Starbucks fans furious over new 'awkward' tipping system

I stopped going to Starbucks long ago (around when they wouldn't let you lie about your email address and still get on the wifi), but one thing I hated is how it took going like three menus deep to tip electronically in the mobile app, which was the worst thing thrust on franchisees since Subway made everyone install toasting machines.

(I've never worked for Starbucks, but I am a former sandwich artist -- I also used to sell my old electronics to help offset the costs of the new ones at the now infamous "Jared Subway" before they had to take down the plaque because he wasn't uh... a philantropist... just a guy who would have gotten bigger if his dorm was above a Dunkin Donuts instead of a five dollar footlong factory.)

Anyways, you had to dig so far in the UI that I could tell, as someone who has published multiple scholarly articles in the field of human computer interaction, that many users probably never attempted to do so.

(This was all in the app though, you could always just drop a dollar in a jar I assume? I've been trying to just round up a bit and let people keep the change rather than overthink these things since I used to be at Starbucks because for some damn reason every cop in the township used to hang out there too, so counterintuitively it was a damn good place to do security research... though I tried to be nice and sit inside since they seemed to like the porch and I sincerely didn't want to hear whatever the hell they were talking about as I waited for the library to open.)

The thing I don't like about these systems is it forces you to remove your focus from where you are, the people serving you -- and decipher what the tiny little screen wants you to do.

Is it time to remove your card yet? No, not yet. Not yet -- wait for it.... The entire line is depending on you to not keep them waiting, to remove your card whenever it's finally approved.

They've basically outsourced all the additional labor around swiping the card to me.

Haven’t been to the states since covid, but many/most places in Canada have a tip screen in the using-plastic process. Been this way for a while and I assume it’s part of the software provided with the hand unit - nobody writes their own. It’s like internet ads, you either click through or don’t. The Starbucks app has had a tip nag for years.

At least here the servers don’t have a big wage cut to “make up” for their tips.