Starbucks customers who pay for their grande skinny vanilla lattes using the company's app will soon be able to add a tip to their purchase. The new feature, which will roll out March 19, comes at a time when one out every 10 purchases are made using a mobile device. Customers will be able to leave tips of 50 cents, $1, or $2 within two hours of purchase.
As CBS News notes, tipping has been a "sensitive topic" for Starbucks' customers and workers. Some customers don't want to pay an additional fee since the drinks are already pricey, while others don't mind leaving some spare change for exceptional service. Zee Lemke, a Starbucks barista in Wisconsin, said she hopes the move persuades people to tip more since her hourly wage is low. She added that it's up to the store's management to decide how to divvy up the tips, although Starbucks said tips on its mobile app will be paid out to employees directly in cash.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
A Man on the Inside: Netflix comedy leaves you with a 'warm fuzzy feeling'The Week Recommends Charming series has a 'tenderness' that will 'sneak up' on you
-
Bread & Roses: an 'extraordinarily courageous' documentaryThe Week Recommends Sahra Mani's 'powerful' film examines the lives of three Afghan women under the Taliban
-
V13: a 'marvelous and terrifying' account of the Bataclan terror trialsThe Week Recommends Emmanuel Carrère's work is 'absolutely gripping'
-
DOJ seeks breakup of Google, ChromeSpeed Read The Justice Department aims to force Google to sell off Chrome and make other changes to rectify its illegal search monopoly
-
Racist texts tell Black people in US to prepare for slaverySpeed Read Recipients in at least a dozen states have been told to prepare to 'pick cotton' on slave plantations
-
Australia proposes social media ban before age 16Speed Read Australia proposes social media ban before age 16
-
FTC bans fake online product reviewsSpeed Read The agency will enforce fines of up to $51,744 per violation
-
States sue TikTok over children's mental healthSpeed Read The lawsuit was filed by 13 states and Washington, D.C.
-
Amazon ending 'Just Walk Out' grocery checkoutSpeed Read In its place, the company will let customers scan while they shop with Amazon Dash Cart
-
Justice Department bites Apple with iPhone suitSpeed Read The lawsuit alleges that the tech company monopolized the smartphone industry
-
House votes to force TikTok to sell or face US banspeed read The House passed a bill to ban TikTok on national security grounds unless it sells to a non-Chinese company
