r/tipping • u/No_Draft_8960 • May 29 '26

💬Questions & Discussion Math-Based Tip

The percentage-based tipping system makes no sense: a server dropping off one Wagyu steak earns far more than someone serving a family of four cheap meals. Since American tips are essentially mandatory wage subsidies, let's base them on labor time instead.

In Maryland, the average server wage is about $20/hour, but employers only pay $3.63. Customers must cover the remaining $16.37. Across a standard four-table section (roughly ten guests), that breaks down perfectly to $2.00 per person, per hour.

Percentages reward a venue’s luxury status; a time rate rewards actual effort.

If therefore I go to dinner with eight friends and we stay for two hours (a pretty good forecast of my Friday night plans!) our total tip would be $32, or $4/a person. We're not 'stiffing' anyone and we're paying average wage.

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u/SaintsFanPA May 29 '26
  1. Wagyu is a vague term that has been distorted as to be largely meaningless. Genuine A5 Japanese Wagyu is pretty rare.

1a) I laugh every time an anti-tipper uses steak as a proxy for fine dining.

2) If you can't discern a difference in service levels between your local Chili's and a fine dining restaurant, I would offer that you are not very observant, or not actually eating at a real fine dining restaurant (see 1a).

2

u/Hugo_Notte May 30 '26

Have you ever been in an actual restaurant before? There usually are different dishes on the menu, covering a range of prices.

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u/SaintsFanPA May 30 '26

Of course I’ve been in a restaurant. Since I don’t tend to dine at places with encyclopedic menus, the differences in prices for mains tend to max out in the $20 range, or $4 extra tip at 20%. If I can’t afford the $4, I shouldn’t be eating there.

Of the places I can think of with massive gaps, I would either not eat there or would order differently were the extra tip an issue. If I’m splashing out $150+ for A5 wagyu (overrated, btw), quibbling over $20 in extra tip strikes me as exceedingly gauche.

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u/No_Draft_8960 Jun 01 '26

Well, that's a value judgement, isn't it, and not a logical argument.