You're welcome! I've seen people over-explain and try to make confused people understand *why*, but the *what* is often either left out or buried under so much exposition it's hard to follow. Gotta know what you're doing before you can figure out why!

I’m actually fine with it. I don’t spend tip money except for odds and ends things that I don’t want to use my credit card for. I want to put it in the bank but the closest location closed and idk where there’s another branch so it doesn’t bother me much.

If we weren’t in a pandemic I’d agree that “fun money” is nice but I can’t go to concerts which if we’re being real is where a lot of my tips went (merch, bus fare, Lyft tip, etc) so since I’m not spending it at shows I’m shopping online and I’d rather have a little boost in my bank account so I can still pay off my credit card but still not spend my whole paycheck on my credit card bills and rent.

Through one of the Partner apps, I’m not well versed on which one, you would declare your cash tips made. This is because the shifts won’t have to convert the digital tips accumulated each day into cash. Therefore, the digital tips would be already factored into your paychecks, I believe, and you’d be taxed on it. The difference is Starbucks is encouraging people to input any and all cash tips they make each week, if over $20. It all falls back on trying to be more thorough to prevent an audit/make an audit easier. But due to how many partners Starbucks has it falls more to a personal preference/if a Store Manager will enforce having partners declare their tips in the system.