Working for tips sucks. Some folks are generous when it comes to paying gratuity, while other punks will straight up dine-n-dash. This past June I attended a birthday party in Nashville for a friend’s “30th Nash Bash". NashVegas is famous for its live country music, the Grand Ole Opry, classic bar spots like Tootsies, and some pretty insane dry rub wings at FGL (these wings will rock your world and literally blow your hair back into a Dolly Parton buffon). We ran the gamut around town and went to Nashville’s Pedal Tavern where you can aboard a 13-person bicycle bar and peruse through downtown on a 90-minute honk-tonk bar crawl.
Enter our pedal cabbie and glorified baby-sitter for the ride, Jake. Jake indicated that his main source of income from his profession as a pedal cabbie was tips. He said his gig was a cash only operation. After pressing Jake, he explained we could provide him tips via Venmo. Although we were cash poor on hand, we were glad to give Jake some funds digitally as a thank you for his roles as our main steerer, DJ, bartender, and entertainer for the ride. It seemed obvious he could have made even more dough had he advertised that he accepted electronic payments. In fact, all over Broadway in Nashville every performer would.
Why are we still passing the bucket around? Granted, I have not read all of the rules and regulations behind electronic payment apps for business related transactions. Think about it - what if there was an app that existed, or special versions of these apps for tipping? There are a myriad of tertiary services that rely on tipping outside of pedal-cabs. Waiters and waitresses, valets, baristas, buskers, manicurists, massage therapists, and Steve the local pizza delivery guy would all benefit. These days, fewer and fewer people carry cash. Using a digital form of money transfer would make it easier for these professionals to get their fair tip when providing services to clientele. There could be a notation or button indicating the reason for the transaction and tada, no more awkward ‘cash only’ debacles.
Moreover, using an app and tracking transaction history would likely serve as a better tracker for income, as most cash earnings are self reported when completing income tax returns. What better way for Mr. Taxman to get his fair share than to do it digitally? Granted, there may be some pushback as these wage-earners still earn less than the median taxpayer, but it could serve to be a beneficial way to track income revenue that formerly came in as cash.
If tipping apps became more popular, I can’t think of any extreme negative consequences, except that it would be sad to see tip jars and their clever jokes forever disappear (‘Afraid of Change? Leave it here!’, ‘Just put the tip in, see how it feels…’ and ‘Hey I just met you, and this coffee’s crazy, so here’s this hot brew, so tip me maybe?’ are a few favorites). If a few people start realizing they’re missing the opportunity, others will catch on. However, it won’t change the fact that working for tips still sucks and always will.