Tipjar StaffSaviour: piloting a contactless IoT tipping device and software platform for the hospitality industry

COVID-19以前所未有的规模加速了无现金支付的增长。这减少了300多万英国酒店工作人员收到的小费数量，在许多情况下威胁到他们的生计，需要用政府福利来代替他们的收入。在现有的读卡器上，许多顾客对在账单上加小费感到不舒服，而且怀疑小费不会送到工作人员手中。此外，新的规定使管理员工小费变得非常繁重，巨额罚款和公开羞辱使经营者头疼。目前基于qr的解决方案只能解决部分问题，因为许多人不能或不愿使用这种支付方式。这就是staff savior发挥作用的地方。有了这笔资金，Tipjar希望选择、连接和试验一个指定的物联网设备——“staffsavior”——它通过api连接到现有的Tipjar软件平台。允许每位顾客通过非接触式卡或手机支付小费。员工和操作人员享有与原始Tipjar qr解决方案相同的好处，但有更高的小费量和更高的吞吐量。这项拨款计划的主要目标是将员工救星从TRL2（技术概念和/或应用程序的制定）带到TRL7（在操作环境中的技术原型演示）。

COVID-19 has accelerated the growth of cashless payments in an unprecedented scale. This has reduced the volume of tips received by the over 3 million UK hospitality workers---in many cases threatening their livelihood needing to substitute their income with government benefits.Many customers don't feel comfortable adding a tip to a bill with the existing card readers and are suspicious that tips won't reach workers. In addition, new regulation made it very burdensome to manage staff tips (Tronc) and hefty fines and public shaming causes headaches for operators. Current QR-based solution only solve part of the problem as many people can't or won't use this means of payments.This is where StaffSaviour comes in to play. With this grant Tipjar wants to select, connect and pilot a designated IoT device---the "StaffSaviour"---which connects via APIs to the existing Tipjar software platform. Allowing every customer to tip via contactless card or phone. Staff and operators enjoy the same benefit as with the original Tipjar QR-based solution but with higher tipping volume and much higher throughput.Key objectives of this grant project is to bring StaffSaviour from TRL2 (Technology concept and/or application formulated.) to TRL7 (Technology prototype demonstration in an operational environment).