Coffee chain Starbucks will soon let customers tip their baristas using their iPhones. The company will make changes to its mobile apps to allow this function, which will be implemented from 19 March 2014 onwards.
This change applies to around 7,000 company-owned stores across the US, UK, and Canada, letting users tip from 50-cents to US$2. There is a “no tip” option as well.
In addition, there will be a new “shake-to-pay” function—customers will be able to pay for their drinks by shaking their phone. By doing do, the barcode of their Starbucks card would be shown on screen, making it easy for cashiers to scan them.
These new ideas were actually suggestions from customers, and were made through the company’s feedback portal, My Starbucks Ideas. This has proven to be a fun collaborative process between the company and its customers that helps to develop greater conveniences with the help of technology.
A screenshot of how tipping baritas would be like on the app.
[via Tech Crunch]