Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

theconversation.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–187 of 187 posts

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#181

Post by ac29 »

dismalaf wrote: post #77
acdha wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people do think about pricing - not to the penny, sure, but you have to be really rich not to have an idea about roughly where going out will fit in your budget. There are two reasons why tipping is popular: restaurant owners think it motivates employees to flatter/put up with customers and/or allows them to skim some extra income, and there’s a certain type of diner who loves the power imbalance (e.g. every guy…

> Most people do think about pricing No offence but you're kind of proving my point. I said nothing about a difference in pricing because there isn't unless you actually tip $0 (which statistically very few people do). $24 (restaurant includes tip in price in order to pay servers a fair wage) is the same as $20 + 20% tip. Most of the rest of your comment is what I said with different wording. > high-income service wo…

> There's very few high-service income workers. I served tables through university, even if you make $400 in one night there's not enough of those nights for you to be "high income".

I wonder if this has changed as both prices and tip percentages have gone up. At $50/person tickets and a 20% tip, you'd only need to serve 100 people to make $1000 in tips. 100 people a night is unrealistic for many restaurants, but I'd think a server working full time could easily do a couple hundred customers a week which is $100k/year in tips.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#182

Post by red-iron-pine »

cadamsau wrote: post #130
Two4 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why the US doesn't have basic consumer protections, like products and services must be advertised at their total cost to consumer. Why not have supermarket prices marked with sales tax included? Why allow companies to advertise one price and charge another? Why is this not a voter issue?

There’s thousands of different tax regimes in the US - dozens to hundreds in every state, thanks to city taxes and the like. All businesses would need to advertise the right price everywhere. Doesn’t scale. It’d be neat to see a campaign to popularize a term like “final price” or “all-in price”. It’d encourage the creation of products that always show the right price even as taxes change. And consumers would be empow…

> All businesses would need to advertise the right price everywhere. Doesn’t scale.

it's 2024 man, there are computers that can calculate this. Most retails update tags weekly anyway; literally just a stockboy swapping tags out. Tax laws don't change that much.

Walmart and other stores have been experimenting with electronic tags that change price based on demand and time of day.

Like, the Australians do it and it works just fine. Price says $5.50 AUD and when you rock up to the counter the price is 5.50.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#183

Post by nasmorn »

jghn wrote: post #64
FireBeyond wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More than once I got home and realized I tipped on top of the total + service charge: "Why was that about $100 more than I thought it'd be?" Assuming the service charge was even 15%, for it to be $100 more than you thought it would be, your bill would be $600+ (simplifying for taxes)... I don't go out for $600 dinners that often, though I have. And that being said, I do think tipping does bring out some less sensic…

To be fair, by "more than once" I meant 2-3 times, not a regular occurrence. :) The last time it happened was ~300 + 20% service charge + a tip that'd have been in the low-mid 20's. That works out to be a bit under $100. It started to bug me on the walk home, and I double checked the receipt. I don't like scrutinizing receipts but I've started to do it a bit more. > why should the server get five times more for servi…

The margins on 100$ bottles are already pretty amazing. No need for extra revenue there

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#184

Post by munch117 »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #182
cadamsau wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s thousands of different tax regimes in the US - dozens to hundreds in every state, thanks to city taxes and the like. All businesses would need to advertise the right price everywhere. Doesn’t scale. It’d be neat to see a campaign to popularize a term like “final price” or “all-in price”. It’d encourage the creation of products that always show the right price even as taxes change. And consumers would be empow…

> All businesses would need to advertise the right price everywhere. Doesn’t scale. it's 2024 man, there are computers that can calculate this. Most retails update tags weekly anyway; literally just a stockboy swapping tags out. Tax laws don't change that much. Walmart and other stores have been experimenting with electronic tags that change price based on demand and time of day. Like, the Australians do it and it wo…

> Tax laws don't change that much.

Not only that, but they obviously already have those laws implemented. How else are they going to charge you?

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#185

Post by mckn1ght »

bdangubic wrote: post #156
EricE wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you will pay more. Local gas station beats Costco by $0.10 a gallon if you pay cash. Which I happily do.

I stopped needing gas long time ago but if I needed gas I sure as heck am not going anywhere where I can save $0.10 to pay in cash (probably spend 2x that in gas needed to get to the gas station to save $0.10 per gallon). or for that matter ain't going to any place that has a different price depending on my method of payment.

I was also going to say, between the Costco executive membership's 2% rebate, and CC incentives, it's probably a wash anyways between that or the 10¢ difference.

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#186

Post by eappleby »

the_snooze wrote: post #104
xscott wrote: post #6

The other one I'm seeing lately is a semi-stealth "service charge" on the bill. Something like 18% to 20% added to the bill without really standing out. This used to be something they'd do for "larger parties", but now I'm seeing it even when I'm eating solo. This makes for an uncomfortable situation where I now have to ask the waiter or bartender if they receive this as a tip. Then I need to decide if I want to tip…

>This makes for an uncomfortable situation where I now have to ask the waiter or bartender if they receive this as a tip. I don't even ask. If it looks like a tip and is computed like a tip, it is one. How the owners and workers hash out their payment structure is none of my business as a customer.

I spoke with a restaurant owner who explained to me the purpose of the "service fees" that may look like tips, but don't actually go to the waiters. The reason they do that is that some restaurants want to pay their non-wait staff more, without also needing to increase the pay for their wait staff. Since the "service fees" aren't included when calculating the tips, this allows restaurants to direct those extra funds exactly where they need without unnecessarily inflating the overall cost of the meal.

I 100% agree that tips should be abolished and consumers should pay a clear and fixed price for goods and services, but if you accept that that is not an option, then "service fees" actually make sense. That being said, I can understand the ire that they may cause the wait staff, since many consumers may think those "service fees" are tips, and as a result, may not receive anything for their work. No great solutions here

Re: Tip pressure might work in the moment, but customers are less likely to return

#187

Post by dismalaf »

dredmorbius wrote: post #117
dismalaf wrote: post #3

Tipping is a tough problem: if you pay customer facing employees more, you'll need to raise prices. If your competitors still have a tipping expectation, their menu prices will be lower. And let's be real, most customers aren't savvy enough to think about that ahead of time, which is why most restaurants that have attempting no-tipping systems in North America have failed (or reverted back to accepting tips). There's…

Prisoner's dilemma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma >

Absolutely.
Post reply on HN