A Little Change Can Really Make a Difference

Years ago, I read a news story about Starbucks Corp. that left me stunned. In a nutshell, it seems that the company practice has been to place “tip jars” by the cash registers where customers can drop their loose change to tip the baristas. In California, there is a law that prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee tips. And because Starbucks allowed their shift supervisors to share in the tips, they got busted. The whole matter landed in court, and the judge ruled against Starbucks and in the baristas’ favor.

So what’s the big deal? Guess how much the shift supervisors took from the tip jars just in California? Are you ready? They took $86 million. I can’t even imagine what the total tip jar amount must be nationwide.*

Personally, I’ve never understood the concept of tip jars on counters. But hold all your angry letters, because this is not a column to discuss the pros and cons. What’s on my mind right now is how our priorities can be horribly misplaced.

It’s no big secret that as a nation, Americans are not great savers. Worse, as of mid-2024, total household debt, which includes credit card balances, mortgages, auto loans and student loans, reached approximately $17.8 trillion.

The justification I hear from some readers is that they just don’t have enough money to pay the bills, save and pay down debt too. We’re in difficult financial times, they argue. It takes every dime to get from one paycheck to the next just to cover gas and food. There’s just not enough money to save or to pay off debt. So to get their minds off their dreadful situations, they go out for coffee? And drop all their loose change into the tip jars? Yikes. It makes me crazy.

Do some quick calculations. If one state’s tip jars at Starbucks produced $86 million in loose change, how much would that be nationwide? And how many other counters have tip jars? Could it be we’re putting $1 billion in tip jars alone during the course of a single year?

What if we put our loose change into savings instead of tip jars? What if instead of paying $4 for a cup of coffee, we made our own coffee at home and put the difference toward debt?

Loose change. Who knew it could add up so dramatically? That’s true whether it’s in a Starbucks tip jar or your change jar. Those $4 cups of coffee add up too.

Now, before I get into all kinds of hot water, don’t worry if you are a Starbucks barista or any other person serving at a counter. If you see me there and you serve me well, I’ll contribute to your tip jar.

Just don’t be looking for me anytime soon.

*Starbucks appealed the decision, and the California Court of Appeal reversed the earlier ruling. The court found that Starbucks’ shift supervisors were allowed to share in the collective tips because they performed similar service tasks as baristas. The appellate court ruled that tips left in a collective jar were intended for the entire service team, which included both baristas and shift supervisors working side by side, making the distribution fair and lawful.