Why do Starbucks baristas deserve tips?

Question

They don't serve your drinks to your table. They get minimum wage without tips. I dont see why baristas at Starbucks and other cafes should get tips. Servers deserve it, because they seat you at a table, bring you your food, and clean up your table after you're done, which is a lot more work than just making a latte imo. When I go to Starbucks, I dont give any tips, and the barista gets pissed and practically throws my drink to me with a b*tchy attitude. They don't deserve any tips imo.

What do you think?

Answer 1

A barista is a bartender, and you tip your bartender, don't you?



Barista's go through weeks of tedious training to learn how to make your drinks perfectly for you and spend long, strenuous hours on their feet making those drinks. So you have an 8 drink order, five of which are extremely difficult drinks that will take two minutes each to finish? That Barista right there is going to be the one to spend the next 15 minutes making those drinks with a smile on his/her face for you. It isn't as easy as you think. Many of them don't work more than 20 hours a week so minimum wage doesn't cut it. If you can survive on 20 hours a week at minimum wage, please, be my guest.



Now if the Barista is rude and does not smile, make you feel welcome, or preform their job of making your day a little brighter with that smile, do not tip them. I don't recommend ever tipping a Barista if they are rude, they do not deserve it. But if they are kind, tip them.



I do not get angry if a customer doesn't tip us. It's completely by choice. But those tips pay my electric bill and put the gas in my car that helps me get to work 40+ hours a week to make you your coffee and smile the entire time.

Answer 2

And why should you tip a bartender who just gives you a beer on a busy Friday night without a word? Why should you tip a valet who says two words to you? There's really no logic when it comes most people's tipping at different establishments, which is why it's a bad system for employees in the first place. Why should you tip anybody at all? They're just doing their jobs, right? Well you wouldn't feel obligated to tip anybody if you knew they made a livable wage.



But these workers don't. (Especially chain-shop baristas, who are treated like fast-food workers/slaves). So tip. Because it would be nice if your barista and her kids would be able to eat dinner tonight. It will be a can of 60 cent beans most likely.



According to Glassdoor, baristas at Starbucks make about $8 an hour without tips and around $9 with tips. You try living decently by yourself or even supporting a family off $9 an hour.

Answer 3

I'm not a Starbucks barista, but a local coffee shop barista and second that we appreciate ANY sort of tips at all!

Do any of you complain about tipping a bartender?

Barista=Bartender.

I've never heard of anyone complain about someone opening a beer and handing it across the counter getting $1 tip, but I've heard of baristas who have been told a ridiculous paragraph-long order specifying milk type, foam/no foam, # of pumps of flavor, serving temperature and what not, getting slammed for hoping for a $.50 tip.

Doesn't make sense to me.

Also know that as a barista, your job is not just "pouring black coffee into a paper cup". First off, that black coffee is high quality beans that have been roasted right there and came straight from the coffee farmer himself to give YOU the best cup of coffee possible. Not just some Folgers coffee that you can buy that's been sitting on the shelf for weeks. That coffee took lots of work to get to your paper cup.

Secondly, as a barista you aren't just making drinks and doing your best to keep customer service high.

You are washing dishes, cutting & making food, sweeping & mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, washing windows, ect. You are a janitor 90% of the time and a barista the other 10%. Janitors start out making $15/hr when barista's don't even get paid half of that.

Overall- Notice the small things. If the tables are wiped off, the bathroom is clean and stocked, your black coffee in your paper cup taste good, know that it was those baristas behind the counter who did all that to make YOUR experience better.

If you appreciate any of that at all, a $.25 tip wouldn't be so bad now would it?

Answer 4

You are encouraged to tip at Starbucks, but it is not required as much as it would be at a sit down restaurant. Most Starbucks I've been to have one or two cashiers and the same number of baristas. The barista most likely wouldn't know if you tipped or not. Unless they're really anal. You're spending 3 to 5 bucks on a cup of coffee anyway, so what the hell? I usually just put the change I'm given in the tip jar. Tips do make a difference when you're earning minimum wage.

Answer 5

My son worked for Starbucks all the way through College and a little after.

1) They DON'T make minimum wage. They make more & for good reason.

2) The COMPANY focus is on making each & every drink properly, the first time, fast BUT more importantly,....the right way as requested.

3) They NEVER expect tips.

4) They see many of their customers most every day & in many cases, multiple times in a day. They develop friendships { casual } with many of these people.

5) My sons experience is that people don't usually tip until they receive their drink. Plus the fact that they would be fired if they treated ANY customer poorly.

6) Like all restaurant / fast food workers, they clean-up after you { you might throw away your trash, but they wipe down the tables & seats / chairs just like anywhere else. Not to mention the bathrooms.

7) The Baristas must memorize all the items on the menu and make thousands of drink combinations where as a normal server just takes your order, serves it and gets you all the extras you request.

8) The Baristas often perform all the functions from taking the order to giving you the completed product.

9) The vast majority of customers LOVE their coffee / drinks and have no problem paying the higher price for them. But, like every business, they have their share of skinflints & idiots that ***** about the price all the while comming there on a regular basis.

Nobody makes you go there and drink OR buy any product. If you feel guilty, resentful, broke or otherwise persecuted for not tipping, that's not their fault.

Answer 6

I've never been harassed by anyone for not tipping. I'll always tip when eating out- and sometimes at chains like Starbucks or Subway IF they have a cup and IF I have a special order or they are very friendly/do a good job. I've worked for minimum wage, it's BS. The average person on minimum wage has to work over 70 hours a week to afford a basic two-bedroom apartment. I tip when I can.

Answer 7

The baristas at Starbucks actually go through all the steps to make the drinks to your liking, while at restaurants the waiters only deliver it. Baritas actaully DO have to clean up after you too if you eat inside the restaurant. They probably don't deserve as big of a tip since the checks are usually pretty smal, but if you had a really nice barista then I think it would be very nice to tip them just to show your appreciation.

Answer 8

It's like this. If you feel like being generous and giving them a tip, feel free to do so.



If you are cheap and don't consider their work worthy of a small gratuity then don't tip. It's a personal choice.



Why do you keep patronizing ANY store where the clerks "gets pissed and practically throws my drink to me with a b*tchy attitude."



You need to be more concerned about what stores you patronize rather than who to tip. If you get lousy customer service why do you keep going back? It certainly isn't their coffee because you can get better coffee for less money somewhere else.

Answer 9

In Malaysia we do not give tips!

Certain restaurants are allowed by law (there are requirements) to charge a set 10% service charge on top of the total price of the bill.

Sarbucks in Malaysia never ask nor receive tips.

Answer 10

Ive walked into starbucks in which there tip jar is overflowing with tips, versus subway i have never seen more than $3 in a tip jar; i have seen lose change and receipts. so unfair. starbucks employees dont do much, i agree. You dont have to tip. I never tip them. unless theyve been exceptionally kind, which is rare.

Answer 11

Reading all of this reminds me why I'm so glad to be living in New Zealand where no-one ever tips. It's like a science!

Answer 12

You are encouraged to tip at Starbucks,

Answer 13

I don't know. It's not the same as waitressing, so i wouldnt tip. Maybe a dollar at most. I mean .. don't like yor job, or dont like the paycheck? Go to school and get an education.

Answer 14

Yes

Answer 15

how many times u gonna say

IMO

we know its YOUR opinion

and just that

and its not so easy to make all those zillion

of combinations of coffee drinks and other drinks

they have to deal with lots of bitchy customers like YOURSELF

and thats hard to do sometimes

dont go there anymore

u waste too much time and thought on a question that is easily solved

go to DUNKIN DONUTS!!!!!!!

Answer 16

Because they unlock the bathrooms for people who are clearly not customers

Answer 17

I seldom do. On rare occasion, maybe. But generally - no

Answer 18

tips are up to you