This just sounds like the author not liking to tip more than 20% and being concerned someone might judge them for that. There is “research” cited in the article, but not when it comes to supporting the headline, only to make other points. The fact that a professor of economics wrote an essay saying that somebody might have some negative feelings about tipping is not news. The comments here are sure to be way more thoughtful and balanced an exploration of the topic.
This part tells me the author is making up controversy and is not looking at things very reasonably:
> It's not only human workers who are asking for tips, but services like GoFundMe, a platform for people to fundraise for issues like emergency health costs. When people donate to a cause, the site asks for a "tip" to help it continue functioning. GoFundMe also charges a processing fee, which is deducted from the donations before the recipient receives the money; it doesn't disclose this processing fee when it asks donors to add a tip.
From what I can tell, the processing fee of 2.9% goes straight to the payment processing company (or most of it, probably depending on payment method). Plus it’s the only fee and this is very clear on GoFundMe’s pricing page. To drum up some idea that it’s an extra hidden fee that GoFundMe is not transparent about is ridiculous. They are presumably asking for tips instead of higher fees so that people can pay according to what they’re able to pay.
This part tells me the author is making up controversy and is not looking at things very reasonably:
> It's not only human workers who are asking for tips, but services like GoFundMe, a platform for people to fundraise for issues like emergency health costs. When people donate to a cause, the site asks for a "tip" to help it continue functioning. GoFundMe also charges a processing fee, which is deducted from the donations before the recipient receives the money; it doesn't disclose this processing fee when it asks donors to add a tip.
From what I can tell, the processing fee of 2.9% goes straight to the payment processing company (or most of it, probably depending on payment method). Plus it’s the only fee and this is very clear on GoFundMe’s pricing page. To drum up some idea that it’s an extra hidden fee that GoFundMe is not transparent about is ridiculous. They are presumably asking for tips instead of higher fees so that people can pay according to what they’re able to pay.