Midtown Lunch

Earlier this month, Bon Appetit picked up a story on DipJar, a device being tested at the Times Square location of Oren’s Daily Roast (Broadway between 40th+41st), that allows customers to swipe their credit card to quickly leave a tip. Eater NY quickly followed up. Although the ML team was somewhat perplexed by the newsworthiness of this story, when we dropped by yesterday, yet another reporter was there with photography crew in tow. According to the DipJar website, the inventor’s justification for producing such a device is the drop in tips baristas experienced after the rise in having “plastic only” and an excuse for leaving nothing in the tip jar. The device is being tested out in just a handful of locations (apparently those without a tip line on their credit card receipts) and each business sets the tip amount. Oren’s set amount is $1. According to DipJar, when fully up and running, the service will take a small fee for tips processed at no cost to retailers, while collecting a significant tip money for employees that would otherwise not exist. As Bon Appetit points out, the tips will also be on the books, so employees who underreport tips to get by might be doubly hit.