Starbucks Ordered to Pay Back Tips

ap ^ | 3/21/08 | By Chelsea J. Carter

[mamelukesabre]

You don’t tip for coffee unless you are a total idiot or the waitress is really cute, really nice, and fills your cup up after every sip.

So take your low class comment and stick it where the low class sun don’t shine.

[akorahil]

No, but I can say French Press and fresh ground. At home.

This.
Once I tried coffee from a press, I will never go back.

[ThePythonicCow]

Starbucks is so wrong. The tip is for the person who served you,

My son has worked in three coffee shops (various competitors of Starbucks) the last year. This isn't how tips work there.

There's a jar on the counter that you put the tip in. It is immediately obvious that your tip is intermingled with the other tips, and is not earmarked in anyway specific to anyone who served you. The crew splits the tip jar at shift change.

Since the crew lead (shift manager) was doing pretty much the same work as the rest of the crew in many regards, and is often not distinguishable to the casual customer from the other employees, I don't consider it an outrage that they shared in the tip jar. If the law says they can't, then fine, enforce the law (or argue that this sort of micromanagement human endeavors is no damn business of the government.)

But it's no cause for moral indignation that I can see.

I know less about the common procedures at sit down restaurants, but my impression is that they don't work the way you are describing, either. I believe that the waiters share their tips with the cooks and bus boys.

Such communal sharing of tips seems like a good and common practice to me, when you're dealing with a crew of three to six, sharing substantially equal work.

Communal sharing works, for families, neighbors, groups and teams of people who have to co-operate on a common task, and typically who number less than a dozen. It really is about "teamwork" at that level.

Where we (humans) go wrong is applying it on larger scales. Even for a group as small as the one hundred (the number who set forth on the Mayflower to what we now call Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620), communal sharing is a dismal failure. See further What Really Happened at Plymouth.

[Aria]

I don't know how you can have three of them within 4 blocks and expect them all to be profitable all the time.

Isn't that the truth. It reminds me of Leno's joke that there are so many Starbucks that next they're going to have to put Starbucks inside Starbucks.

[ThePythonicCow]

Starbucks does not sell a $5 cup of coffee.

By the time you add a couple extra shots, it can get to $5. Here's their pricelist, from http://www.culturalarts.com/starbucksmenu.asp:

Our Coffee and Espresso Beverages are made with genuine Starbucks® Espresso. Decaffeinated coffee, non-fat milk, and soy milk are available upon request. For most of our drinks, you can add:

Caramel - .35¢     Espresso Shot - .55¢     Flavor Shot - .55¢

Drink

Tall

Grande

Venti

Coffee of the Day Regular and Decaf	$1.40	$1.60	$1.70
Caffé Latte Espresso & steamed milk	$2.55	$3.10	$3.40
Caffé Americano Espresso & hot water	$1.75	$2.05	$2.40
White Chocolate Mocha White chocolate flavored version of our classic Caffé Mocha	$3.20	$3.75	$4.00
Caffé Mocha Espresso, cocoa, steamed milk & whipped cream	$2.75	$3.30	$3.55
Cappuccino Espresso, steamed & foamed milk	$2.55	$3.10	$3.40
Caramel Macchiato Foamed milk marked with espresso, vanilla & real caramel	$2.80	$3.40	$3.65

[svcw]

I would argue that a latte, or cappuccino or one of the specialty coffees is not a “cup of coffee”, they are variations of a coffee.

[CindyDawg]

Maybe it’s the manager serving you that high priced coffee.

[GATOR NAVY]

It’s been so long since I’ve been in a bar I forgot about bartenders. I do tip them.

[CindyDawg]

Do you tip the girl at McDonald’s, who hands you a cup of coffee? No? Why not?

[ThePythonicCow]

Yeah - I figured you'd argue that those higher priced entries aren't "cups of coffee."

But the original Post #3 to which you were responding didn't say anything about a "cup of coffee". It said "At five bucks a pop i don.t tip"

[lewislynn]

How on EARTH are they going to figure this one out?

Tax returns.

[svcw]

True enough.

[ansel12]

If you tip at the counter, then you must be very popular at the local fast food joints.

It never occurred to me to tip the McDonald’s girl for drawing me a soda.

[mockingbyrd]

A shift supervisor is not a shift manager. I was a shift supervisor at Starbucks. Basically a shift supervisor oversees the nitty gritty making coffee and handing out pastries, while the salaried managers run the store operations. When it was my shift, I ran it from the bar, I was the one making the drinks.

Tips are disttibuted among all hourly workers, which include shift supervisors. Because all tipable hours, according to Starbucks policy, are those worked by hourly employees who are serving customers. So coffee master training time isn’t tipable, because it’s not serving customers. It makes sense as a policy.

Starbucks pays all its employees above minimum wage, with excellent benefits and stock opprotunities. I worked there so that I could afford health insurance for my children. Although I did qualify for state aid, I had the option of working, because of Starbucks. I was able to work 20 hours a week, 4am to 11am, get home before my husband left for work, and care for my children. Most employees were mothers trying to care for their children.

[mockingbyrd]

when I was a shift supervisor at Starbucks, I was the one making the coffee...

[durasell]

Starbucks isn’t a fast food restaurant.

[RandallFlagg]

Haven’t gone to Starbuck’s after the crap they pulled on 9-11.

[Junior_G]

No tip is low class.

Putting a tip jar next to your register for no good reason is low class. Starbucks is already charging ripoff prices, and we're supposed to tip the baristas on top of that? Glorified panhandling is what that is.

[blackbart.223]

"Haven’t gone to Starbuck’s after the crap they pulled on 9-11."

I haven't been there ever.

[brityank]

Such communal sharing of tips seems like a good and common practice to me, when you're dealing with a crew of three to six, sharing substantially equal work

Without seeing the case notes, it's hard to distinguish why the decision went this way. Based on the ruling, and the comment of Starbucks lawyer that "the supervisors weren't represented in the case" ( and that's the company lawyers fault, if so! ) it seems Starbucks had a policy that all shared the tips. Depends on how Starbucks classed heir supervisors -- hourly (time clocked) or salaried/non-exempt (no time clock but still paid overtime). Tips to salaried employees are considered bribes.