TransBank POS machines and bill receipts: Socio-technical mediations in the normalization of tipping [Máquinas POS de TransBank y boletas: Mediaciones sociotécnicas en la normalización de las propinas]

Abstract

Chile understands the tip as an economic reward that exceeds the amount established for the payment of a service and is typically communicated during ‘table service.' In Chile, payments are facilitated by a system offered by the company TransBank. This system allows six million Chileans to use debit and credit cards to pay for goods and services. This study offers a reading of the technical mediation of tipping by ‘POS' (Point of Sales) systems. The framework of the study is based on the reading of economic sociology and the concepts of the actor-network theory. The research was conducted using an ethnomethodological-systemic approach to interactions between customers and waiters, employing methods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews in restaurants and cafés located in Santiago, Chile. The results show that information technologies like TransBank's POS system and manual technologies like bills must be understood as devices that normalize not only the delivery but also the amount of the tip, based on organizational and interactional dimensions that contextualize the tipping phenomenon.