QR code tip jar: cashless tipping in the physical world

The QR code encodes the address of your tip page. A phone camera opens it, the page loads, the visitor taps an amount and pays. Nothing to install, no app, no terminal.

• Generate a code from your tip link — any reputable generator works, as long as it produces a static code you own.
• Print it large enough to scan from about half a metre; small codes on glossy card are the usual failure.
• Add one line of text above it, such as 'Tips for the team', so people know what they are scanning.
• Test it with two different phones before printing fifty of them.

• Next to the card reader, at the moment the customer is already paying.
• On the table tent or the bill holder, not on a wall behind the counter.
• On the delivery bag or the receipt, for anything handed over off-site.
• In an email signature or an invoice footer — the same code works on a screen.

The only running cost is card processing. Because part of that fee is fixed per transaction, a 1 € scan loses proportionally more than a 5 € one — which is an argument for presets rather than free-form amounts on a counter.

If several people share the tips, agree the split before the code goes up, and write it down. Cashless tipping makes the total visible in a way a jar of coins never was, and that is where disputes start.

Point the QR at a permanent link you control. If the code redirects through a third-party shortener, your printed material dies the day that service does. A stable link means one print run instead of several.