Canadian Retail Thread

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

it's like a steam table buffet and you get a container and pay by the weight, its very expensive. You really never know what it will cost till you check out. Its like buying bulk food and you think two scoops of smarties can't cost that much and end up being like $10, when you could have just bought a bag cheaper.

Other foods can be ok, I noticed a few weeks ago most of the produce was somewhat cheaper in comparison to Superstore prices. For instance a romaine was only 3.99 at whole foods compared to 5.99 at superstore at that time.


yelp

They do have a decent coffee and muffin deal, at least at the location I occasionally visit in Burnaby. I think it’s $3.99, but the muffin is massive and good quality. Good coffee too.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Today I grabbed lunch from Whole Foods for the first time since 2019. They were expensive before, but they're insane now. I used to pay around $15 for a meal from their hot buffet counter, today the total came to an eye-popping $26. For what was mostly mac and cheese.

I won't be getting anything but coffee and a muffin from them going forward.

Well, they price by weight. Buying dense low cost food (mac and cheese) is not the greatest idea.

[WarrenC12]

Hot take: Whole Foods isn't that expensive. They have great quality produce and other stuff, and when you compare to similar quality at "cheaper" places, you're as good or better.

Yes they have some ridiculous items, don't buy them. Galen Weston and friends have you fooled.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Hot take: Whole Foods isn't that expensive.

A hot take indeed. I think just about anyone else who's ever shopped at Whole Foods would beg to differ.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by savevp

A hot take indeed. I think just about anyone else who's ever shopped at Whole Foods would beg to differ.

That hot taek-away from the Whole Foods prepared foods buffet just cost him $27.59

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by savevp

A hot take indeed. I think just about anyone else who's ever shopped at Whole Foods would beg to differ.

I'm not sure where you are, but we have a WF and Save On across the street from each other. Some comparison shopping would be enlightening.

Another hot take: Walmart isn't that cheap. They have some loss leaders and great deals, but if you compare their groceries 1:1 with a lot of other places you'll see it's not great.

Don't trust me, do your own research.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

They do have a decent coffee and muffin deal, at least at the location I occasionally visit in Burnaby. I think it’s $3.99, but the muffin is massive and good quality. Good coffee too.

I go there from work on occasion. Easily the best deal in the city, you can get an Americano as the coffee portion. And no tip prompt on the card machine.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

And no tip prompt on the card machine.

Thank god for small miracles

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'm not sure where you are, but we have a WF and Save On across the street from each other. Some comparison shopping would be enlightening.

Another hot take: Walmart isn't that cheap. They have some loss leaders and great deals, but if you compare their groceries 1:1 with a lot of other places you'll see it's not great.

Don't trust me, do your own research.

I agree that Walmart isn't all that cheap. Many big selling items have lower prices but everything else can be more than many grocery stores. You definitely have to learn which items are worth buying at each store.

[casper]

Originally Posted by savevp

Thank god for small miracles

Spending some time in Europe. I don't think the machines over here even have a tip function. As it should be.


We need to see minimum wage go up and an end to the tip culture. It is out of control.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by casper

We need to see minimum wage go up and an end to the tip culture. It is out of control.

I would be in favour of this.

It would also come with the bonus of tax fairness, as not all service industry workers are absolutely virtuous when it comes to declaring their irregular "tip" income on their income tax forms.

[savevp]

I'd like to see mandated 'no tip' options and a mandatory option of 12% or less on all machines. There's no impetus for government to implement that legislation, but it would be nice.

I recently took a client to dinner at Treadwell Restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake and was appalled to see tip options of 20,25,and 50! The nerve to ask for a 50% tip on a ±100$ meal is beyond the pale. And then a tip to the taxi driver (as if). It's out of control.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I go there from work on occasion. Easily the best deal in the city, you can get an Americano as the coffee portion. And no tip prompt on the card machine.

🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 tips and "donations to charity" prompts are everyfuckingwere nowadays. No, I don't think I need to tip when I go pick up the pizza myself (even though I will gladly toss a toonie in the jar: just don't 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 make me have to navigate the 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 15% minimum (with 18% and 20%...or MORE!!) or decline option at a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 Pizza Hut or whatnot.

Tips used to be 15% calculated BEFORE TAXES, for exceptional service. Now if you tip 15% after taxes, you are treated like a cheap 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵. At some places, the options are 18%, 20% and 25%. Come 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 on!

I could rant for hours about how Galen Weston's stores (and the awful LCBO) beg for "charity" money at every automated checkout. You pay the charity, they get the tax credit. 🞵🞵🞵🞵 Galen Weston and his ilk. 🞵🞵🞵🞵 'em.

[MolsonExport]

Canada's tipping culture is flawed and there's no clear fix in sight: experts

From oil changes to take-out food, the "tip nudge" has quickly become a "well-established societal norm" in Canada, according to food economist Mike von Massow.

Card payment machines have made it simple for businesses to prompt a gratuity option, even in industries where tipping previously wasn't part of the cost or conversation. And data from Canadian trade associations show the average percentage tip for restaurant dining has gone up since the pandemic began.

Von Massow, who's also a professor at the University of Guelph, says the expectation for Canadians to increase the amount of their gratuities is getting out of control, and has become a hot-button issue across the country.

"I went to my local craft brewery the other day, just to the bottle shop, to pick up a couple of cans of my favourites," von Massow said. "When I was paying there, literally someone grabbed beer out of the fridge and gave it to me and I was prompted to tip in that circumstance."

He calls it a "double whammy" for consumers, with more businesses asking for tips while simultaneously raising their prices.

"You know, I've started to wonder if I give a particularly good lecture, should I put a jar at the front of the lecture hall at the end, and as they file out? Maybe they could drop a few bills in there for me, too. I mean, where does it stop?"

Tip-flation has some restaurants asking for up to 30% in tips

The amount Canadians are being asked to tip when paying with credit or debit cards is going up, according to industry watchers, and it could be encouraging Canadians to be more generous with gratuities.

A survey conducted by Restaurants Canada in April 2022 found that when dining out at a table service restaurant, 44 per cent of 1500 Canadians surveyed said their tips are higher compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested tips are increasing as well, according to CBC Calgary restaurant reviewer Elizabeth Carson, who noted prompts on credit card machines that previously asked for tips of 10 to 20 per cent have now crept up to 18, 20 or 25 per cent.

Carson has also been asked to tip as much as 30 per cent, and said she finds the higher prompts annoying. It's leading to an overall feeling that could be called tip-flation.

[wg_flamip]

Originally Posted by casper

We need to see minimum wage go up and an end to the tip culture. It is out of control.

Contrary to popular belief, the skills required to do well in the service industry are not at the minimum-wage level*, and raising minimum wage will have little impact on most people working in the field or on tipping culture. Knocking the entire industry down to $20/hour and no tips will do nothing but exacerbate the on-going labour shortage and degrade the quality of service offered.

*Depending on the price point, your server/bartender may have years (if not decades) of experience in addition to training, certifications and/or formal education.

[jonny24]

Unpopular opinion maybe:

I don't give 🞵🞵🞵🞵 if/how much they put on the tip machine. "Asking's free", as the saying goes. They'd be dumb not to ask.

Luckily saying "No" is also, in this case literally, free. I'm happy to read the machine options and click a button or two to save 10-20%. Those who feel too shy or "pressured" to not willingly give their own money away can subsidize me

[svlt]

Originally Posted by jonny24

Unpopular opinion maybe:

I don't give 🞵🞵🞵🞵 if/how much they put on the tip machine. "Asking's free", as the saying goes. They'd be dumb not to ask.

Luckily saying "No" is also, in this case literally, free. I'm happy to read the machine options and click a button or two to save 10-20%. Those who feel too shy or "pressured" to not willingly give their own money away can subsidize me

Honestly, I agree. I mean the third option is there as a joke always, no one clicks that unless they feel propositioned to or are hitting on the server (or super drunk, or hates their own money). The second option is there for those few restaurants that actually put in a very reasonable, 10 or 12% first option.

The first option should be the one anyone looks at as the barometer. An 18% choice at a fine dining establishment with excellent, attentive and polite service - totally OK.

18% at Joey's because the waitress is a pretty girl but barely comes by to check on you and/or forgets your order - insulting, but not worth going down to 15% for fumbling through the machine.

Any amount for takeout - yeah, I'm with the poster above... thanks for subsidizing me if you tip on those, but I would never, ever feel compelled to tip for something I walk to a counter for and grab and go and wasn't provided an inch of service for.

[Innsertnamehere]

For me it’s 15% at sit down places the vast majority of the time, 18% if they were above and beyond, 10% for poor, 0% for terrible, and 0% for any other type of place.

If the prompt gives a quick select for one of those, great, if not, I “custom” and hit in my percentage. No percentage override? Congrats, you get my crappy math, rounded down.


Tipping culture is ridiculous and shouldn’t be encouraged. I agree that ultimately people can hit what they want and everyone freaking about “tipflatipn” because of credit card prompts needs to grow a backbone, too though.

[Djeffery]

I have one restaurant that I used to go to regularly for dinner that I now order take out from every so often (not nearly as often as I used to go there). We did order regularly through covid and tipped a bit higher than we used to, because i felt bad for the staff and I was actually working and making more money. And I was a regular customer. So I still tip like normal when I order takeout from them, because it's them. But other places, no tip on takeout.

I also have an issue with business owners collecting tips. Not talking about taking a piece of the tips their staff make. Actually working and collecting tips on top. Doesn't seem right to me. That same place I mentioned above, I went to later one night and the owner was working the bar as the regular bartender wanted a night off. I ordered, paid in cash and slid the change across the bar to the tip trough. He slid it back and said "tip my staff, not me, I already make enough, but I appreciate the thought". I liked that. But I go get a haircut, and the owner is the guy cutting my hair and he expects a tip. I feel like he's in control of prices, so set them to a fair price and don't expect a tip on top. To me, tips are for a gift to an employee in a generally lower, maybe even underpaid, service job.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I have one restaurant that I used to go to regularly for dinner that I now order take out from every so often (not nearly as often as I used to go there). We did order regularly through covid and tipped a bit higher than we used to, because i felt bad for the staff and I was actually working and making more money. And I was a regular customer. So I still tip like normal when I order takeout from them, because it's them. But other places, no tip on takeout.

I also have an issue with business owners collecting tips. Not talking about taking a piece of the tips their staff make. Actually working and collecting tips on top. Doesn't seem right to me. That same place I mentioned above, I went to later one night and the owner was working the bar as the regular bartender wanted a night off. I ordered, paid in cash and slid the change across the bar to the tip trough. He slid it back and said "tip my staff, not me, I already make enough, but I appreciate the thought". I liked that. But I go get a haircut, and the owner is the guy cutting my hair and he expects a tip. I feel like he's in control of prices, so set them to a fair price and don't expect a tip on top. To me, tips are for a gift to an employee in a generally lower, maybe even underpaid, service job.

In general, business owners do not receive tips.

For taxi drivers, you used to just round up the amount and maybe add a buck or two. I think 10%+ has now become the norm.

Unless you want to be rid of coins, I don't see the point of tipping for counter service.