Who knew the U.S. had a tipping expert, not to mention a "foremost" one? But so it does, and waitstaff across the nation will rest easier now that mobile gratuities app developer Ziptip, Inc. has announced the addition of Wm. Michael Lynn, Cornell University Burton M. Sack Professor in Food and Beverage Management, to its Advisory Board.

“I believe there is a need for the kind of direct consumer-to-worker, electronic payment of tips that Ziptip enables," said Lynn. "Thus, I am happy to be a part of bringing Ziptip to service workers and consumers around the world.”

Ziptip was created in 2011 (and patented in 2012) to solve that awkward issue of paying and receiving tips and gratuity. Fewer people are carrying cash today and paying by credit card can also be an issue when tipping doormen, concierges, staff in fancy restaurant restrooms and the like.

Ziptip permits those whom it titles "Tippers" to pay up instantly by using their smartphone to scan a "Tippee's" business card, T-shirt or anything else displaying his or her unique medallion image, including Facebook — which would be less weird than scanning your yard guy's sweaty T-shirt. Or other imaginable scenarios.

Tippees sign up at Ziptip.net; Tippers download free apps for iPhone and Android phones. Both Tippees and Tippers link to their PayPal accounts to send and receive payments. The Ziptip service currently is available in more than 20 countries.

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