way to tip less than 20% unless I carry change around, which I never do.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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throw the guy and extra buck every now and then.


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the simple question is, why? make me a burrito and charge me for it. end of transaction.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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1) Since this is a burrito cart, the people you're tipping are the owners. So what's the point? I'd happily pay $5 for a burrito if they decided to charge that much. All the money is going to the same people anyway, so what does tipping accomplish?

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It gets him and extra $1.

If we're talking about tipping employees, that's another story. Don't tip this guy. Its a sympathy ploy that apparently nets him and extra 25$ on numerous sales.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

So are you opposed to tipping in general? Do you have the same attitude towards waiters? "Bring me my food and charge me for it. End of transaction." Your barber? "Cut my hair and charge me for it..." etc.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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I don't get why every time a tipping thread comes up, people are so dead set against throwing a buck or two to a guy who does you a service.

You don't have to tip him 20% every time you go, I'll admit that that seems more than neessary, but if you go there a lot and the burritos are decent, throw the guy and extra buck every now and then.

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I'm not dead set against tipping people who provide a service. I am dead set against tipping someone just because they put a tip jar out, which happens quite a bit.

If you got a good reason to tip someone, tip away. However, if you don't have a good reason to tip, don't do it. Many people tip just because they think they are supposed too, which is just silly.

In this case, the OP listed several reasons why not to tip, and no real reasons why he should.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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So are you opposed to tipping in general? Do you have the same attitude towards waiters? "Bring me my food and charge me for it. End of transaction." Your barber? "Cut my hair and charge me for it..." etc.

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yes, i am opposed to tipping in general. in my perfectly logical fantasy world, there would be no tipping. simply charge me more. the whole tipping system is a joke.

i tip in restaurants because i feel like i'm supposed to. what a poor system.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

[ QUOTE ]
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So are you opposed to tipping in general? Do you have the same attitude towards waiters? "Bring me my food and charge me for it. End of transaction." Your barber? "Cut my hair and charge me for it..." etc.

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yes, i am opposed to tipping in general. in my perfectly logical fantasy world, there would be no tipping. simply charge me more. the whole tipping system is a joke.

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I agree with this, but it isn't changing anytime soon, so I tip.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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So are you opposed to tipping in general? Do you have the same attitude towards waiters? "Bring me my food and charge me for it. End of transaction." Your barber? "Cut my hair and charge me for it..." etc.

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yes, i am opposed to tipping in general. in my perfectly logical fantasy world, there would be no tipping. simply charge me more. the whole tipping system is a joke.

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I agree with this, but it isn't changing anytime soon, so I tip.

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i do too, and tip well. i just know someone will appear to call me a cheap bastard though.. funny.


anyway let me just clarify my philosophy. i tip in restaurants because their wages are generally very small, since tipping is expected. i would never tip a guy with a burrito cart, i would never tip at dunkin donuts, starbucks, or any of that crap. i do tip at the barber on the rare occasion i go there, but i only do it because that's what you're "supposed to do".. again.. what a sad system. i tip cab drivers.. this one i am most pissed off at. why not just bump the fare a little? when i get out am i supposed to say, "great driving chap! here's some extra money for your excellent service!"?

hmm.. who else do i tip.. delivery guys...i think that's it.. oh, poker dealers, but again.. their hourly wages are generally small because their bosses know they will be tipped.. so i have to play the game. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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So are you opposed to tipping in general? Do you have the same attitude towards waiters? "Bring me my food and charge me for it. End of transaction." Your barber? "Cut my hair and charge me for it..." etc.

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No, this analogy is flawed.

Waiters, hairdressers, etc... are generally employees, not the owners of their respective businesses. You're tipping them for their service; not randomly adding dollars to the base cost of the service. They also usually don't make a lot and count on tips to survive.

If the burrito guy delivered, that would be another story and would obviously require tipping.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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Waiters, hairdressers, etc... are generally employees, not the owners of their respective businesses. You're tipping them for their service; not randomly adding dollars to the base cost of the service.

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Bingo. Tip the employees.

Or just get society to pay them better. Then they won't need the tips to survive.

Apparently p*ker dealers (a similar question?) in Australia laugh when Americans tip them, because they're actually paid a good wage.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

That post of mine wasn't directed at you. It was directed at something Daryn said. Anyway, I'm a very liberal tipper, and think that it's right to tip a lot of people (and those people I tip, I usually overtip), and I would probably tip your burrito cart guy.

Also, I realize that the burrito cart guy owns the thing, but I highly doubt that he's getting rich off of it. I think that tipping originated as a way to show monetary appreciation to people who otherwise aren't paid well, and I think that your burrito cart guy is probably going to fall into that category. Also, before you go off about "Then he should raise prices," I'm confident that if he raised his prices, his business would go down and he would end up making less money, which I'm sure is why he's selling the $4 burritos to begin with.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

If you think a $.50 tip is in order, then tip half the time. $.25, a quarter, etc.

GoT

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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If you think a $.50 tip is in order, then tip half the time. $.25, a quarter, etc.

GoT

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That bugs me, though, because the times I don't tip he's going to look at me and be thinking, "why aren't you tipping? you did last time."

I like to be consistent.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

i was picturing a sleepers type situation when i read the title of this thread. Sleepers? bacon, pitt etc

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

I know he's not getting rich, and I like to support him by eating there a lot. I just think having the tip jar out is dumb and a little bit underhanded.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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That bugs me, though, because the times I don't tip he's going to look at me and be thinking, "why aren't you tipping? you did last time."

I like to be consistent.

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I think you're looking too far into it, but if he were to say something like that, he's also like to say "Here's the scheisty non-tipping [censored] again" when you never tip, as opposed to "Oh here comes SomethingClever, who's a nice guy, he tips me every now and then."

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

I don't see how having a tip jar is underhanded. He's making you burritos which you apparently like, he's not making a lot of money doing it, but he's probably putting a lot of effort into making those burritos, and he's just kinda saying "If you appreciate what I'm doing, throw me an extra buck every now and then."

At least that's how I'd see it.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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I know he's not getting rich, and I like to support him by eating there a lot. I just think having the tip jar out is dumb and a little bit underhanded.

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I don't understand how it's any more underhanded than the local Starbucks or Subway having one. Yes, I understand the tips in this case are going to the owner/operator, but what's the difference in principle? The person doing the work and directly providing the service is still the one getting the tip. If you don't tip for those services because the employees are paid a full wage and only tip for waitress type service where they're paid under minimum, how do you know that the owner/operator isn't netting less than the equivalent of minimum wage for every hour of their time?

GoT

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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"If you appreciate what I'm doing, throw me an extra buck every now and then."

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WHY?!?!

if you walk into some store like wal-mart and see something you like, at a cheap price, do you ever say "wow.. i really appreciate what the founder of wal-mart is doing, maybe i will send him a few bucks in the mail"

is it because he is rich that you don't do that? so it's not about the service at all, it's about charity?

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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I don't get why every time a tipping thread comes up, people are so dead set against throwing a buck or two to a guy who does you a service.

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Because this is not a service. It's retail.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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I don't get why every time a tipping thread comes up, people are so dead set against throwing a buck or two to a guy who does you a service.

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Because this is not a service. It's retail.

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thanks.. i think this is what i'm trying to say

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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There's a delicious burrito cart near my office that I hit up frequently for lunch.

Most items cost $4. They have a tip jar sitting out, and I frequently see people buying $4 items with a $5 dollar bill, then tipping the $1.

I have a couple problems with this.

1) Since this is a burrito cart, the people you're tipping are the owners. So what's the point? I'd happily pay $5 for a burrito if they decided to charge that much. All the money is going to the same people anyway, so what does tipping accomplish?

2) Since all their items cost a round dollar amount, one would have to usually tip a full dollar unless one carried change on his person. I do not make a practice of this. $1 tip on a $4 item seems excessive.

3) It's a freaking burrito cart! It's not like I can sit in some nice atmosphere while they prepare my food. I have to stand outside and wait.

4) The service is very very very slow. Friendly, but slow.

Am I wrong to not tip $1 on my $4 burritos? Their food is great; I guess I see it as lame that they have this tip jar out rather than just charging what they want to get for their burritos.

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1. Tip not required. Worthwhile if they give you an extra good burrito one day. Tip and see if that keeps up, if it happens, or if they're no better or worse either way.

2. Don't be a pussy. Tip what you like, not according to any other idea.

3. Tip not required.

4. Their slow service may or may not deserve a tip. Your call, and either way sounds fine.

5. A 20% tip for simply receiving the item you pay for from a cart is excessive. Tipping at all is unnecessary and not expected, or shouldn't be. They can't be blamed for putting a tip jar out there, and perhaps they do give better or worse service sometimes. At any rate, it's a no-lose proposition for them, so you can't blame them for putting it up.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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I don't understand how it's any more underhanded than the local Starbucks or Subway having one. Yes, I understand the tips in this case are going to the owner/operator, but what's the difference in principle?

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Well, to clarify my tipping philosophy... I generally don't tip in subway/starbucks type places unless one of the following is true:

1) The service was exceptionally friendly/good/out of the ordinary.

or

2) I have a convenient amount of change to tip.

2 is often true at these places. I get $0.35 back in change; I generally just throw it in the tip jar. But I don't tip $1 on my $3.50 latte.

Yes, I know you've already offered a solution to this with your "tipping half the time" strategy, but that just bugs me for reasons I can't fully explain.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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is it because he is rich that you don't do that? so it's not about the service at all, it's about charity?

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If you'd read my post, you'd see that I wrote, very clearly, that tipping is a way to compensate someone who otherwise isn't paid well.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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I know he's not getting rich, and I like to support him by eating there a lot. I just think having the tip jar out is dumb and a little bit underhanded.

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ask him to charge you $.50 more.

youre not going to be happy w/ any solution.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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At any rate, it's a no-lose proposition for them, so you can't blame them for putting it up.


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I guess that's fair.

But AHA!

He's just trying to make some extra money without having to take the risk of raising his prices to what people are willing to pay, right?

Isn't that a little sneaky? Most people will just tip away without doing the sort of in-depth analysis that I have.

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Better than places that charge you twice as much where a $1 tip is a lot more reasonable. Why do all the Burrito places around my apartment cost so damn much!!!

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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Isn't that a little sneaky? Most people will just tip away without doing the sort of in-depth analysis that I have.

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I think you're grossly overestimating the amount of money he makes by puttig out the tip jar. I doubt he makes more than $15-$20 in tips a day, unless people are incredibly generous or he does a huge amount of business.

And you're right, he is trying to make a little bit of extra money without raising prices, because he knows that people who don't think that the burrito is worth more won't pay more, but the people who do will give him a tip.

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Making extra money is the name of the game. Nothing bad about trying unless you make meaningful eyes over at the jar and try to cajole or coerce a tip out of people. Or punish them for not tipping by screwing up their food or giving them less. I have seen food jerks giving the meaningful eye over at the tip jar for doing really a whole bunch of nothing, like putting a slice of pizza on a plate and giving you a cup to go fill up with soda, and then the spiteful eye for when you don't do it. That kind of tip jar crap stinks. But I usually tip if someone is extra cool in some way or another, gives me big portions, whatever.

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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Yes, I know you've already offered a solution to this with your "tipping half the time" strategy, but that just bugs me for reasons I can't fully explain.

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Well, it doesn't look like a better solution exists. So you should just decide which idea you think is better: Tip never, tip $1 all the time, bring change to tip all the time, or tip $1 a % of the time. My guess is you already knew these were your only choices before you posted, and I don't see anything new coming up.

GoT

Re: Burrito cart tipping dilemma
 

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is it because he is rich that you don't do that? so it's not about the service at all, it's about charity?

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If you'd read my post, you'd see that I wrote, very clearly, that tipping is a way to compensate someone who otherwise isn't paid well.

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if it's about money, i'm sure that burrito guy is doing well for himself. he's charging $4 for a burrito that probably costs him less than a dollar to make. burritos sell like crazy too.