The Tipping Robin Hoods Are Here

"A couple weeks back, I wrote about tipping via screens: It's down across the board, percentage-wise, and I think the suckiness of the tipping prompts is at least partially to blame. One common strategy people employ to deal with the prompts is to ignore them, walking away from the counter when a screen asks whether they'd like to tip $1 or 25 percent or whatever, opting out of the transaction completely. You have likely walked up to a counter to buy a matcha latte only to see that the person on line ahead of you has abdicated this opportunity to tip. Maybe you even thought, I could leave a tip for them."

"This is what the Robin Hoods do. I've since heard from people who do exactly this: These are Good Samaritans who, when confronted with a tip prompt abandoned by a person in front of them, simply leave a tip on that person's behalf. Surely they meant to leave an appropriate gratuity, right? Tap. Twenty percent. Done."

"But one friend who participates in this act of selflessness says he had a change of heart after he heard from an employee at a shop where Robin Hooding is known to happen. The affected customers, upon seeing they were charged for a tip they don't remember leaving, blame (and take action against) the café, not the consumers who activated the tip. This, of course, is bad for business."

Tipping via digital screens has fallen percentage-wise, partly because poor prompt design encourages people to ignore tip options. Some consumers respond by leaving tips on behalf of previous customers who walked away from the prompt, a practice nicknamed Robin Hooding. Participants often tap a standard percentage, such as twenty percent, to cover the abandoned prompt. Unexpected tip charges sometimes prompt affected customers to blame the café rather than the individual who activated the tip. That misattribution harms businesses and suggests caution for anyone choosing to leave tips on behalf of others.

Read at Grub Street