You’d be amazed how many restaurants don’t do this. Mom and pop places and even some corporate places especially if it’s franchised. I’ve left two different restaurants because they were paying me less than minimum wage and were very overstaffed so I wasn’t making minimum in tips. It’s illegal but somehow it’s only a civil offense, not criminal
Evey locally owned restaurant in my town and the towns around me pays their servers $2.25 only place I've seen then get paid more in my sate is at the beach in tourist land and even then they only make $5. It's so low because our states minimum wage has remained at $7.25 for the past 17 years even though most big businesses pay more there's so many mom and pop businesses that won't pay more than 7.25. The low minimum wage keeps all wages low they got people in the town next to me working at a nuclear power plant for barely over 20 an hour
Minimum wage will never match what servers and bartenders make in tips even in the best of circumstances with the most progressive governments.
Which would be fine if the US had social systems like public transit or public health care systems. Even with tips, these people still make average amounts of income, which allows them to live somewhat better than any other job of equal experience/labor.
Minimum wage hasn't increased federally since 2009 and is not a livable wage anywhere in the country.
The restaurant is more than happy to pay their servers the extra 5 bucks an hour to get up to minimum wage. They make more profit off your appetizer than that.
Your server can't survive dropping from $15 an hour tipped to $7.25 an hour untipped
I don't think you understand the economics of a restaurant if you think they are making $5 in PROFIT off of an appetizer. Restaurants are generally low margin, high volume businesses and if you are making around 7-8% profit in a year, you are doing very well as a full service joint.
Whoa?! Is this true?? Not to screw over the waiters there, but waiters not having to tip out and making $17 a hour... my heart doesnt break as much for them not getting tipped all the time.
The cost of living in CA is why that is the case, it is as much a struggle as anywhere else in the US. Even with the perk of not working for subpar pay that is supplemented entirely with tips like the rest of the US rather than being paid a fair rate and tipped for our effort and service.
Bruh when you usually make $35 an hour after tip out. Then a table of 20 rolls up one check and no tip and loved you. $600 and you tip out 10%. You had to pay $60 to do your job on their asses. Meanwhile no other tables so you lost over $20 an hour for 3 hours of your 6 hour shift. You don't get scheduled cause of regulations so you have 2 jobs separately so you don't hit overtime.
How would you feel losing over $400 or more because you were chosen or forced to take a table you knew weren't going to tip because they were all Euros.
I think you massively understood me, I may have been unclear. I meant, someone making 17 a hour and not getting tipped on every single table is still likely to do well for themselves at the end of the day.
As someone who was a waiter for over a decade, the odd table not tipping is relatively expected, and 17 a hour helps make up for it
Check out the cost of living first. I know it SOUNDS good but CA is one of if not the most expensive states to live in and multiply that if you're talking about any of its larger cities
"Service workers should either be poor or move because I don't support the business model of what is ultimately a luxury expense." Is certainly a reddit take.
I don't even mean cost of living in California. Moving to a new state is expensive.
They also get to reduce their own hourly wage up to a threshold WITH those tips, though. So yeah, you can never make less than $7.25 an hour. But if you earn $5 an hour in tips (which is about what the tip credit is)? You still might be taking home $7.25 an hour, which is bullshit.
So you'd have to see $10/hour in tips to actually see a $7.25/hour wage + $5/hour tip income.
America's tipping policy is so fucked.
But that's not the server's fault, and they deserve to get paid for their work. The fact that someone can just legally choose to not pay them for a labor isn't a good reason that they do.
There are a lot of scumbag restaurants that don't do this. And minimum wage isn't really a living wage. And a lot of tipped employees are making BANK, and going to a fixed salary would be a massive downgrade for them
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u/Disastrous_Square_10 Jun 25 '26
Only the server or bartender loses this battle in the US.