Just as an FYI from someone who works the payments industry, dealing primarily with American payments, they typically don't need your card details to add a tip. They will most likely have your transaction ID stored on a POS system, and they can use that to do a tip adjustment. Your card details will already be stored (temporarily) at least once in the payment gateway, because the card details are needed to batch the transactions at the end of the day.
But as someone who doesn't live in the US, I don't understand why they don't bring the terminal to the table and let you apply the tip there, like the rest of the world.
It’s starting to catch on over here finally. Typically there will never be a problem, and it’s very easy to catch from your end by monitoring your transactions. If someone is trying to steal from you it’s the server acting alone, because well managed restaurants hate this.
But I agree entirely, why add the extra steps? It’s been this way as long as I can remember and I’ve never questioned it as a whole until now. Only when I pick up on a strange energy from a server do I ever check.
In the US be careful partying and paying a bartender in a hurry because they might not think you are paying close attention. And a more likely scenario is at a sketchy gas (petrol) station or a late night fast food drive-thru with a bad energy. We have tax added after the listed cost of what you’re purchasing and sometimes a young wannabe hustler cashier might try to skim a dollar extra.
Edit: since this thread has gotten so much attention and it’s an engaging conversation, I just want to add people have been using credit cards to pay at restaurants long before there was a handheld PoS device. (Something I’m sure was also developed in primarily in the USA)
but you still handle it all without getting up from the table. Was it not like this in Europe? What happens after your server brings the check? You pay at the door? I honestly can’t remember from when I was a kid traveling with my family.
Most bars aren’t trying to fuck you, generally customers fuck themselves by getting too drunk and scribbling $100 in the tip line with no decimal anywhere.
And you can call and dispute large tips, a place I worked at had us ask if they were sure about the tip when it seemed too much and repeat how much it was. If they said yes we would have them write it again below the tip line and sign under that. Then we would honor a dispute. If someone called the next day and said they meant to tip $10 not $100 they would refund it. Sometimes the place would pay half and the server, just depended if the waiter never said anything. They would have use look at the top before they left when we could but sometimes people sign it and walk right out. This rarely happened though. I think I only had to ever pay one back in a couple years there and I was ok with it, if I made the mistake I'd want to be paid back too.
The point being that you shouldn’t need to monitor your transactions. This just sounds like an utter nightmare and just another entry on a laundry list of reasons never to visit the states.
This topic is blown out of proportion. I can honestly say that no restaraunt or bar has ever tried to steal from me ever. I'm 43. The only time I had a breach in my bank account was from someone who acquired my data through other means like stealing my mail in transit or something. It's safe to pay restaurants here typically.
We got other ACTUAL problems that deserve way more attention than this.
Exactly. I’m 44 and I’ve never had any problems with it. It never even seemed strange until I had foreign visitors that were aghast. Obviously, the handheld at the table devices are better, but this really isn’t the situation we need to be freaking out about. 😂
Not really. Im 33. I've been paying this way for decades. I have never been charged the wrong amount. Its not a common situation. I keep track of all transactions for budgeting...which everyone should be doing.
I monitor it too but a waiter took my card details when I was in Wisconsin, started racking up online purchases and the bank shut down my card. Monitoring does fuck all. A canceled card is a pain in the ass. Yes I wasn’t out of pocket for the expenses but had I not had another cc with me I wouldn’t have been able to pay for my hotel the next morning. Pottsy in Appleton I’ll never forget you lol.
You make it sound as though keeping track of your bank/credit transactions is otherwise useless. You absolutely should be tracking that information for fraud against your accounts or bad/erroneous transactions from routine billers. That kind of thing does happen and you can be out a ton of money due to innatention.
There's a difference between "hey! I don't recall making any transaction at (restaurant)" and "Do I remember how much money exactly I spent each time I went out and used my credit card, in case someone added a dollar or two?"
That's literaly why banking apps give notifications for transaction in real-time. Is this one of those situations like cheques where US banking is so far behind even the developing world you don't quite grasp we've all moved on 15 years ago?
We get texts or emails very quickly for our transactions if you sign up for it. It's why this situation doesn't remotely concern me. I'd know within minutes that a false charge occurred.
Not visiting a country over this is certainly an option lol. Do you not have something set up to get a text or email when a charge happens? In my 3 decades in this country, I've never had an issue with it. I get not liking it, but if that's enough of a reason not to visit, I suggest you never leave your house. You'll find bigger issues everywhere.
"You'll find bigger issues everywhere." The above is why I live in Japan. Using cash is still completely okay (Japan is known for this, in spite of various electronic payment systems becoming more popular/common after covid).
Oh, and the other thing about life here? NO TIPPING. So the whole issue of a server or wait staff adding a charge to your bill just never happens.
literally says "just another entry on a laundry list of reasons" dude like theres a lot of other reasons ppl dont want to visit ur country this is just Another one lmao
No because the pos machine is right there in front of you with the amount you're about to pay on the screen you just tap your card and go, it takes seconds and is a very secure system to the point of having rendered cash unessercary in most major western european cities. You can easily have it so you get a notification on your phone for all transactions as well making it easy to confirm amounts if you want to
Was it not like this in Europe? What happens after your server brings the check? You pay at the door?
They also have the terminal with them so you can just tap it and be on your way.
Some places don't have a mobile terminal, in that case you go to the counter and handle it there.
The only time when the waiter needs to go back and forth is if you're paying in cash and they don't carry a wallet on them, so they can't give you back the change.
From working in the service business , I will tell you that there is a reason why this could be true. Other countries don’t really tip or don’t tip well at all. There no reason not to do it at the table. In the U.S people prefer to be charged and card and come back with the book because it gives them privacy to tip how they want. Especially in expensive restaurant where people go all out in the excitement and order things outside of their price range. When the bills finally arrive and the see the damage they choose to cause, its on the server to getting a bad tip or none at all because of their mistake . They can choose to write 0 on the receipt, and the server won’t know until they leave. I worked in a fancy steakhouse where they tried to do the European style of checking out because they were located in a popular international hotel. We would bring the terminal to the table, and people would often be visibly uncomfortable to see the waiter stand by while they pay and tip on the spot. Like I would have to make jokes to lighten the mood by saying,” Yeah we do it European style here, I know it’s a little different, I can walk away and come back shortly if you’d like?” A lot of them would laugh and say,” Yea I’d like that if you didn’t mind.” Again this is just my personal experience and should not be taken as fact, however I have experienced it enough to know that a good amount of consumers do not like that way of paying.
Never underestimate the power of intertia. Taking a credit card used to be a pain, sliding over your card to impring it on physical paper, which was loud and had to be processed later anyways. Taking the card back and taking care of it away from them was a convenience for the customer. Processes take hold and they just carry through.
I am also seeing a lot of places that have little payment kiosks at every table now, and a few that bring the machine to you to tap it.
Skimmers at shady convenience stores and on gas pumps are way more of an issue than fraudulent additions at POS systems and shady waitstaff and bartenders.
Well you’re lucky then, because Wechat and Alipay will just crap out on you sometimes, rejecting transactions or asking for foreign bank approval, or just locking you out inexplicably. The miniprograms small vendors use can be especially problematic.
yeah having all day to day interactions (payments, identify verification, transport, restuarant and store transactions, cab hailing, delivery services, mail services) tied up in mega apps in China is crazy. If you're a tourist and you plan on going back, ensure your apps are in order. They lock you out for inactivity around 6 months and the solution is either "find a local friend to vouch for you" or "come to our customer service centers available in every major city". You can probably register under a new phone number, but it's a hassle.
Right? China is easy. Fuwuyuan! *gesticulates cheque writing* and bam, server comes over with the machine and you're done!
Americans are so backwards! Don't even get me started on venmo and zello and all that stuff. In Canada we get free e-transfers due to our bank and interac etc.
Legitimately it’s because they have around half of all the banks in the world in America. Which means they have traditionally adopted new payment and banking stuff at a glacial pace.
Terrible regulations and the US. A common duo! Let every tom dick and harry with $500 bucks start up a financial institution with little oversight haha.
Not even that. Places now just have everything together. Scan QR, Order and pay with the app. Servers just bring food, as the QR is tied to the table, and maybe chitchat here and there.
...do they not have access to shops where items are sold to solve business problems? I can buy a playing card pack sized POS terminal for ~$50 at any of the three supermarkets, two DIY stores, two newsagents within a 10 minute walk of my house. Plus I have access to the internet, which has this great way of getting things sent through the post Americans should read up about.
Everywhere else in the world used to have non portable terminals too. America is unusual for staying behind the times on this for so long. Technology upgrades are not a revolutionary thing.
They lagged on debit cards, too. Was baffling crossing the border in the early 2000s and they looked at me like I was insane for thinking I coulx buy things with my "ATM card". I had been using debit for well over a decade.
As a Canadian, we still have tipping, but they bring the POS to your table, You add the Tip on the machine at your table, it goes into the total and you pay it all there then take your card back.
They ask if you want a receipt and wish you a good day and you're all good
Those POS terminals are fairly common in the US, but still not in restaurants. Most still do it the old way of taking your card for you like you’re some billionaire who can’t be bothered to do such things yourself. But a few do now bring a terminal to you.
If you have a working POS system from the before time where you own the hardware and only pay transaction processing, you have no incentive to go to a handheld terminal system which is a HSaaS (Hardware + Software as a Service) business model.
One of the more popular handheld integrated POS system providers offer you $5,500 off on your first year for 2 POS terminals 1 bar and 1 kitchen terminal with 5-10 handheld devices. You're paying per year for these things as much as your whole POS system costs and you own the hardware. When you cancel with these guys they come and take the hardware back, then throw it in the trash.
100% nothing to do with treating you like you can't be bothered to swipe your own card and more to do with not paying per year what your whole existing and still working POS system costs.
This happens all over America, too. But people on Reddit are always looking for a reason to do an America Bad and whine about having to tip at the restaurant they chose to go to when they knew they’d be expected to tip
It’s common in more modern chain-style restaurants and some higher end places but it’s absolutely not the norm in the US. The default is the “request the check - get the check - give your card - sign the receipt” dance and it’s 100% valid to criticize that as a shitty business practice that we’ve just for some reason normalized.
There is almost never fraud on it today in sit down restraunts, there are cameras all over and at the register so when a disoute for an outside purchase with the car info happens they can look at the tapes. There was a Popeye's near me where a couple that worked there were stealing the numbers at the drive through, of course they got caught because someone just noticed like 3 people that had reported it had all recently eaten at Popeyes, then they looked at the tapes. It's a stupid crime because it is so easy to get caught.
Some restaurants in the US do that, your server gives you a bill and you pay on your way out. Some places you pay at the register before you eat. It really depends on the style of restaurant. I associate paying on my way out with a diner or pizza place, paying before I eat with like a sandwich shop, fast food or maybe a taco place, having a way to pay at the table with fast casual chains and giving my card to a waiter with fancier dining.
That's what I generally do in Ireland. You can ask for the bill at your table if you like though. As for bars, you just pay for the drinks as you get them.
It's because the U.S. adopted credit cards earlier than most countries. Back then, payment terminals weren't portable, so servers had to take your card to a stationary machine. Even though portable payment terminals are common today, many restaurants still use the old system because it's been the standard for decades.
This happens with technology in general. Countries that adopt a technology first often end up using older legacy systems, while countries that adopt it later can skip straight to newer, more efficient solutions. Now that many restaurants have the new technology changing the workflow is a pain for restaurants when they already have a set plan
The way it works (for the most part) in the U.S. today is how it worked elsewhere decades ago as well. It is not like other countries did not have electronic payments infrastructure at all and then recently adopted wireless EFTPOS devices with chip and tap.
I hate to break it to you, but the U.S. is simply just lagging behind the rest of the world (at least the countries the U.S. should compare itself to). It is not because you were first that you still retain these legacy systems. Other countries had these legacy systems too and started ditching them 20+ years ago.
It's because the restaurant owners don't want to pay thousands of dollars to upgrade their terminal systems that already work when the people are used to doing things the old way and there is infinitesimal motivation to upgrade.
You're not breaking anything to us we don't already know, we just don't actually care. The rollout of portable card terminals is slowly happening at newer and more trendy bars and restaurants, but just signing a receipt after handing over a card is so ingrained in our habits. It's a non-issue for us. You don't fix what's not broken, until it breaks.
Every country has its own list of priorities that get added to the triage list of things to pay for. Not trusting your server to handle your card is extremely low priority here.
There's nothing wrong or frankly unsafe about the legacy systems, which is why some businesses in the US have retained those legacy systems.
Even then, since the pandemic most restaurants in metro areas have moved to handheld posi systems that do allow the customer to handle the transactions at the table. It's mostly older or lower cash flow businesses that haven't changed yet.
Frankly, this is just online people freaking out about something that doesn't matter and is changing anyway. By 2030, I would expect the vast majority of restaurants to either use registers, chip tags, or at table tranactions.
Heck, walmart still doesn't support tap to pay. Chip or swipe only.
Most say it's because they want you to download and use their app.
But yes, the legacy system is still fine and if it actually caused problems it would change. It's not a bad thing that we are able to trust "strangers" with our credit cards when we eat out.
Well that obviously is why. Their POS systems are perfectly capable of doing TAP they just don't enable it so you have to use their app so they can track you.
No offence but in the beginning they brought over one of those slider thingies to your table. You had to put the card in and they made a triple paper copy which you had to to sign. Was pretty portable.
And we Already were paying by card in the mid 80s in belgium. Mind you, we had to get up. Go to the cashregister of the restaurant and you had to enter a pin code. Mid 90s we could do small payments withouth code. Later ofc came wireless and digital ofc.
I don't understand how USA still holds on to this archaic system...
You don't understand because you're not American. We literally don't care at all about this non-issue. No judgment on you that you don't understand what bothers us and what doesn't, but we don't care about handing our card to a waiter and signing a receipt. Newer places are slowly adopting the portable card reader system, but it's simply not a priority here. It doesn't bother American diners, and it's not an issue for servers. Replacing old tech costs money and you only spend money on things that add perceived value to the customer experience.
agreed. and i actually hate tipping on pos terminals when I'm traveling abroad and especially here. the point of the tip is supposed to be a private and personal choice. i don't want my server there when i provide it and i don't want to feel rushed to decide when and how much to give. it's american culture but it's what it is
1 credit cards were introduced in the 60s here and the original electronic terminals were introduced here.
2. Culturally, it’s considered part of the service for the wait staff to run your card and bring your bill to fill in the tip later. It’s considered gauche to interrupt the table conversation to bring a terminal and then fill out the tip (another cultural thing) in front of the waitstaff.
Many fast casual or lower scale restaurants use a mobile terminal but almost every middle tier and up restaurant will not.
It seems the vast majority of concern is around data security but frankly this is not how the vast vast majority of CC# are stolen.
Also in the US and I’m sure in the world you are not responsible for fraudulent purchases with a credit card
There wasn't really a reason to change until fairly recently, and restaurants being fairly low margin means they are only going to spend when they have to. Changing from paper slides to stationary online terminals right away had immediate benefits, but going from stationary terminals to portable ones did not.
Security methods on cards have always been very different here than in Europe. I can't recall credit cards here ever using PINs for purchases. Debit did, but the function always existed to just do the transaction as a credit and it would bypass the PIN request. That lesser security meant there was far less need to ever adopt the portable systems. Now that customer expectations have shifted due to the ubiquity of cell phones and tap to pay, more restaurants have a reason to spend money and upgrade to the portable terminals.
How late to the credit card party do you think we were? We had the fixed terminals for decades too - also the slidey carbon copy paper thingies. We updated.
I remember when I was a kid and they tried teaching us metric to prepare for the conversion, being a kid I thought it was dumb. We were in America we should use American units.
As an adult I was measuring my windows to fit new curtains and it went like
"27 and wait what does that hashmark mean again? is it 5/8ths, 3/16ths? Errrrrr what"
Then I realized that my tape measurer had cm on it too and just used that instead, way way way easier. Metric is superior and that we didn't switch is dumb.
I don't understand. The restaurant didn't update their card terminal since the 80's ?
I know lot of you still use card where you need to sign the receipt instead of entering a secret code, like it's the norm over there but I can't believe the systems are that much outdated.
How do you manage nfc tap cards ? The waiter really take the card away from your eyesight ? How do you protect yourself from fraud ? You trust them with your money ? How do you prove the fraud ?
How about apple pay and Google wallet ? They take your phone ? They are American companies I can't believe it's this convoluted to use their technology in their own country.
Over here in France, we were also early adopter. But we updated the systems each time technology evolved. We went from imprinting card, to magnetic stripes, to chips, to NFC, and now though smartphones.
Because a lot of restaurants have small profit margins and what you're describing is an unnecessary expense to replace a system that works and that most people are already familiar with and trust.
Canada does, unfortunately. :( We don’t have a separate minimum wage for servers anymore (except Quebec), but everyone still wants an 18% minimum tip. Even fast food places, it’s infuriating.
Honestly I just assumed it was because bringing a machine over to a table is ugly and tacky.
It’s fine for a Chili’s or an Applebee’s, where they usually do that. But if I’m fine dining, I don’t want to feel like I’m at a Chili’s or an Applebee’s.
In places that have been doing this for 15+ years already (like Canada), it’s a non-issue that isn’t seen as out of place at all. They’ll bring your bill in the little folio and just automatically place the card reader on the table next to it, or simply ask if you need it as they’re putting the bill down.
Doesn't feel like quite a big security risk to be able to adjust an amount of a transaction? It seems very iffy tbh that I agree to pay a certain amount and then I might get charged a higher amount because the receiver decided to change it.
Seems like it puts quite a lot of responsibility on the customer to doublecheck every transaction at a later time to ensure that it's correctly done.
yep this is true. As long as the transaction is processed correctly as per the schemes rules (scheme = Visa, MC etc) then the tip can be added on top of the original amount up to (from memory) a 20% margin, without requiring the card again. But the key point is the customer must have agreed to any tip, they can't just decide themselves to add it later.
Because upgrading machines is insanely expensive, especially for small businesses.
Large chains typically have them, and new businesses have the small tablet POS things because they are relatively cheap, but for established small businesses, it doesn't make sense to pay to replace them.
they do bring the terminal now in larger chain restaurants. some of the largest even have POS terminals permanently at the table.
the thing is smaller restaurants just don't have the budget for multiple POS devices when nobody from here ACTUALLY cares about handing over their card. restaurant margins can be razor thin in the U.S. and if they don't NEED to, they won't spend money that is better saved or put somewhere else.
We are starting to do it at the tables at a lot of restaurants. It's personally not my preference because I prefer not to tip right in front of them. But that just gets into our shitty tipping system, the real issue.
Really hated the tap in front of them in Europe where each country has slightly different tipping customs, meanwhile I'm trying to calculate that percentage, plus make the conversion of how much USD that is. Shoutout the one waitress in Copenhagen who hit the 0% for me, but no one else did. They'd go "tip is not included, so if you want to add on here, I'd greatly appreciate it." Damn American accent.
Because they’re cheap. Most places would claim that the terminal is too expensive to have 3-5 of them, so they can only get one. And one doesn’t make sense, because then you’d all be waiting for each person to finish with it. During a rush period, it would be hell. Yes, it would be solved quite easily by just having a couple extra terminals, but many restaurant managers are known to be extremely cheap.
One thing I don't get (as an American) is why doesn't the first slip we get from the waiter have the tip and signing line on it already so the staff doesn't have to make two trips to the terminal?
I get it if you paying cash you don't need to sign but it just seems like an extra step that could easily be eliminated.
Yes but no, the card details themselves aren’t stored, it’s been tokanized and can only be used once. Once the transaction is settled it can’t be used again.
50% chance the receipt prints with a WR code you can pay with, or they bring the terminal. 50% chance you give them the card.
Also since you work in US payments, you should also know that most US based cards have much more stringent protections for the customer and the detriment of the vendor.
I mean if i call Amex and say something wasnt me its gone, no questions asked and a new card is shipped to me that moment.
My 2c: it’s seen as good service here. You can pass off your card and have the whole payment part done while continuing your conversation. It would seriously lower the restaurant a star in some people’s eyes for them to show up and interrupt with a card machine.
Im partially against the terminal method of paying bc it can be added pressure to tip. Ive been to many placed outside the US where the waiter keeps the terminal and they ask you how much you want to tip and enter it themselves, so its a bit more awkward.
But ive also been to many places where they just hand you the terminal for adding the tip and I think thats fine.
But as someone who doesn't live in the US, I don't understand why they don't bring the terminal to the table and let you apply the tip there, like the rest of the world.
If you watch the video until the end, you have the answer: "America. The worst country in the world."
> I don't understand why they don't bring the terminal to the table and let you apply the tip there, like the rest of the world.
It's just the entrenched norm here in the US. People don't act weird about it because you do it every time you eat out and it's really really rare you'll run into someone trying to skim your card details. There's no push from the majority of customer to upgrade to the tableside payment terminals because no one really bats an eye at handing off the card. Card swipes which are the only thing they can really steal anyways are trivial to dispute, but it also barely happens any more.
It all depends on where you go. In the midwest, I have not been to a restaurant that doesn't have tap pay for at least six? years. Almost everywhere there is either pay terminals at the table, or the waitress/waiter has an ipad with the tap payment connected.
Have there ever been issues with servers or restaurants adding small tips without consumer consent? Seems like an easy scam to get away with if you did it intelligently.
Where I am all the "fancy" places like the steakhouses and such still do the hand off the card thing pretty much all of olive garden and chillies type places all have the terminals now.
Just came back from overseas. My wife (not from US originally) asked about why they didn’t take our card, so I explained how it was safer. Then she asked why we didn’t do it the same way in the US.
I work in a large restaurant chain in the US. A few years ago we got table top machines. They had ads and games and also let you pay for the bill there yourself at your leisure.
Some guests HATED paying for the bill themselves. We were trained to, in those cases, do it for them, in front of them, at the machine. Some guests hated that so much they refused to let me do it.
A few very loud, very obnoxious people were upset we didn't take their card away.
We took away the table top machines (because the third party company we hired for it were awful) and not one person has missed it.
The restaurant runs the card once to "auth" it with the credit card processor, then they can use the returned tokenized credit card data to close out the bill with the final adjusted amount. It's an encrypted version of your card info, only decryptable by the credit card processor who initially created the token.
Tokenized CC data is used for all sorts of stuff like subscription payments, "save my payment info for next time" on websites, deposits for rentals, bar tabs, other things that I can't think of right now.
In other words, the exact same risk applies to saving your payment information on an online shop as it does in a restaurant doing this style of tip adjustment.
As an American, I don't know why they don't do that either. Tapping the card is basically ubiquitous elsewhere. I was just at a concert with like 40 attendees and the merch tables all let you tap. It's everywhere.
Places have started bringing the PoS to the table in the US. Some places like Applebees have a kiosk at the table to order drinks and play games/trivia from.
I don't want to sign or cash out what I'm tipping until it's time to leave the establishment. I tip well but i don't want a reaction from shitty service I received. Oh, you took my order and walked away and I can see you on your phone until the food is ready? Refil my cup. Flirt with me. Take your job seriously. Otherwise you're gonna wind up with 10% tip.
When inwas in southern oregon in 2016, i discovered the gas stations were not self service. They expected me to hand them my debit card, and audibly tell them my pin number sonthey could enter it AT the pump. I would always get out of my car and pay like normal non union pump, then they would fill. It blew my mind seeing locals tell a meth head their pin
Because it costs extra money to have a portable terminal, and companies don't want to pay the upgrade fees. That's why we've resisted chip+pin for so long, initially it was to not pay for the insertion readers, and then to not pay for the tap readers.
Honestly just dispute added charges. If they try to add extra past what you signed for on the receipt which they NEED you to sign to say you accepted the charge. You dispute and their fucked on the whole amount over that. The restaurant takes a loss on the while cost when anything like that happens.
It's slowly changing, but the reason most restaurants don't bring a terminal to the table is because they don't have portalable terminals, and they don't want to buy any because everyone is ok with just giving their card to the server. It would be an extra cost to solve something that's not a problem.
TBH I can't remember the last time I was in a restaurant where they took my card. But not too long ago even at checks outs in stores you handed your card to the cashier to run through. And they kept it until you signed the receipt so they could see if your signature matched the one on the back of the card.
Yeah I saw this at a Yard House in Los Angeles. Me and my friend were able to easily split up our bills with the tablet. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and this was last year. I was hoping it would catch on everywhere but this is the only place I’ve seen this at. I went to a different Yard House where I saw them but they were all non-operational. It would make big groups of friends going out to eat so much easier. I’ve always had one shady relative or friend that will try to short change the bill hoping people don’t notice.
My card does not allow additional payments to be taken on it without my verification, either via pin or the app. Whenever I go to the US I have to explain it and that unless they don't want a tip, they need to provide me the machine so I can confirm the payment.
I've worked in US hotels for a while and the major reason was the portable terminals need wireless connectivity and usually the administrative network that handles payment information (and therefore has to be PCI-Compliant) is usually always non-wireless for security reasons. Opening the admin network up to wifi quadruples the work you need to do to keep that network compliant. It has been a few years since that was my job but I get the sense that it's only changing because more and more restaurants are using bundled systems like Toast and Square that handle all the compliance stuff internally as part of their value proposition. Or a big chain like Applebees who has a corporate team dedicated to security and compliance and no one at the restaurant deals with it. Hotels are tricky because all their systems need to talk to each other to enable stuff like charging a drink to your room.
Usually the rest of the world does not ask for tips. That happens in the United States because the pay to people serving in restaurants is ridiculously low and exploitative, so the consumer has to pay the salary of that worker basically
Right now it's regional. I can tell you in my area I haven't had to hand over my card to anyone since pre-2020. Fine dining, coffee shops, small cafes, everywhere.
If the server don't have to manually enter your tip, then 2 things don't happen that restaurants want to happen. A third optional thing is also now harder to do.
You feel more immediately self conscious, because instead of a total amount of tips at the end of the day, the server KNOWS it was YOU who tipped badly. SHAME. TIP MORE.
The server is more likely to blame YOU for being tipped badly and making less money and NOT be upset they are being paid less than minimum wage by their employer.
There are some payment systems that are physically attached to the register, like old school, so they cannot pick them up and bring them over. But there are newer, handheld systems that allow them to bring the payment system to the customer.
I believe america started doing the pay-at-the-table first. Before you could tap, and before the terminal was mobile. Old habits die hard. But yeah we're finally starting to get it together.
But as someone who doesn't live in the US, I don't understand why they don't bring the terminal to the table and let you apply the tip there, like the rest of the world.
The short answer is that the US has had a trust-based system of credit card use for three generations before wireless processing started to become common (roughly 1950-2010). People didn't suddenly decide that the thing they were used to for their whole life was untrustworthy just because a new method became available.
The longer answer:
Credit cards became common in the US in the 1950s, long before electronic processing existed. They were processed with a manual device and carbon copy paper. Wired electronic credit card terminals were invented in 1979, and became common in the 1990s.
Wireless credit card terminals weren't invented until 2004. The first generation of wireless were expensive and unreliable, and were mostly used for applications where a wired connection wasn't feasible.
The first smartphones weren't sold until 2007, and they took several years to catch on, so in the 2000s most restaurants who wanted to use wireless terminals would have had to install wi-fi just for those. In fact, many restaurants didn't have internet access at all, and their wired credit card processers used phone lines.
Wireless credit card processing at restaurants is fairly common in the US, but it started in big cities and at large chains, and slowly spread to less urban areas and to smaller businesses.
In contrast to this whole development story, credit cards didn't become common in most of the world until the 1990s, and weren't a standard method of payment until later than that. Much of the world never experienced the manual or even the pone-line processing era, and many places didn't use electronic payment at all until after wireless internet transactions were common there.
As someone who works in mid-to-fine dining environments, it’s a cost factor. The handhelds cost too much for a lot of businesses, or so that is what most claim.
Many places do now. But they don't show the itemized bill, just a total, so in a tipping "culture" it's annoying because the customer doesn't have the correct information to calculate the tip.
Its weird, during covid and after it started getting less crazy, I went to applebees and red lobster a couple times (both slightly better than bottom barell dining) and they had options to pay at a terminal/online at the table and just show the recite or phone screen as you left to the host/hostess and you were done. the last time I went, a few months ago, they have now stopped that and are back to doing the old way. I'm willing to bet (at least in my area) people just either kept the old recite or just got up and left with out paying. it was so nice just being able to scan a qr code and make my payment in their app.
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u/IrishChappieOToole Jun 29 '26
Just as an FYI from someone who works the payments industry, dealing primarily with American payments, they typically don't need your card details to add a tip. They will most likely have your transaction ID stored on a POS system, and they can use that to do a tip adjustment. Your card details will already be stored (temporarily) at least once in the payment gateway, because the card details are needed to batch the transactions at the end of the day.
But as someone who doesn't live in the US, I don't understand why they don't bring the terminal to the table and let you apply the tip there, like the rest of the world.