Saskatoon spa offers customers a break on tipping

With inflation on the rise and the cost of nearly everything going up, some Saskatoon businesses are giving customers a break when it comes to leaving a tip.

The owners of Prairie Bliss Medispa decided years ago to take a stand on tipping in their spa.

“We wanted to change our approach to tipping and in regard to changing the approach, abolishing it all together,” Andy Hubbard told CTV News.

The couple says they pay their staff more to make up for the no-tipping policy.

“The nice thing for the client is then they’re no longer having that pressure of ‘Should I tip? I’m spending a lot of money’,” he said.

“If they’re having to pay on top of an already expensive treatment, then all of a sudden they have buyers’ remorse,” Tara Hubbard said.

However, this practice is not the norm. More and more businesses are giving patrons the tip option when paying through debit machines. Everything from tattoo parlours, oil changes, home repairs or services are asking customers to tip.

“What we might label as tip-able occupations is becoming broader and people are being solicited for tips in transactions where this never happened before,” Marc Mentzer, researcher from The Edwards School of Business told CTV News.

“It’s because of the chip card readers and they are becoming so common. Depending on which financial provider a business deals with, you can preprogram the percentages,” he said.

This contactless method of payment creates an opportunity for businesses to ask for tips – without actually asking.

“Nowadays you go into a restaurant and your lowest option is not 15 per cent,” Mentzer said.

Those pre-programmed percentages are often 20 and 25 per cent, he explained, adding there’s always the custom tip option.

“We know this awkward experience: The server’s standing there waiting while you’re trying to figure out the custom option.”

He said then the choice becomes leaving a higher tip than you originally intended.

“People naturally take the route of least resistance and choose one of the pre-programed options.”

“We’re in a place now where we have to feel guilty if you don’t and I’m not a huge fan of that,” customer Spenser Gerwing said.

Gerwing is satisfied that gratuity percentages at Homequarter where we caught up with him range from 10 to 15 per cent.

The owner of Homequarter, Grace Wittington, estimates about 60 per cent of people tip for food and drink and the money goes into a pool for all service staff to divide up.

“I think its really nice for them because I think of it as a barometer of how well they’re serving the public,” she said.

Staff at Homequarter are also paid more than minimum wage, according to Wittington.

Mentzer, who’s done work on tipping for 10 years said Saskatchewan has the lowest tip amounts across Canada, and he added the whole concept was flawed.

“It’s really not a rational way to compensate people, but it’s so embedded in our culture.”

The Hubbards said they hope to change those cultural perceptions.

“It’s become so engrained in them, that they need to tip, but when we explain the process they’re like ‘That’s fantastic’.”