They thought it was a real Shake-down.
Just in case guilt tipping wasn’t already running amok. An incensed customer has accused Shake Shack of raising the prices on their order after they didn’t leave a gratuity at the self-checkout kiosk.
“My wife says that if you don’t tip at Shake Shack, they make it more expensive per item,” declared TikTok creator B.D. Powell in a video with 4.2 million views.
He decided to test this theory by ordering three classic shakes — a vanilla, cookies & cream and strawberry — at a branch at an airport in Salt Lake City.
The Post reached out to Shake Shack for comment.
They cost $5.99 each according to the order screen.
The automated check-out then took them to the tip screen, where they were offered 15%, 18%, and 20% gratuity options as well as the choice to leave “no tip.”
But when Powell selected the latter — as is common at self-service outlets — all hell broke loose.
The screen displayed the message, “Uh Oh! There has been a pricing update on one or more of your cart items. Please review these changes in your cart.”
Upon obliging, the three shakes now showed prices of $6.49 each — total price increase of $1.50.
“Everything just went up fifty cents,” lamented Powell, who warned viewers to “not go” to Shake Shack.
Viewers were appalled over this alleged dirty tactic. “How is this legal?” wondered one commenter.
“It’s already too expensive to be worth it,” lamented another. “Forcing an extra charge is a deal breaker. I will never go there.”
“Tipping culture in the US has reached an intolerable toxic limit,” said a third.
However, others claimed that the customer had failed to establish a causal link with one Redditor noting, “you didn’t show what happens to the pricing when you do leave a tip.”
Meanwhile others accused Powell of skullduggery, claiming that he’d made a normal time-based price change look like a no-tip penalty.
“Pretty sure I saw this in a different sub, and people were saying the price increased because shake shack has a late night convenience fee past a certain time, and the people videoing timed the price change to make it look like a tip issue,” theorized one viewer.
Shake Shack has since denied that they were scam-burgering patrons.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” they wrote in the TikTok comments, which have since been disabled. “This is not a Shake Shack policy, and we’re currently looking into it with our licensee, HMSHost, that operates the Salt Lake City airport location and kiosk system.”
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