Just curious about this. I heard today that fast food places are asking their customers when they

[Ms. Toad]

9. It's the logical extension of the tip jar at the cash register -

which has irked me since it became a fixture sometime between 2000 and 2013. Now that more of us are doing drive-through (or order for pick-up off of shelves), the tip jar doesn't collect so many tips.

I think wait-staff should be paid a decent wage, and the price for that wage built into the prices charged for the food.

The current system has a number of flaws.

First - it shifts the choice for how much to pay workers to the customer rather than the employer, and as a practical mattter allows tipped workers who are routinely given the breakfast or lunch shift (lower bills; lower tips) to earn less than minimum wage with few consequences. When I was in college, classmates who were less favored by the local diner were routinely given the breakfast shift; the more favored were given the dinner shift.

Second - tipped workers rarely accurately report tips. (In 5 years of doing taxes, I never had a single client who reported additional tips. I am now reporting my daughter's tips on her tax return - but I also know my sister never reported her tips as a cosmetologist.) As a result - many of these workers are not receiving the social security they deserve (since social security is based on reported wages + tips). Since my sister (as an example) has less than $10,000 in savings at age 61, she will be working until she dies because her SS will not be sufficient to pay her bills. It probably still wouldn't had she reported (and paid SS taxes on her tips), but it would be closer if her tips had been paid to her on a W-2.

So, I resented it when the tip jar started appearing at my local coffee shop where I never did more than grab and go. It's right there were it is clear they are expecting a tip. Now that people are ordering from their cars, it is logical that they need to replace the visible tip jar with some other means of requesting tips to supplement the (below) minimum wage their employers are permitted to pay.

I always tip generously when we eat out - and other places where I know making minimum wage depends on tips. But it doesn't make me happy that both the tipped employees and the customer are put in this position.