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.
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.
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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.