Employee Pay

[leboucanier]

I tried to make my first post yesterday and I think it was bounced. I used the largest player in this industry as an example of corporate greed and Stalinist philosophy which has infiltrated the American left and many corporations. Do you know that after 20years you can not leave a tip on a ___________card or even on your Visa card no fault of Visa to tip the Barrista. What does ________________pay there young healthy employees Health Care plus minimum wage. Give me a break. As a business owner since 1963 I have learned that if you do not adequately compensate your employees and then flaunt your capitol gains that the employees start stealing any way they can. I object to working in a system of tipping where the excellent employee recieves the same share as the mediocre or poor performing employee. It is reverse discrimination as is Affirmation action. I am getting ________off and have to sign off now before I blow my top! :shock:

 

[PinkRose]

Hello "leboucanier"

I'm not totally sure what your getting at in your posting, but I'm sensing that you're an employee of a certain large coffee seller, and you're very upset because of the tipping situation.

Unfortunately, many places pool the tips, and they're divided amongst the baristas. I agree that it's not fair, especially when you're the one doing a great job while some other person slacks off. One of the reasons that some businesses pool the tips and divide them is to make it easier for the employees to report the tip earnings for tax purposes. The employer has to report the tips as a part of your income, and they also have to kick in a percentage for Social Security tax, medicare, etc. This is an added expense for the employer, which is a fact that is little comfort to you, I'm sure.

It would be great if the store cards, gift cards, and the Visa charge card receipts could offer a way for customers to add a tip to their totals. I know many baristas who are upset because people are using their store card or charge cards and not including a tip (because there is no place to add it in). Customers, who would normally want to tip, don't tip, mainly because they don't carry cash.

I've observed on several occasions when a people have used a Visa card to pay for their orders, and they have asked to have to total increased so they can have"cash back" so they can leave a tip. But, we all know that those occassions are rare, and unfortunately it's easier to just not leave a tip.

It's obvious that you're very angry about the situation, and your feelings are understandable. However, I was particularly alarmed when you remarked that "the employees start stealing any way they can."

I'm hoping that you're not thinking along those lines. It is far better for you to find another job rather than start playing such a risky game. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble, and possibly ruin any future job prospects if you get caught....and you probably will get caught.

Besides posting here on the coffee forum, there also some other places where you can voice your concerns. I'm guessing that the links below will be helpful to you.

http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/

http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/home/home.jsp?p=about

Rose

 

[CCafe]

Must just be Visa because I tip barista's all the time with my Mastercard.

 

[chip]

Visa tipping

It''s actually a function of the credit card processor. We had a processor who didn''t support restaurant type processing though our POS software did. We switched to a processor who supports tipping (Mercury Payment Systems in Colorado) and now tips are handled perfectly for all the credit cards we take including Visa, MC, Discover & Amex. It''s not the cards fault, it''s the processor that you work with.