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Seen at the Landmvrks show in Cologne. Please don't start this bullshit in Europe...
DiscussionThis is the only place I enjoy tipping. I love paying $40 for a $30 shirt at shows and waving off the change. In my experience a tip can make a nice difference for touring artists piled into a van - just for some gas or a sixer. Most metalcore musicians are not exactly profiting off their tours to a point of financial independence.
merch tips have always been a thing. if you like the person at merch, who has a real fuckin tough job, what's the harm in throwing your change in the tub. its not mandatory so what is there to complain about?
i will add that this does not count for large venues who provide their own merch staff because A: the tip won't go to them and B: they get enough from merch cuts. sorry to anyone who works merch for a venue, i hope you find a job that values you soon
merch tips have always been a thing
Not in Europe and the UK. Even now it's not the norm when US bands tour here. Partly because a lot of them use those tablets now, but I've had bands say to me over the table, because it's often the bands themselves manning the table (which is as it should be if they can't afford to pay a merch person without relying on tips...) to just skip when it asks for a tip because they get that it's not part of the culture over here.
i'm literally from the uk lol. i see tip jars a lot at merch. its really not a problem
Yeah I'm wondering if this outrage is a continental thing. Seeing this at a show in the UK, I may or may not tip, but I wouldn't go to reddit to complain about it.
As am I. I can't recall ever having seen one even for the smaller bands.
Why would I tip someone for handing me a shirt? The whole interaction takes like 20 seconds
You don't have to. Tips are voluntary.
Tip or don’t tip, up to you. But let’s maybe not minimize a merch guy’s entire job down to a 20 second interaction
The whole of a coffee shop employee's job isn't making and handing you a coffee, but that's your only interaction with them. You are (or aren't here in the UK) tipping for what they do for you, not that their job involves other duties like stock take and cleaning the equipment. Similar with a merch person. No, handing punters a shirt isn't the sum total of what they do, but none of the other stuff is customer interaction and people shouldn't be expected to supplement stuff that isn't done for them with a tip. Bands should pay their merch people or not have one if they can't afford one.
I mean yeah, that goes for any business. They shouldn’t have to rely on customers to pay their employees - that’s their job. That isn’t the point I’m making though. I just don’t like when people say, “well they only did xyz for me, they don’t deserve more money”, obtusely ignoring everything else they do as part of the responsibilities of their employment.
I tip for two reasons:
- I appreciate what they did for me, and
- I realize that the entirety of their job is difficult, and that it isn’t always easy to get out of bed, go to work, and perform up to standards.
I do it to be nice and because I’m financially able to at the time. I’m not shaming anyone for their choice to tip or not, as it’s not obligatory (and it shouldn’t be!) But to outright say that someone doesn’t deserve money when they’ve only seen 2% of what that person’s job actually is, as OP did, now that’s grossly ignorant to me.
If you have money for a shirt you can throw them $5. If not don’t get a shirt.
I disagree. Why should I give 5 dollars for no reason?
I get music is hard, but pay your damn employees instead of making them beg at your table.
Yes exactly
If you think a merch person is “doing nothing” you’re delusional.
This is a terrible take. People should still support the artist even if they are financially unable to tip.
Or simply unwilling. You paid for a ticket to the show, you're buying merch. If that's not enough, then change the prices and I'll see if they're financially viable for me. But don't play the 'oh it'd be nice if you tipped some extra' game.
Is that not common in stores in Cologne? In France you see that a lot in small stores. Tipping culture isn't as bad as the US here but in restaurants/cafes and independent stores it's really common
You see them in some stores around Germany. I‘ve always have seen them as in „I put my 20 cent change in there“. Most bands have prices like 20 or 25 bucks fot their shirts, which is easy for the marcher, but bad for tipping.
As there is no change there is less motivation to tip, plus some bands use card payment and things like PayPal (friends of course).
I’m sure the band is reading your post right now
What's the issue?
There isn’t one
First time?
What you may see as a 30 second interaction is actually hours worth of loading shit into the venue, setting up the displays, and standing there when the doors open until they let the last person out before breaking it all down and loading it up to go to the next venue.
That being said, I’ll often tip the merch person. It’s still optional, dawg.
What you describe to me sounds like "work", I do it 8 hours a day myself and my employer pays me
And a merch person is probably working more than 8 hours a day.
Chances are they're watching the table, keeping inventory, loading in and out, possibly driving, doing social media promotion for the band, among a lot of other things.
So yea, it sounds like work... because it is.
And they're probably working more than you.
And a merch person is probably working more than 8 hours a day.
Chances are they're watching the table, keeping inventory, loading in and out, possibly driving, doing social media promotion for the band, among a lot of other things.
Sounds like stuff their employer should be paying them for, not the person being handed a shirt.
People get paid and should have a contract for the whole package of jobs.
It’s also not like the mercher does everything. Most bands have their „driver”, that’s someone sober and who likes driving. Even band members themselves, they also help loading etc. Personally I would keep the merch guy out if my social media, as social media is ongoing and touring is not. Paying for a tour is different to a full-time job for a band.
Nevertheless touring as small/medium sized band is definitely hard, but also not regularly from 9 to 5 more like some weeks per year. Of course it’s work and a job in the end.
Get the actual fuck outta here.
Those dudes bringing a genre that we love around the world (whilst making just dozens of dollars) is just about the only damn thing worth tipping for!
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15d
A large majority of Americans know tipping isn’t a thing in most of Europe.
That said, merch tips for touring bands has always been something that’s been generally more accepted and even done by smaller European bands because it’s not like it’s some shitty business not paying their employees like you’re implying. It’s a band that’s already hardly making anything, trying to get by. It isn’t like it’s Taylor Swift out here begging for tips either.
I also should add I despise tipping culture, but I’m a lot more inclined to toss a small tip to a band after buying a shirt than I am to tip for picking up a coffee at a Starbucks or something. The two are vastly different.
"A large majority of Americans know tipping isn’t a thing in most of Europe."
Not true. Tipping in restaurants is common.
Been to Europe quite a bit. I get that. I’ve been asked for my fair share of tips there too. But the culture is still NOTHING like it is in America, and that’s the point I’m trying to make, and the point OP is trying to make too, I think, not wanting American tip culture to bleed over to Europe, even though this situation is a bit different.
Everyone knows Europeans don't have a tipping culture because they never stop bitching about how Americans have a tipping culture.
No one's required to tip the merch person, it's just a nice thing to do since they work their fucking asses off and are the main money-makers for a lot of bands.
I've seen Kublai Khan man the merch table for their own headliner here. If bands can't pay their merch person without requiring tips, then they should follow suit.
Lots of people work their asses off in jobs, but if all the customer sees is 30 seconds of 'Hi I'd like [insert shirt description]' and hands over money, what exactly is there to tip? The rest of the work the merch person is doing is for the band. I don't tip shop clerks for the work they do that doesn't relate to their interaction with me.
Just a few days ago, I saw the Fall of Troy a band that has been around for 20+ years.
Two of their 3 members manned the merch table.
One of them was selling handmade rugs with various logos that represent his band... that he made himself.
You know what else they had?
A fucking tip box.
Because tips are still appreciated.
ESPECIALLY when touring is prohibitively expensive... even for established bands.
Also you think a merch person's work doesn't relate to your interaction with them and that is laughable...
Why is it laughable? Retail employees, of which I was once one, often work a register alongside other duties like cleaning and stocking. While those make a difference to the overall customer experience, it's not something they actively experience like paying for their items.
I don't see the merch stall role as being appreciably different from retail work. And it would be extremely atypical to tip them. Certainly when I was doing it there were policies against receiving any type of gift from customers, not that it ever came up because handing the items over once paid for is simply part of the job.
No one is saying you have to tip, but whining about someone setting up a voluntary tip box is pathetic.
My response is less about the voluntary sign and more about spurious justifications like 'merch people work their ass off' as if other people who simply hand us things that are asked for don't do the same in the other aspects of their job. Yet we don't tip those others because they are paid their full wage by their employer. Your average retail worker doesn't put up a voluntary 'tip me' sign.
There is also a sense on this side of the pond that there is a general concerted attempt to encourage American style tipping culture, so wherever it rears it's head it's treated with increasing hostility.
I'm European, and complaining about someone setting up a voluntary tip box is one of the dumbest things I've seen all week.
We know. You people never shut the fuck up about it.
just don’t tip if you don’t want to.