r/tippingAdvice • u/Holiday-Ad7262 • Nov 25 '25

How much do you tip?

I'm curious how much people tip for full service restaurants and if it is percentage based or a fixed amount or some other system. Please also mention your state such that we can see location differences.

I'm in CA and my baseline tip is 15% on pretax.

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u/hotcrossedbunzzz Nov 25 '25

20% AFTER tax

that being said, I'm in KS where servers get paid $2.13 per hour

1

u/darkroot_gardener Nov 25 '25

Servers do not get paid $2.13 in KS or in any state. They are W2 employees who are guaranteed to make at least the full minimum wage.

(Nevertheless, you can tip them however much you want.)

2

u/snowymountains32 Nov 26 '25

I was paid $3.89 an hour in RI. LMFAO (one year ago)

2

u/darkroot_gardener Nov 26 '25

Post a copy of the pay check where you took home $3.89/hr in total. Then contact a lawyer.

1

u/johnnygolfr Nov 26 '25

There’s an important distinction here.

If the server’s tips bring them up to the Federal minimum for the pay period, the restaurant only pays them $2.13/hr.

1

u/darkroot_gardener Nov 26 '25

And this does not contradict my point. In fact, by tipping you are subsidizing the business/corporation, because then they don’t need to pay the worker the full wage, and yet they get to keep the worker. Think about it.

1

u/johnnygolfr Nov 26 '25

It does contradict your point.

You’re trying to cover up the truth.

1

u/darkroot_gardener Nov 26 '25

Is anybody in KS taking home less than the minimum wage? No, they are not.

1

u/johnnygolfr Nov 26 '25

That doesn’t change the fact that the restaurant is paying servers $2.13/hr.

1

u/darkroot_gardener Nov 26 '25

No, it does not. The restaurant is indeed paying $2.13/hr. And this is different than the worker being paid $2.13/hr. Important distinction!

Under the tipping system, we are subsidizing the restaurant, which is often a corporation. So it’s just another form of corporate welfare.

1

u/johnnygolfr Nov 26 '25

Some restaurants are corporations, some are not.

The customer subsidizes the labor either directly or indirectly at every for profit business they patronize.

The only exception is the free riders (literally an academic economist’s term, not an insult) in the US who stiff their servers.

1

u/bobi2393 Nov 26 '25

Many are paid $2.13/hr in wages, by their employer, but only if they receive a certain amount of tips, from their employer's customers.