Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dguest 415 days ago
As a European have you noticed a recent increase in tipping in Europe as well?

In Switzerland a lot of the restaurants that have moved to tablets for payment, and the payment screen pops up a "suggested tip" window with a few options. They might be a bit lower than the standard American tips but it's still there and it never was before.
4 comments
rustcleaner 415 days ago
As an American, may I suggest you Europeans start a social media movement to boycott all businesses in Europe which have that tip screen on their card terminals, before the cancer solidifies its foothold in your home? We won't get rid of tipping here until we get a superdepression for a number of years and no restaraunt operates anymore because literally nobody can afford it.
link
switch007 415 days ago
Tipping has existed for decades, just not on the level as the US. It hasn't become a cancer.
link
rustcleaner 414 days ago
Oh you just wait. The camel sticks its nose in the tent: if you fail to swat it, you will soon find the whole camel in the tent with you.
link
hiq 415 days ago
Sometimes it's ridiculous enough that the waiter is the one pressing "0%" to switch directly to payment, e.g. when you get your order at the bar yourself and the amount of service is minimal.
link
L-four 415 days ago
I think it's software is made with the American market in mind. And local businesses use it as is and profit.
link
dguest 415 days ago
Yeah that was my assumption as well.

There's no custom of tipping that much at any of these places, but I feel cheap just clicking the lowest (no tip) of 4 options. Maybe all the time I've lived in the US plays a role here but it seems like it might just be the decoy effect [1] applied to tipping. It will be interesting to see if consumers see this as a dark pattern and push back.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoy_effect

link
jeltz 415 days ago
In Sweden a lot of the software with tipping option is made by Swedish companies who only operate on the Nordic markets.
link
vldmrs 415 days ago
I haven’t noticed such thing, but maybe you are right. I think that Switzerland is completely different than other parts of Europe and it is hard to compare with.
link