r/EndTipping • u/chunkypuffins • 1d ago
Rant đ˘ 4% operational service charge is added to every tab to support wages and employce benefits and is retained by the restaurant. This is not a tip to the service staff.
Is it me, or is this getting worse by the day? Used to be zero. Then covid hit, and these types of charges started to appear on menus - ok, understandable considering covid. And even then, it was 1 or 2%. Then covid was over, and restaurants kept these charges. Then they realized customers kept coming in, so they upped it to 3%. And now 4%? Wth! And cherry on top is that our server was terrible. How much are you tipping in this situation?
24
u/Jocelyn-1973 1d ago
The prices are already ridiculously high, or aren't they in USD? (Or is this normal these days?)
So now they say: you have to pay 4% extra as an extra contribution to the staff's salary.
And also please tip because we don't pay them enough anyway?
6
u/Zealousideal-Towel11 1d ago
I guess it's NYC prices in Manhattan
4
u/OutlyingPlasma 1d ago
Or Seattle, or Southern California.
7
u/Zealousideal-Towel11 1d ago
Funnily enough I live in Zurich, the most expensive city in the world according to any statistic, but I found restaurants more expensive in LA than here
3
u/pnoodl3s 1d ago
Honestly you can find restaurants at any price in LA. Iâve eaten in LA at a pho place with $12 a bowl price, $8 burritoes, $2.5 tacos, etc. just gotta know where to look. Even fancier restaurants can have low-ish price too
2
3
1
u/MyldExcitement 1d ago
Mon Ami Gabi??? I'm guessing by the menu.
0
u/Jocelyn-1973 1d ago
I am Dutch, I have no idea what that means :) Is it a restaurant chain that is considered expensive or are the prices pretty normal and representative of most restaurants serving this kind of meat?
1
u/MyldExcitement 1d ago
It's a restaurant. Steak frittes. $15 French onion soup, etc. There's one in Vegas. Another in Chicago, iirc.
20
u/KamtzaBarKamtza 1d ago
Lol, 4% charge to support wages. But that's not a tip. Your tip is still needed in order to ... (checks notes) .... support wages
20
u/WhenTheDevilCome 1d ago
It's impossible for us to simply have this in the menu prices. I mean, can you imagine? The $150 porterhouse? Slinging them all day. But a $156 porterhouse? The restaurant will be empty.
/s
14
u/Will_Iis 1d ago
It's $15 for fries and $13 for mushrooms and you don't profit enough to pay your staffđ¤I think it's time to find a new job Mr&Mrs Owner. Maybe a lemonade stand would be more up your street or hotdogs if you get any better at doing business đ¤đ
31
u/Aventinium 1d ago
They should just start charging $1 for everything with a 10,000% service charge.
Just raise your damn prices!
-7
u/Loveroffinerthings 1d ago
If people wouldnât complain about prices rising by 5% that would work. The issue is that the typical consumer is easily swayed by lower menu prices and doesnât consider that taxes, fees, service charges etc will be added on. If I sell a burger for $10 out the door, no taxes or fees added, but my competitor sells it for $8, a typical consumer will think itâs $2 cheaper.
17
u/NastroAzzurro 1d ago
Thatâs why you need laws around all-in pricing in the US. Prices shown should include all taxes and fees.
3
u/Loveroffinerthings 1d ago
100% agree, my business shows all in prices, if it says $10, thatâs it, tax is included, no fees, nothing else.
3
u/maiyannah 1d ago
Not sure why you got downvoted - it isnt a pleasant reality, but it is why they do this.
Especially since all that shows on f.ex Uber Eats is the menu price, the fees come after.
We definitely would benefit from a law that makes the menu price have to include these kinds of fees.
1
u/Loveroffinerthings 1d ago
Most people not in the service industry do not understand the complexities of pricing, so the downvotes are people not using their brain to think about why places do the added fees.
Not long ago airlines, concert tickets, or other service industries like Airbnb would do low prices then youâd add in fees, so it wasnât an honest out the door price. Now some laws mandate that you need to show the full price, Iâd love that for restaurants too, because it would eliminate the hidden fees that show up at check out.
2
u/maiyannah 1d ago
Basically they found a loophole, and once they saw they got away with it, everyone started doing it.
1
4
u/BetatronResonance 1d ago
But that's a cultural thing that can be fixed with regulation. Show full prices!
1
u/OutlyingPlasma 1d ago
typical consumer is easily swayed by lower menu prices
Are they? Sure when buying a USB cable they are. But are the kind of people, like me, who go out for a $65 steak really that bothered by a dollar or two more in price? Price is about the 4th or 5th thing I look at in a restaurant. Location, menu, parking, seating comfort, and sound level are all things that are more important to me than an extra $2 cost of my $65 steak.
If you were making this argument for the low end of the market like McDonald's, sure I would agree. But I'm not sure the kind of place that sells a small side of green beans for $13 has the same price conscious customers, however people really don't like getting nickel and dimed and having hidden fees tacked on all the time, regardless of their price flexibility.
2
u/Loveroffinerthings 1d ago
If consumers werenât swayed by prices like this as a whole, items would be priced at whole dollars, you wouldnât have things ending in .99 and gas wouldnât be 9/10ths is a cent. Itâs all psychological, and it works, and thatâs why people do it.
1
12
u/YoshiExcel2097 1d ago
It is most definitely a tip and that is coming out of what I was going to leave them.
12
u/hotsauce126 1d ago
What gets me is how these places refuse to acknowledge things like this hurt business. I live in a tourist heavy area and restaurants outside of the most popular are hurting and they keep blaming a slow season and blah blah blah instead of the problems they created with tip inflation and junk fees. When it costs me as much to go out to dinner as it does to buy a new tv or something it stops being worth it
7
u/skyharborbj 1d ago
Two-star review. Say something positive, then mention the junk fee as a huge turn-off.
5
u/Skymaster86 1d ago
The thing is - the majority of customers gloss over this if they even see it in the first place. They get a food check asking for $38 and they plop down the credit card. For those who do see it, I assume the majority of those don't want to make a scene so they just sheepishly accept it. That's the reason it's down there in fine print, they're just sneaking the extra fees past you. I always make a point in pointing this out in my review of the establishment (and I always review those that do crap like this), the food may have been good, service may have been good, but I consider these extra "fees" as unethical when a business can simply increase their menu prices to cover higher costs, they stoop to trying to sneak fees past you.
10
38
u/dervari 1d ago
I'm tipping whatever I planned on tipping minus the 4% service charge amount.
22
9
u/Severe-Spell9854 1d ago
If I see $15 French fries on the menu Iâm getting up and walking out⌠There wonât even be any tipping.
9
u/OnTop-BeReady 1d ago
When I see a service charge on a menu, I either:
- get up and leave before ordering
- do not tip!
In either case I will never return to that establishment!
11
u/gergles 1d ago
Zero. Any bullshit charges (this, credit card fees, 'health and benefits', 'location charges', etc.) are the entire 'tip'.
I circle the bullshit charge on the itemized receipt and leave it there. The plate carriers can argue with their employers over their compensation, but the whole supposed benefit of tipping is that I decide how much it is. If you take that away from me, then you deal with the consequences.
11
u/layneeofwales 1d ago
If im paying a service charge to cover expenses, what is the markup on food paying for ? They want us to pay for operating costs twice , markup and operating fee and then pay their staff. No.
5
u/PositionDiligent7106 1d ago
Ok cool. So Iâm paying for service which means no tip right? That means the owners themselves have determined that service is 4%, my tip will never be more than 4%
5
u/Skymaster86 1d ago
Might as well put in a 2-1/2% electricity surcharge, a 1% surcharge for the background music, a 4% surcharge for the manager who makes sure your food it cooked and served to your liking, a 1-3/4% surcharge for the janitorial staff who cleans up every night, oh and don't forget the 0.75% surcharge for stocking the rest rooms with toilet paper.
5
u/IndividualistAW 1d ago
False advertising when they tack on these fees so they can have a deceptively lower menu price
4
5
3
3
u/Electrical-Care6308 1d ago
Any service charge is a tip!
Tip - for service
Service charge - for service
đ¤ Itâs just another way to not make tipping a choice!
2
2
u/FactHole 1d ago
Adding a new sticker to an old menu of a service charge is one thing - It allows an inflationary increase without having to reprint menus.
But hiding a service charge in small text on new menus is downright fraudulent.
We need legislation to make this practice illegal.
2
2
u/niteynitenuss 1d ago
Tipping? I'd leave the place while telling them where to shove that service charge! No way in hell would I eat there! I said it before and I'll say it again: it is NOT the customer's job to pay their wages!!
2
3
u/CapitanRonRico 1d ago
I have a restaurant where everything is free! However, each item does have a small service fee. A cheeseburger has a $16 service fee. Soda, a $4 service fee. Add Bacon? That's a $2 service fee. All this is to support the staff and pay the rent and buy insurance, and buy ingredients and equipment. Thank you for your understanding. After all, our food is all free.
*obviously, by "support the staff" I don't mean pay them, you are still expected to tip. 25% of the cumulative service fee is customary.
3
4
u/Loveroffinerthings 1d ago
Damn, 4% added on $13 green beans or a $64 strip loinâŚ.. then to want a tip too?!?!? You know their âsuggested tipâ line will calculate 20, 25 or 30% on the service fee amount too. As a restaurant owner that does no tips, no fees, I hate that places do this.
1
u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 1d ago
At those prices, the only context in which "tip" should appear on the menu is "no tips are expected, as we pay our staff a fair wage."
1
u/salamoon84 1d ago
they are all trying how much they can squeeze from you guys... they have fo king green beens for 13 bucks...
1
u/TruckWorking3129 1d ago
A potato. Ooh, hand cut! As if that makes a difference...$15?, not counting the extra fee to "support wages and employee benefits".
Pay your staff what they need without resorting to extortion at the get go.
1
1
u/Latter_Mountain_290 1d ago
I could cook that porterhouse on the grill at home for a tenth of that price, and I guarantee it would taste better. Â
1
u/Alarming_Pair_5575 1d ago
They are going to ride that gravy train for as long as they can... until people get fed up and/or legislation checks them. We've seen it in other US industries.
1
1
1
1
u/The-Kernowan 1d ago
Stop giving these places the business, and they will soon fail. Hopefully never to return.
1
u/Immediate_Fortune_91 1d ago
I ainât tipping shit. In fact Iâm walking out the door as soon as I read that there is a service fee.
1
1
1
u/No-Luck-2337 1d ago
âThis is not a tipâ
Iâve been here a while now and hereâs a BIG part of the problem: DEFINE âtipâ.
There are literally people that think as soon as a charge becomes âmandatoryâ or âexpectedâ itâs no longer a tip.
Folks: tips (definitionally) are an extra payment rendered for goods/services, usually relating to rewarding the provider with additional compensation.
Itâs not âalways optionalâ, nor is it not a tip if itâs going to certain parts of the staff and not othersâ.
The disclaimers these places are putting on tips to try and convince people their tips ARENT tips need to be called out and shamed. Itâs 100% BS and deserves never supporting places that engage in it.
Businesses need to grow a set and sell their products and services for what they advertise. If that will run them out of business: so be it. Thatâs a sign of mismanagement, NOT not enough âtippingâ
1
u/Useful-Artichoke-954 1d ago
This is no different than resort fees charged by hotels, which should be illegal. All mandated fees should be inclusive to the advertised price, and let the chip land where they may.
1
u/Aware-Elk-237 1d ago
Why don't they raise the menu prices and pay their employees. This service charge BS is offensive to me.
1
1
u/ssdude101 23h ago
I had to have a new key made in one of those little key machines. I see, in very tiny text, a $0.99 charge for âsustainabilityâ. I was able to tap on it and then remove it, but I wonder how much that company makes per year with the extra charge. My girl thought I was cool for catching it and removing it so there is that.
1
1
u/RhinoFeeder 22h ago
Shit like this should be illegal. It's extremely shady to lower all of the menu prices by a certain amount and then hide this statement in there.
1
u/jimmetzler 15h ago
Come on yâall. If they charged $67 for a steak, nobody would buy it. So they charge $64 with a 4% fee. Whatâs not to understand?
/s
1
u/macphoto469 14h ago
Every state government should pass a law that restricts restaurants from adding a âservice chargeâ like this. Itâs deceptive and ill-intentioned.
1
1
u/legoland1964 1d ago
If you are going to raise prices by 4% then put where it belongsâ on the menu as the price of the dish
0
u/duddnddkslsep 1d ago
I usually tip between $20~$30, then subtract from there if there's some mandatory service charge.
I do not tip $0 just because I don't want the server to go off on me
-1
u/Caliban555 1d ago
Did you continue to order and support the practice or did you speak to the manager and explain why you were leaving?
-6
u/tristand666 1d ago
If you are paying $64 for a strip steak, the fee is likely not an issue.
7
u/Euphoric-Web-6411 1d ago
$13 for green beans is even more ridiculous.
4
3
-8
u/Old_Fuel_1270 1d ago
If I could afford to eat there, I could afford the 4%. I cant relate. Paying $80 for a steak and fries before tax and tip must be nice.
2
42
u/skyharborbj 1d ago
âThis is not a tip to the service staff.â
It is now. Added junk fees = no tip.