Public-radio show "Marketplace" recently did a segment about coffee shops with dueling tip jars -- White Sox vs. Cubs, for example -- and how they're a "brilliant" tip strategy. The writer says:
"As you can imagine, coming up with a choice every day -- 'bourbon vs. scotch,' 'Knicks vs. Nets,' 'duck-billed platypus vs. the sloth' -- can be pretty tough."
I don't know about that; I've seen them in Chicago-area Starbucks stores for years.
Do tip jars fill up faster when customers use them to "vote"?
One Cornell professor suspects they do. "People find the opportunity to say something about themselves valuable. I would fully expect that would increase tips," he says.
What do you think? Are customers likely to tip if there's a contest involved?
(The tip jars shown are from the Evanston Starbucks at 1726 Sherman Ave.)
* Baristas, take notice: How to get more money in your tip jar
We had those for a while. Our tips didn't increase by any measurable amount and eventually our DM made us take them down because it's "against company policy" and use an unmarked jar instead.
Posted by: PunkyBrewster | February 20, 2013 at 06:36 PM
"Against company policy"" -- tell that to about every Starbucks in the Chicago area that has marked tip jars.
Posted by: Starbucks Gossip webmaster | February 20, 2013 at 07:18 PM
It is against policy I had then taken down at my store.
Posted by: Sbkid | February 20, 2013 at 08:44 PM
We do it at my store and yes, it gets results.
Posted by: presto! | February 21, 2013 at 03:39 AM
One of my old stores did a "Bush vs Obama" a few years back. It was interesting to see how the two compared. But the previous posts are correct. It is against Starbucks policy. The tip jars must be unmarked.
Posted by: ManagerMatt | February 21, 2013 at 09:23 AM
We aren't allowed to mark our tip boxes in any way. I put our coffee stickers on one and it was thrown away and replaced with an un-stickered one. It's against company policy.
Posted by: KDH | February 22, 2013 at 06:07 AM
It is against policy to have it marked "tips". Why on earth can't people read....
Posted by: MuShuPork | February 22, 2013 at 12:42 PM
You're correct: it's against company policy for the cube to have anything with the word "Tips" on it. But nothing in there about coffee-passport stickers, or "Horse" vs. "Cow", or "Raiders" vs "49ers."
I mean, not yet. Not until SBUX-lawyers get involved.
Posted by: ImFree | February 22, 2013 at 03:13 PM
we did it for Hatfields and McCoys and our DM made us take it down as well.
Posted by: Toph | February 22, 2013 at 08:42 PM
The actual policy is in the Store Operations Manual, and it states clearly that a "tip jar" in a store must be a clear, unmarked plexi cube. Period. Nothing about stickers, specific words, etc., just that they must be unmarked.
Posted by: Mr. Who | February 27, 2013 at 07:24 AM
So.....if it gets marked with say....a dollar in it...then you must take it down?
Posted by: Hank | March 21, 2013 at 09:01 AM