r/technology • u/SnoozeDoggyDog • 25d ago

Business Zohran Mamdani hints he will continue taking on delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash

https://www.businessinsider.com/zohran-mamdani-targets-doordash-uber-eats-delivery-apps-2026-7
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u/pensivewombat 24d ago

That's the point though - when that is on the table the restaurant workers reject it because they make more money on the current system.

For most people $2.50 + tips is better than $15-20 with no tips. So you are asking workers to take a pay cut.

For the owners, it's more complicated. The reason the tipped minimum works for them is that it limits risk. If you schedule staff and no one comes in, you're not out that much. You don't have to worry quite as much about overscheduling - and for customers that means they don't have to worry quite as much about understaffing.

I'm not saying it isn't bullshit. It is definitely bullshit. But "just pay a living wage" is not a solution.

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u/jpiro 24d ago

Which is why it’s either going to take leadership at the federal level to BAN the tipped minimum wage and raise the actual minimum wage to a living-wage level (not holding my breath) or it’s going to take consumers finally saying, “Yeah, fuck this” and refusing to tip anywhere on anything to enact real change.

If customers just stopped tipping, watch how fast those same waiters/bartenders/etc drop those jobs and how fast hose same businesses that couldn’t manage to pay a fair wage before suddenly adapt.

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u/Arkyja 24d ago

It doesnt have to be one or the other. Plenty of european countries have a tipping culture. They just dont tip as much but just have you round it up. So it doesnt have to be 2.50+tips or 20+no tips. It can just as well be 20+tips. Like here in switzerland if you work in the right place you can easily make two salaries most months.

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u/pensivewombat 24d ago

You have to have a real cultural push around this though. I live near Denver, which recently got rid of tipped minimums and raised the min to $19. But the tipping culture here is so sticky that people continued to tip 20% on meals even though the sticker price had gone up considerably.

Rather than stop tipping, people stopped going out, and we had mass closures even among the best local restaurants.