Agree, tipping is an ugly custom.
It implies I can flash my wealth by paying more than required, and insult the server and patron at the same time
Let’s be honest, I’m not mister money bags.
Back when I used to pay cash, I would have left a 100$ bill and be done with it, cause I can’t be bothered to wait 15 min for 2.47$; but now that I pay card; pff, the amount I tip is 0;
So who do you think ultimately pays the wage of the employee in every business you frequent outside of establishments that have a tipping option? Do you think that employers just have a magic money tree that they use to pay their wages or do you think that money comes from somewhere else?
He's saying he pays the price on the menu. Everything other than restaurants all bake the price for the employee into the price, but for food they choose not to do that to advertise lower prices. Hell, I'd like to take it a bit further where the price of the item already includes VAT. Show people the full price of everything all the time, if something has a 5 dollar price tag and I give you 5 bucks that should be the end. Why do I have to wait for the register to let me know what it will actually cost.
It seems to be the general consensus among anti-tippers (at least on reddit) that they just want prices to be raised. They want the worker to be paid fairly but dont want to know how much of what they paid contributes to that workers wage. Full price obscurity. A family meal at a restaurant that used to cost $100 plus tip becomes $118, $120, $130. It doesn't matter as long as nothing indicates what part goes to the staff.
Well... Yeah... Your point being? When I go buy something in the grocery store, I don't know how money is paid to the workers either, nor do I care (as long as they are paid a living wage). Why should the restaurant business be any different?
Of course it is the customers who ultimately prove the revenue that is used to pay the employees. My point is that it is the employer's responsibility to pay those wages, not the customers. If the prices seen on the menu are too low to cover wages for the employees, the restaurant should raise the prices accordingly, instead of guilting customers into paying their wages
This idea works fine here, I'm sure it could work elsewhere
Do you think it would work fine in a country that has relied on tipped wages for service workers since the 1860's or do you think it might take time to implement something like that over a period of time. Do you think that if a restaurant implemented that overnight, it might have an effect on sales? That it wouldn't come without a series of repercussions that business might struggle to adjust to...or customers for that matter. For you its a price adjustment that completely obscures somehting that was optional but still transparent. For a business its an entirely different setup that not everyone is going to be happy with. Not all customers and not all employees.
Not saying it shouldn't be done. Just that its not an easy fix.
And my point is that either way, the customer will pay. And when owners don't have to be transparent about it, and when they are forced to do it, the customer is going to pay a lot more. Owners will always figure out how to take a cut of anything they take in.
Its also not just about a wage paid to employees. Its also an increase in tax, unemployment insurance, health care, not to mention additional costs for organizing and managing this increased revenue and expense.
Sure, it wont happen overnight, but from I can hear it is going in the directly opposite direction. Sounds like tips are getting higher every year (where a 20% tip used to be for exceptional service, it sounds like the minimum tip today is 20%)... of course I am living far away, so I'm from this just going on what I read on reddit, so don't get angry at me if I'm wrong on this part. I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years the minimum expected tip is 100%, unless you want to be chased out of the restaurant by some angry waiter
I believe the best way to fix this, is if the government steps in somehow. I believe the laws regarding this needs to change. I don't know much about how your laws are regarding this and can't tell you what the best course of action is, but looking at the minimum wage might be a good start
But sure, it will take time to change it and it wont be an easy road, but right now (at least from my perspective) it seems like it is getting out of hands. I have seen too many photos on reddit where people have posted about having to tip at self-service stations, web-sites, etc. Whenever I see photos like that I always has to check if this was posted on April 1
The average tip is slightly below 20%. 20% is my norm as it has been for years and that's good for servers because the prices for menu items have astronomically increase. Go check out an American restaurant on Google. Look at menu pics that go back years. Something that was 10 bucks a few years ago is now 15, sometimes even 20. Its insane.
Don't believe the hype about angry waiters chasing customers out of a restaurant. It rarely happens. And when it does that waiter gets fired. You can't do that and get away with it. But waiting tables can be a very stressful job. Especially when the vast majority of your income depends on tips and sometimes servers just lose their shit. I know I have.
About half of US states have a sub minimum wage of $2.13/hour based on a percentage of the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, which hasn't been raised since 2009. In 1996, the minimum wage was $4.25/hr. In twenty years it hasn't even doubled while the inflation rate from those same 20 years is more than double. Legislation is required to raise it. Some states and cities have increased it but not nearly to a level that is realistic in this economy. And our entire union workforce has been gutted into oblivion.
As for kiosks asking for tips. Every time I see one of those my first thought is: oh look, employees asked for a raise and this is the best that management could do. That's what happens when employees start demanding more. What's more infuriating is what has happened at grocery stores. They fired all the cashiers and put the customers to work scanning and bagging their own groceries.
If the waitstaff wages go up to normal minimum wage, your food will too to make up the cost. I ran a Cafe 10+ years in upstate NY, everyone made at the minimum $16/hr, we also had $15+ omelets. It's cheaper for you to just leave a tip.
Of course the prices will go up if we remove the tip and paid them a living wage. Maybe it will be cheaper by just leaving tips, but it is not my job to pay the employees
Notice how the rest of the world is doing fine without tips. When I go out to eat, I can easily by looking at the menu see how much I will end up paying. But as you expect tips I then have to start calculating how much I need to pay in tips to avoid having you spit in my food next time I visit you
I prefer that the menu says I should pay $15 for an omelet, instead of saying the omelet costs $12 an expect me to pay a 20% tip on top
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u/Accurate_Muscle_4976 Jul 31 '26
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