Do you tip at the drive-through Starbucks?

Question

We have two drive-through Starbucks in the area and they both have tip jars at the window. I’m concerned as to why this is when the espresso machine is a mere 3 maybe 4 feet from the window. It’s not as if they are really going far out of their way to get the coffee made and then hand it over to you. However, I do appreciate getting the coffee in a timely fashion, and am happy to pay for it, but what’s next? Am I going to see a tip jar at the window of McDonalds soon?

What's your thoughts?

Some pretty interesting answers so far. Pay2368, your hilarious!

Cool, a different point of view koldkitty!

Okay, I went to Von's today, and they have of all things a Starbuck's inside the grocery store. Immediately I noticed there was no tip-jar in sight. “With my curiosity peaked I asked the girl behind the counter, ‘why don’t you have a tip-jar when every other coffee place does?’” “She said, ‘the company doesn’t allow it because they get paid enough.’”

Fascinating!

Answer 1

Koldkitty, tips doesn't stand for to insure prompt service. That would imply that leaving a tip is leaving a: to insure prompt, obviously that makes no sense. It's just a silly acronym people have made up.

For the record I would never tip at a drive thru starbucks, if they want their employees to make more than minimum wage perhaps they should pay them out of their absurd profit margin.

Answer 2

Koldkitty is on crack. First off that stupid acronym was made up decades after tipping became normal practice. It was made up by waitresses to justify the practice. And it IS an award for doing a great job, nothing more.

So by Koldkitty's definition absolutely everyone who works should get a tip. Whens the last time you gave the DMV lady $5 so you could take the eye test?- hey, she's doing her job. If you can't afford to give her a $5 tip, you can't afford to drive. What about the gas station attendant, and the Macy's sales clerk, and Vons checker, and the guy who scans your gym card, and the bus driver? Better tip them all a dollar, and everyone else. Remember, if you can't give 10% to the Vons checker each and every time you go shopping, you can't afford to buy groceries.

And what about all the people you never meet? The guys who clean sewers, so that your crap doesn't backlog into your house? The poor saps who climb telephone poles when we have ice storms? There are hundreds of those guys. Whens the last time koldkitty mailed in a $200 check to the DWP with a note, "please give a dollar tip to every employee here - please let me know if anyone got left out so I can send more money!" Sure, every year.

When you take a job, you get a paycheck. If you don't like that job, if the paycheck is too small, you improve your skills to get a new job with a better paycheck. It's absolutely insane to think that every job deserves tips. If personalized service is performed, and they do an excellent job of that service, then a tip is in order. Handing you a $0.30 coffee and charging you $5.00 is not personalized service.

But they're lucky. There are still morons out there that will give them a tip just for mastering the art of breathing air.

Answer 3

Like any fast food employee, the Starbucks barista isn't waiting on you at your table, delivering something to your house, giving you a massage, or providing any other sort of personalized service, which is usually what separates tipped services from non-tipped services.

You ask for a drink, and they make it. It's their job. Just like when you order a fast-food burger, and they make it. The difference is that the fast-food employee is under bright flourescent lighting, listening to crappy muzak, and standing over a hot grill that's spitting grease on them, while the Starbucks employee is in a warmly lit room with decent music, making almost twice as much money. If the barista deserves a tip, so does the greasy grill boy, provided that both do a good job.

Tipping shouldn't be assumed - it should be awarded for great service. If the barista knows you and starts your drink when you walk in, that's certainly worth a tip. But if they just take your order, take your money, and move on to the next person without so much as a smile or a somewhat-enthusiastic thank you, then there's really no reason to tip, especially considering Starbucks' already exorbitant prices.

Also consider that most big-name fast food places these days have charity donation bins to send your spare change to a good cause, while most Starbucks only have a tip jar.

Answer 4

I work for a Safeway Starbucks (Vons is our wholesale sister store) and we don't get tips because we aren't working for the corporation of Starbucks we are working with the Union and a Franchise of Starbucks. So we get better insurance and we get paid more but we have to work 40hrs a week and not just making coffee we have to know the whole store (deli, meat, restocking). Plus we have to wait 6 months to get into the Union and then after that we have to pay dues. All because we decided to work for a Franchise instead of the corporation. And maybe its because I work for one but I always tip my barista. No matter if they have a tip jar or not.

Answer 5

Oh wow, I have never heard of this before. But I don't think it's necessary to tip someone at a drive through. And aout McDonalds, I think they have a little donation box at the drive through, not so much a tip jar. I'm pretty sure the money goes to the Ronald McDonalds' Childrens Charity.

Answer 6

U have not got 2 tip.they only placed a jar out hoping you will tip. It' s being grasping certainly. Awhile back a supervisor have been given in undertaking at starbux for shielding the concepts & no longer splitting it w/his workers. From what I pay attention the workers there make reliable money & have reliable reward too. So why isn't that adequate for them???

Answer 7

i have seen tip jars at coffee drivethroughs in my area as well. i don't quite understand why they have them, and only coffee places have them. coffee is not any harder to handle than a burger and fries, so why are coffee shop employees so demanding of tips? personally i have not ever left a tip at a Starbucks drivethrough, quite frankly they already mark the coffee up for maximum profit. $5 for a coffee?? if the employees aren't making enough salary its the shops fault, not the customers!

Answer 8

No way. They aren't providing a lengthy service, such as cutting my hair or waiting on me while I sit down and dine. It's a drive-thru and I'm just another customer. I don't have anyone coming to my desk to tip me at work for every job I finish for a customer. It's called a PAYCHECK!

Answer 9

No. You never tip in a drive through just because if you go to a different drive through that will not accept although its a nice thought.

Answer 10

No. I don't think that we should tip them. It is their jobs to get the coffee in a timely fashion. They do not do anything extra special. It is the Starbucks who should pay them a good wage for doing a job as good service attract customers.