Community Chat

[Cakers3]

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@NYC Susan wrote:

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@Cakers3 wrote:

Back home salon owners would not accept tips.  I don't know if that was a regional thing but I've had two owners cut my hair through the years and neither one would take a tip.

At the salon I go to now the credit card device looks like a small tablet and there is a spot to enter a tip.  Since I pay cash tips they just press an enter on the menu for the charge and it bypasses the tip line.

I do tip the person who cuts my hair-I've been with him for years now and still tip him even though he now owns his own salon.  I also tip the shampoo person.

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I'm not sure where "back home" is for you, but for me it's Long Island and NYC, and it's always been my experience that salon owners don't accept tips.  So it may or may not be a regional thing.  

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@NYC Susan  Back home is Massachusetts. 

Now watch-somebody is going to show up to say that their salon owners take tips in NY and MA.  Wait for it.  lmao

[PatriciaG]

Salons do not want you to add the tip to the bill or let you add the tip to the total amount to ring up, as the salon owners pay a percentage back to the merchant services provider.  @DAR @panda1234

[PatriciaG]

@BaileyBop

You are correct.  The salon owners pay a percentage of the sale to the credit card acceptance provider.  They probably do not want to pay the full tip in cash as they would be losing money.  Also, maybe the service provider does not want to pay a percentage out of their tip.

[jannabelle1]

Any charge card amount that a business runs through their bank is subject to the "discount rate" that the business pays to the bank. The bank has to pay Visa, MC or whomever they use to process the transaction, and the business is charged a certain percentage of that fee to their bank to cover some of the cost. I worked in banking for over 40 years, and the major card processors do not differentiate how much is the actual charge for services versus a tip. It sounds like the salon just doesn't want to pay a little higher fee for the transaction when it involves a tip. If they suddenly decide to accept tips on a charge card, then that business has most likely negotiated a slightly smaller discount rate with their bank or have switched to a different bank with a better rate. Bottom line - it's the salon's decision to not want to pay the discount rate for a tip. Credit card/debit card transactions at retailers are not free, and the retailer pays a percentage of the cost based on their volume of transactions.