Starbucks tipping: Where do the tips go?

Viewer inbox: Starbucks tips and airbag update Ross McLaughlin finds out what happens when you leave a tip at Starbucks, and has an update on a story on an airbag recall.

Starbucks tipping & price increases:

Ron was at a Starbucks recently and the machine had a tipping option. He wants to know who gets the tip, the owner or the employees.

Starbucks told CTV News that many of its customers express their appreciation with tips and those tips go to all the Starbucks hourly employees in the store.

Each week the tips are added up and then divided by hours worked by each employee. Managers do not get any of the tips. The same goes for tips received on mobile devices.

And while you're digging in your pockets for tip money, you're going to have to dig a little deeper to pay for your coffee. CTV News has learned Starbucks has increased some of their prices just in time for the holiday season.

Last week, as the company rolled out its holiday drinks, it also rolled out the price increases. All drip coffee and Americanos and several other drinks have gone up. The adjustments range from 10 to 30 cents.

Starbucks Canada told CTV News, “We evaluate and adjust pricing on an ongoing product-by-product and market-by-market basis in order to balance the need to run our business effectively.”

Nissan airbag follow-up:

We have a follow-up to the story we aired a couple weeks ago about a Surrey woman who feared for her safety while driving in her vehicle.

The airbag in Desiree Cairns 2014 Nissan Murano kept deactivating. A recall and numerous trips to the dealer failed to fix it and she wanted Nissan to buy the vehicle back. So what happened?

"Nissan reached out to me and the matter has been resolved to my satisfaction,” said Cairns, “Without you I don't think we would have gotten to where we are now. I do want to say thank you so much for all of your help.”

Clearly she couldn't talk about what Nissan did. But consumer reporter Ross McLaughlin says a short comment often means the consumer had to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the resolution.