When are tips allowed?

Subway workers will no longer accept tips. The move comes in response to a social media campaign that accuses Subway restaurants of breaking laws by accepting cash payments for food. Most US states have laws that ban tipping at full-service restaurants, but diners are allowed to tip at fast-food establishments such as Burger King and McDonald’s. Lawyers representing Subway franchise owners argue that they are limited-service establishments, not fast food restaurants, and therefore should be permitted to accept tips.

The case has yet to be resolved in court. No matter what happens, it’s clear that there is now an official company policy: You can no longer give tips to your sandwich maker. It seems reasonable—why would you ever want to tip someone working at a place where you know exactly how much your food is going to cost?—but it’s also resulted in some pretty negative feelings towards Subway on social media. Any time anyone brings up anything related to sandwiches or giving gratuities, they get bombarded with angry messages from customers accusing them of being greedy and underhanded. 

Can I still tip if I use my MetroCard?

After much backlash from customers, Subway has reconsidered its policy and will now allow passengers to use credit or debit cards when paying for their subway fares. In response to negative feedback from long-time commuters who were unhappy with Subway’s new No Cash policy, which launched nationwide in January, Subway has revised its payment method to allow riders to pay using traditional forms of payment such as cash and credit. This announcement came just two months after Subway began promoting its No Cash-only policy.

The move was designed to streamline transactions by removing coins and bills from each purchase, helping reduce fraud at the registers. While many consumers praised Subway for making it easier to quickly buy food while on a commute, others complained that they would no longer be able to tip their fare collectors (or anyone else) directly through credit card purchases. Subway addressed these concerns today by announcing that customers are free to offer tips to employees via any means they choose. 

When you’re short a dollar or two, and you don’t have exact change, you can give back whatever loose change you do have. If you pay with a $5 bill and hand over five quarters, your server will either make it work or ask for another dollar. Either way, if your order comes to $4.55 (or less), your server will let it slide. But any amount above that is officially a tip. And if someone were to leave too little of a tip in cash—not even a credit card—they could face disciplinary action from management. What’s next?: The no-tipping movement isn’t going away anytime soon. As Slate notes, restaurants like Joe’s Crab Shack are experimenting with no-tipping policies as well; full table service restaurants are also reportedly moving toward higher menu prices in hopes of making up lost revenue in tips. Whether or not these new policies lead to better service remains to be seen.

How do these new policies affect business owners who rely on tips?

As of October 2, 2017, Subway has implemented a new policy regarding customer tips. Any customer who pays for their meal using one of Subway’s rewards cards will no longer be able to leave a tip on their card. Instead, customers must pay in cash or use another form of payment if they want to leave a gratuity. Business owners and employees alike are concerned about how these changes will affect them in the long term. Many worries that fewer people will tip as a result of these policy changes. However, others believe that by asking customers to pay upfront, more people will end up leaving at least something for servers and other service staff members. Regardless of which camp you fall into, it’s important to understand how these policies might impact your business—and what you can do to prevent any potential issues from arising.

Notable Changes to Subway’s Tips Policy…with an Exception! The only notable change to Subway’s tips policy is that new workers must earn $8.25 an hour before tips, but experienced employees can still pocket extra money at their discretion. With minimal communication around these changes and little media coverage, it’s unclear if most patrons know about these new policies. As a long-time customer of Subway, I look forward to seeing how my local restaurant handles payment for its hardworking sandwich artists. It would be interesting to see if their tipping habits alter now that they understand how much more is earned from tip-based pay over hourly wages.