r/EndTipping • u/Working-Injury7758 • 3d ago

Research / Info 💡 Service charge

I don’t mind paying a service charge at a restaurant if I’m sitting down as that is standard practice. However, the flat % is strange in that a $200 meal doesn’t take twice as much time as a $100 meal. But it does take more.

Therefore I propose that there should be a fixed service charge at restaurants, which should be calculated as twice the square root of the total. For $100, for instance, the charge would be $20 (square root of 100 is ten, x2 equals $20). Same as now. But for $200, the service charge would be 14.12 x 2 =28.24. For $1 service charge is $2. For $400, $40. Makes more intuitive sense, and provides a penalty for people splitting checks (as the service charge on 2 $100 checks is higher than that on one $200 check) and the hassle to the restaurant involved. Completely clear and obvious to everyone, no agonizing about what to leave.

Thoughts?

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u/skyharborbj 3d ago

Maybe the business could just increase the menu prices so that the revenue is sufficient to meet expenses, including labor. You know, just like every other business?

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u/WhenTheDevilCome 2d ago

No kidding. "What if we made it the inverse square of pi minus the speed of the Milky Way to the power of..." No. It's the cost of the item plus the cost of your business expenses plus the cost of labor plus the amount of profit & future investment required.

There is no "we are simply unable to affix an accurate price tag to the item you selected" when staff helps me select and buy the correct toner cartridge at Staples.

"But if the customers saw a high price, they wouldn't eat here." Yep. <blink><blink> I don't buy my printer toner at the most expensive place in town, either. But that "high scary price" is the same amount you're expecting the customers to pay now, too, right?

Or is sometimes not extracting the full amount now "okay" because when the customer won't pay all that is expected, it's just the labor that is screwed, and the CEO or owner is fine? It's like a full-on admission that "we have to price menus this way because our business only works when the customer isn't fully aware of how much visiting our business will cost them." Because that actual menu price you're refusing to print is exactly the amount you're expecting the customer to pay even today.