Gratuity

Rideshare drivers rally at a staging area near O’Hare International Airport during a work strike on February 14, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois.Photo: Scott Olson (Getty Images)Uber and Lyft drivers in the U.S. are receiving tips for rides just 28% of the time, according to a study by gig worker tech company Gridwise. And that might help explain part of the reason why thousands of gig workers staged a strike on Valentine’s Day over low pay.Nvidia’s Almost Worth 2 Trillion. Is It a Bubble, or Is It Just Getting Started?The…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain It's being asked more and more: "Add a tip?" The question pops up on checkout screens when we're just grabbing a coffee to go or picking up a lunch order. Starbucks, for instance, added the tip query to its sales system last year. The countertop tip jar full of crumpled singles and loose change seems to have gotten an upgrade. The tip prompt has even been spotted at self-checkout kiosks in…

With more laws on the books demanding additional pay for gig workers, DoorDash has finally come around to offering some hourly pay for its Dashers, though only when they’re hoofing it to their delivery spot. The food delivery app announced Wednesday that contract delivery drivers can now earn a base hourly pay and still receive “100% of tips” on top of it. “Dashers” can still get paid per offer, but now the app should display a guaranteed minimum amount that they can expect to make per offer before they select the job.Are…

In a world of all-consuming tipflation, it feels like we can never get away from hearing the dreaded “The iPad is just going to ask you a quick question” before being presented with what can feel like a Sophie’s choice of tipping options. Unfortunately, it would appear that the self-checkout line is no longer a respite from feeling pressured to tip for every transaction you make. Robinhood App Lays Off 9% of StaffThe Wall Street Journal reports that tipping at self-checkout has come to airports, stadiums, cookie shops,…

Workers at one of only two unionized Apple stores in the country are in the throes of contract negotiation. One of the many ideas on the table: introducing the option to tip into customer transactions.Teenage Cybercrime Gang LAPSUS$ Strikes AgainEmployees at an Apple Store at the Towson Town Center mall, just north of Baltimore, Maryland, successfully unionized with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers back in January. They were the first Apple retail employees to do so—despite the company’s…

During a bike tour through Venice over spring break, Meeka Smith and her teenage son stopped for a quick snack at Gjelina Take Away.She placed her order at the counter-service spot, which automatically adds a 15% service charge to all purchases, and peered down at a glowing screen prompting her for an additional tip. She tacked on 10%.“I tend to just see it, and I give it,” said Smith, who was visiting Southern California from Baltimore.A month earlier, Edward Aguilar, a college freshman in the Chicago suburb of Lake…

Photo: Chip Somodevilla (Getty Images)This holiday season, Amazon says it will pay its delivery workers an extra $5 every time a customer tells their Alexa smart speaker to thank their driver. That sounds like a nice gesture until you realize Amazon’s allegedly spent years redirecting or stealing tips intended for many of those very same drivers. Those tip stealing allegations are the central claim in a new lawsuit filed by Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine, who alleges the company engaged in an “illegal…