You left a tip. Where did it go?
The public record of where tips go: checkout screens, service charges, and what workers say happens next. By business, by city, with the law for your state.
Most reported
Businesses with published records, ordered by the number of independent reports on record.
Documented
Regulator and court records about tips, ordered by the date of the record. These document official public records; they are not findings by TipRecord.
From the newsroom
The latest articles, ordered by publication date. Every piece is sourced, dated, and attributed; nothing here is a finding by TipRecord.
No articles published yet.
Practices
The named things people photograph at checkout, and the ones only a worker or an agency record can show. Each links to every published record that fits.
From the screen or receipt
- Inflated default tips
The lowest suggested tip on the screen is 20% or more, or the highest is 30% or more. Every major point-of-sale vendor ships lower defaults.
- Preselected tip or hidden No Tip
A tip amount was already selected when the screen appeared, or the option to leave no tip was small, hidden, or behind an extra tap.
- Tip computed on tax or on the fee
The suggested tip percentages were calculated on the total after sales tax, or after a mandatory service charge, rather than on the subtotal.
- Tip prompt with no service
A tip was requested where no worker served the customer: self-checkout, a self-order kiosk, a vending machine, grab-and-go, or a retail purchase.
- Tip requested before service
The tip was requested before the order was prepared, served, or delivered.
- Drive-thru tip prompt
A tip was requested at a drive-thru window reader.
- Tip prompt outside food service
A tip was requested at a retail store, a medical or dental office, a repair shop, a rent or utility payment, or another setting where tipping is not customary.
- Automatic gratuity on small parties
A mandatory gratuity percentage was added to the bill for a party smaller than six.
- Service charge plus a tip line
The bill carried a mandatory service, hospitality, or similar charge, and a blank tip line was still printed below it.
- Surcharge with no stated destination
A mandatory fee labeled kitchen appreciation, living wage, wellness, health, or similar, with no statement of where the money goes.
- Tip added without the customer choosing it
A gratuity appeared on the receipt or card statement that the customer did not select.
- Price changed after declining a tip
The total rose, or a fee appeared, after the customer chose No Tip.
From workers or official records
- Service charge not reaching staff
Reports or official records state that a mandatory service charge was retained by the business rather than paid to service staff.
- Tips retained by the business or managers
Reports or official records state that the business, an owner, or a manager kept some or all of employees' tips, or that managers were included in a tip pool.
- Tip used to offset base pay
A delivery or gig platform used the customer's tip to fill a guaranteed payout instead of adding it on top.
- Card tipping enabled at some locations only
Reports state that the option to tip by card was enabled at some of a company's locations and withheld at others.
The record so far
Counts describe what user-submitted reports and public records state, not findings by TipRecord.
Four checkouts
You tipped. Did it reach the person in front of you?
Between the screen and the paycheck sit pools, house cuts, card fees, and fees dressed up as tips, and the receipt does not say which one you just paid into. Each of these is a report.
1 of 4
The sandwich line
You tap 18% on the counter screen at a sandwich chain. On the way out you ask the person who made it how tips get split. “They don’t. We never see those.” Where did it go?
2 of 4
The salon card tip
You tip your stylist 20% on card. Weeks later she mentions card tips arrive on the paycheck, eventually, minus a processing fee. The cash clients tip less, but she'd rather have it.
3 of 4
The 20% “hospitality fee”
The bill already includes a 20% “hospitality fee.” There's still a tip line under it. You ask your server if the fee is their tip. They hesitate. You tip again, just in case.
4 of 4
The clothing store tablet
A checkout tablet at a retail store suggests 15 / 20 / 25%. There's no table, no service, no tip jar. Who receives that? Even “the machine asked” is worth recording.
For businesses
Your record answers to documentation, never payment. The fastest way to respond is a signed attestation of how tips are handled at your business: who shares them, what is deducted, when they pay out. It publishes at the top of your record, dated and attributed; the history stays. There is no pay-to-remove, ever. Sign your attestation.