Is is appropriate for a employees to expect a tip for preparing take-out food?

I am finding increasing situations where tip cups are being left at take-out counters and at cash registers. When I asked why a tip cup was at the register I was told the cashier expected a tip. PLEASE! Why should a customer pay a tip for an employee who places the take-out in the styrofoam containers and nothing else for me. When I pay a tip to a server in a restaurant, I am rewarding the efforts made to keep my drink fresh and table cleared. If business owners now expect me to tip their cooks and cashiers, I want to see compensatory lowering of their prices instead of them going higher. And I have worked in retail so I know how difficult it is to deal with the public. But this notion that everyone has a handout is burning me up.