> If you buy something at a counter, there is no social expectation that you tip

In the USA, plenty of counter-service restaurants/shops have tip jars. Further, many counter-service food outlets have added a tipping option to their credit card process, usually with 15% as the minimum.

Those tip jars are basically a "if you don't want to deal with coinage or $1 dollar bills, we'll take it off your hand" option. You won't be thought poorly of for not tipping at a cafe or counter-service restaurant the same way you would be for not tipping a regular waiter.

Thanks Starbucks, for taking those dollar bills off my hands so I don't have to deal with them! How convenient of you! The homeless guy outside will also perform the same service, by the way, but I wouldn't be "supporting a living wage" if I gave him the money instead of your baristas.

Starbucks isn't taking anything; they are receiving from people who give willingly. If you choose to give them your money, you've got nobody but yourself to blame. In the case of tip jars at counters you can't even blame social pressure, participating in such a scheme is completely voluntary and most people do not.

Your argument is reductive. ALL tips are given willingly.

Starbucks could, at any moment, bar individual stores from placing a tip jar at their registers. Just like McDonald's. No tips, no issue, no should I or shouldn't I?

Tips to wait staff are voluntary but have significant social pressure behind them. Tip jars at counters have no social pressure behind them. That's not reductive, that's just the practical reality of tipping culture in America. If you refuse to tip a waitress a very significant portion of the American population will consider you tantamount to a thief, a morally bankrupt person. Refusing to put your change in the tip jar doesn't even cause people to bat an eye. The social dynamics between these two scenarios are worlds apart. Ignoring these disparate social dynamics is reductive.

If you're going to be outraged that Starbucks offers you the opportunity to tip people at the counter, perhaps I should feign outrage that you spend your money on starbucks instead of making your own coffee and giving the difference to the homeless. Starbucks has a significant profit margin after all; that is money you could be donating!

Your outrage would be misdirected, as I have not patronized Starbucks in many years. But among friends who do, they absolutely feel pressure to tip, especially when they see the same barista every single day. I'll trust them over you, thanks.

> "But among friends who do, they absolutely feel pressure to tip,"

I'm pretty damn skeptical of that, since in America the vast majority of customers do not put anything in counter tip jars. Maybe you've got some sort of strange selection bias going on...

They have tip jars, but there is no social expectation that you should use them. Sometimes I drop my change in them if I don't want it in my pocket.

> many counter-service food outlets have added a tipping option to their credit card process

I see this as just a little bit underhanded... creating the expectation of a tip in situations where one is not needed.

Also, the presence of a tip jar does not create the need for a tip.

Giving bartenders a dollar no matter the order amount is not cool, really. That’s how you turn invisible to them the next time you want to order a drink ;)

I disagree. I tip a dollar per drink no matter what it is. It's no more than 30 seconds of work to pour/ open a beer, maybe 60 seconds for a mixed drink? Then I walk away. Transaction/ service complete. Unlike a server who attends to you for the duration of a meal, while you are also sitting there occupying table space of other paying customers.

Most people run tabs on plastic nowadays, so how's the bartender supposed to even know what they are earning per drink? I prefer to pay in cash & tip dollars as I go, & i find most bartenders are more than happy to get them & continue good service when they see paper coming their way on every transaction.

Sure, that’s reasonable. I just see people who order a round of 6 drinks and then throw a single dollar in, at some places.

Hopefully GP meant a dollar per drink. That seems to be the norm.

If you're headed to a craft establishment, $2 is the norm now. (aka a drink that has 4-10 ingredients, not a vodka/soda)

I suppose that's where the disconnect is. I only order beers or shots of whisky. One dollar per drink keeps the bartenders attentive in my experience.

Personally if the drink is sub-10$, I tip $1.

Then you're not going to 'craft' establishments.

Maybe I'm not. Could you link an example of one? Would you tip more than 1$ on, say, a $6 drink there?

You wouldn't be paying $6 for a 'craft' style cocktail anywhere in the US. A 'craft' cocktail usually has 4-10 ingredients and a garnish that compliments the flavor - usually through your orthonasal senses. It's not a vodka soda or a gin and tonic. It's a Fish House Punch or a Jungle Bird or a Champs Elysees or any number of amazing cocktails that exist in the world.

> Tip them with cash when possible, to make sure they get to keep it...)

Nothing like trying to help income inequality than to promote progressive income tax evasion.

Facilitating tax evasion is one consideration (although trust me, delivery people fall into a very low tax bracket anyway...) But another consideration is the number of employers who try to keep tips for themselves. It's hard to know which businesses do this, so it's safer to just tip with cash.