It sounds like a barista’s fondest dream, but it’s actually a security system. At the Starbucks at Main and Liberty, the staff remove the bottoms of their plastic tip boxes to keep them from being stolen.

According to a staffer, thieves used to grab the tip boxes off the counter and run. After more than a few shifts lost their gratuities, an employee said, “I’ve had it,” and cut the bottom off the container. The next thief got only an empty box–and the problem stopped then and there. “I’m starting my third year here, and we’ve never had the tips stolen,” says a barista. Strangely, though the staffer we spoke with says people from other places have visited to check out the practice, she doesn’t know of any that have adopted it.