Money Moral Dilemma: Should I accept tips because my colleagues do?

SteveSi

If the company policy is that you should not accept tips then it is for a reason, e.g. it could be seen as a bribe - for instance the customer could have damaged the goods (or maybe wrong size/colour or changed their minds) but bribe you to sign it off as 'damaged in transit' and return it.
It is your risk if you do accept tips and then get sacked because of it.
Perhaps a better idea would be to say 'Sorry, it is against company rules to accept tips, but if you would like to, please contact my company about the service you received today'. Then give them your card (or slip of printed paper) with your name and the customer services email address and phone number of the company.
Once your company starts receiving complimentary emails and calls about you, it will probably do far more for your career than the odd tip.

TELLIT01

Only if you want to risk being sacked for gross misconduct.  If it states in your contract that you can't accept tips, you can't accept tips no matter what other people do.  It's not different to saying 'other people do it' if you are stopped for speeding.  'other people' have got away with it but it's still an offence.

Fitzmichael

I, 79 yrs old, have thought like BristolGary since before I started work aged 15, and I soon found that on the Continent tips were far more expected than here. I could never get my head round them. I was paid to do my job and, if asked, I would have interpreted that as "as well as can reasonably be expected". When I left just before I was 18, to go into tertiary ed., my manager said it was the right move but  he was sorry to lose me. Gary is right about workers pressure, but Unions here have been suppressed if their threats become physical, unlike, eg, France, where the big-heads got them cut off when people revolted.

sleepymans

SteveSi said:

If the company policy is that you should not accept tips then it is for a reason, e.g. it could be seen as a bribe - for instance the customer could have damaged the goods (or maybe wrong size/colour or changed their minds) but bribe you to sign it off as 'damaged in transit' and return it.
It is your risk if you do accept tips and then get sacked because of it.
Perhaps a better idea would be to say 'Sorry, it is against company rules to accept tips, but if you would like to, please contact my company about the service you received today'. Then give them your card (or slip of printed paper) with your name and the customer services email address and phone number of the company.
Once your company starts receiving complimentary emails and calls about you, it will probably do far more for your career than the odd tip.

This!

My OH was a delivery driver and his day was considerably brightened if a friendly satisfied customer offered him a cuppa or a cold soft drink or a bar of chocolate. Good feedback on his efforts We’re always equally welcome.

In lockdown I have often tipped hardworking drivers, but some have politely refused if against company policy.

Thrugelmir

meknowalot-51 said:

Are there really companies out there that instruct their employees to not accept tips?Rules is rules and if they say it's a no go then you can't do it.Is this really genuine?

Unfortunately many of the posted up Money Moral Dilemma's border on the intentionally inept.....

mecoprop

Tealblue said:

mecoprop said:

1. Your terms of employment explicitly forbid it, so why are you asking anyone else? How simple can this be?

2,. I am utterly disgusted by the level of dishonesty being condoned and encouraged by some answers here.

3. As can so clearly be seen in this thread, tipping encourages greed and dishonesty - it is corruption.

4. Try tipping a policeman or a judge and you will go to jail.  ALL tipping is a form of bribery and corruption and it should all be made illegal without exception.

Dear Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells

Please do not try to constrain my civil liberties. If I wish to tip, it is my choice and I'll do so. Tipping a policeman isn't an offence; you are confusing tipping and bribery - the latter certainly is an offence.

There is nothing dishonest about accepting a tip simply because it is against your terms and conditions of employment. It is a breach of your employment contract. You (and a number of other posters on this thread) are obviously not aware of how one major employer responded when asked about their 'no tipping' policy. The response was very clear: if a customer chooses to do so, the customer is always right, and on that basis they would have no grounds for reprimanding a driver. 

Think it through: what sort of message would it send customers if an employer tried to drag them into a disciplinary process against a driver who accepted a tip? 

The world would be a happier place if more people could distinguish between minor infringements and 'gross misconduct', as one earlier poster thought accepting tips would be!

This has nothing to do with your "civil liberties" whatever you may think they are.

A tip is a cash payment and tipping the police most certainly IS a serious offence.

The dishonesty is in the advice to OP to either deliberately lie or conceal blatant breaking of his clearly written rules of employment. Perhaps you think that lying to one's employer and rule breaking is not dishonest.  It is.

The company that you say chose to ignore its own rules, even if true, is completely irrelevant to this specific question.

You need to stay on topic, as originally posted, not meander off into a cloud cuckoo land of disciplinary hearings.

I'm not from Tunbridge Wells but I am thoroughly disgusted with the shameful attitude to honesty displayed in some quarters. Basically, some people are advising other to do whatever they like with complete disregard for rules, principles or discipline.

Thank goodness for those others of you who are not prepared to roll over and abandon decent, honest principles.

LudaMusser

I drove for Ocado for three years and I happily accepted all tips. We weren’t meant to 

mecoprop

"It sort of does have something to do with their civil liberties. Article 7 of the Human Rights Act to be precise."

"Sort of", "something to do with" translates to "to be precise?" It could hardly be less precise.

If anyone is sincerely interested enough to drown themselves in a sea of totally irrelevant BS, bon voyage and I wish them well. But they are not -  it's just another attempt to evade the basic principles of honesty, integrity, trust and discipline. 

This Money Matters Dilemma refers, absolutely specifically, to a company rule forbidding the acceptance of CASH by their delivery drivers. 

Brynsam

TELLIT01 said:

Only if you want to risk being sacked for gross misconduct.  If it states in your contract that you can't accept tips, you can't accept tips no matter what other people do.  It's not different to saying 'other people do it' if you are stopped for speeding.  'other people' have got away with it but it's still an offence.

This isn't gross misconduct by any stretch of the imagination, unless the terms of employment specifically say it is - and in this case they obviously don't.

dcfc67

is it documented in your contract ?
do you have to access your companys intranet as part of your job, if not then technically you haven't been told you can or cannot accept tips.
My company has a van policy which we have to adhere to, eg vehicle checks, keeping to speed limits log on with your driver fob so they know who is driving which vehicle,
we can accept small gifts up yo £25 in value but we have to document any gifts or donations