Why some US restaurants are banning tips • Hacker News Board

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#51

Post by msdz » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:44 AM UTC

jamisteven wrote: post #39

getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

LMFAO, have you ever been to a restaurant in Europe? The service is horrific. Sit down and wait 15 minutes for the menus, another 15 to place a drink order, another 10 for the drinks to get there, another 10 to place food order. Now you finish the meal, good luck getting the waiters attention to bring the check. European dining is the worst, every time I am back stateside I feel like im being waited on in the white h…

Have you tried eating out while not in a rush?

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#52

Post by phillc73 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

jamisteven wrote: post #39

getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

LMFAO, have you ever been to a restaurant in Europe? The service is horrific. Sit down and wait 15 minutes for the menus, another 15 to place a drink order, another 10 for the drinks to get there, another 10 to place food order. Now you finish the meal, good luck getting the waiters attention to bring the check. European dining is the worst, every time I am back stateside I feel like im being waited on in the white h…

Not sure which destinations you're eating in, but as someone who lives in "Europe", that's not been a regular occurrence at all. Generally, the waiting times are not so long and service is reasonable. There are of course experiences at both end of the spectrum. I've walked out of a Vienna cafe once because I waited 20 minutes for someone to bring the bill. Three steps out the door the waiter chased me down and I paid the bill. Problem solved. However, I've also been in situations where I us want the wait-staff to bugger off and let me enjoy my meal and conversation in peace. Usually, the service is somewhere in between.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#53

Post by tdeck » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #42

getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

[flagged]

Japan has a lot of the same things, but no tipping. Although the tradition of "checking in" to see if you need anything seems to not be very prevalent - instead people either press a button or call out for the staff if they need something.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#54

Post by xienze » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

_zoltan_ wrote: post #4

finally. they should pay employees a better wage instead of relying on patrons to pay the tips (which might or might not end up with the employees...)

I think you'd be very surprised to learn that in a lot of cases, tipping pays much better than whatever a "reasonable" hourly wage for taking an order and carrying food to a table would be. If you're serving three tables that each have $100 checks and you get at 15% tip, that's $45/hour... yes it may average out higher or lower but you're not gonna like how much eating out costs if employers are expected to pay the higher end of what a server can make (spoiler: waiters will demand that).

A famous recent example, the South Park guys bought a restaurant and eliminated tips with a very nice $30/hour wage. Seems pretty good, doesn't it?

Guess what? The waiters demanded a return to tipping[0]!

0: https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/workforce/casa-boni...

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#55

Post by KellyCriterion » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

Very often regarding those articles, you read in the comments different varieties of "good service":

- may I ask: What does this actually mean?

I have never been to a "high class" or "fine dining" location, so maybe my expectations are in general not high.

My expectations are just simple: Give me the menu quickly, let me order quickly, let me eat and let me pay quickly.

Thats it. What do I miss?

EDIT: Im located in EU.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#56

Post by zoobab » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

Been to Santa Cruz visiting the bike factory, went to the bar next door to drink with some mountain bikers.

They had 'Brussels IPA' and 'Belgian IPA', I ordered those beers coming from Brussels and did not knew those beers.

The waiter looked at me strangely. I did not gave any tips.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#57

Post by raegis » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

> The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there.

Are you sure? I've seen way more staff shortages in real life restaurants over the past 5-6 years than any other time in my life.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#58

Post by getfacl » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:47 AM UTC

jamisteven wrote: post #39

getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

LMFAO, have you ever been to a restaurant in Europe? The service is horrific. Sit down and wait 15 minutes for the menus, another 15 to place a drink order, another 10 for the drinks to get there, another 10 to place food order. Now you finish the meal, good luck getting the waiters attention to bring the check. European dining is the worst, every time I am back stateside I feel like im being waited on in the white h…

I live in half Europe for the past 15 years and have been to more restaurants than I can count. Typical service is courteous and efficient. Of course there are outliers, too.

Repeat business is rewarded like in most places. I frequent many cafes and restaurants where I'm recognized and treated like family even though I have never once tipped there.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#59

Post by ricardobayes » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:47 AM UTC

rock_artist wrote: post #37

getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

It depends and also is culture based. In Spain you can find some places (eg coffee place) with 1-2 workers. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to get your order at rush hours, but the culture tolerates patience and waiting.

One of the biggest cultural differences - for Spain - is that servers are seen as equals, not as a client-provider relationship. This reflects heavily in the language often used - "when you can, bring me X". Just one of the quirks of a low gini coefficient society.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#60

Post by tdeck » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 10:47 AM UTC

palata wrote: post #43

> the problem of going tip-free is that customers struggle to get their heads around the maths. Maybe they should show the price "without tip" next to the full price, so people can compare. Paying employees with tips is an insane concept, fundamentally abusive. If it wasn't, then the owner would also get paid from tips. "The meals are all free, and we count on you to pay them through tips". Obviously no owner would t…

> If it wasn't, then the owner would also get paid from tips.

Actually it's quite common for owners to take some of the tips, even though that's not legal.