Hacker News Reader

> where a preselected tip is selected. Default should be no.

A lot of this push to higher and higher and preselected tip options comes from POS software providers (Square et al) and credit card companies. They make money on transaction volume. Higher transaction -> more fees

View on HN

The restaurants get to set those values though. A coffee shop near me puts the default options as $1, $2, $3 for low order totals. So if I go in and get a coffee (which is $4.50), the lowest tip option is 22% and the highest is a whopping 66%.

I've seriously gotten tip fatigue and have been working to move back to a sane standard. I've noticed the places that have these crazy tips, also pay their staff well.

Recall that they're tax-deductible now -- so tips are the most efficient way to compensate employees. You're feeling the second-order effects of the inevitable business model change.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com