Live data from Hacker News

Why some US restaurants are banning tips

bbc.com

341–350 of 416 posts

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#341
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's widespread here in Ireland. POS terminals have 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% tip options with a tiny and hard to reach dismiss button.

Dismiss button? From what I've seen, it's a "Custom" button, where you then have to explicitly type in 0.

Just walk away and dispute the charge if it ends up being higher than the menu price.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somehow the "tip culture" is spreading over here too, especially in touristy areas, even the POS terminals now ask you for a tip.

It is because you are leaving money on the table if you don't ask for more money. The hyper maximizing money is what needs to stop.

The only way its going to stop is if there are consequences for asking too much.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#343
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t hold two separate people accountable for their contradictory statements.

You can however point out conflicting information.

You can, just don’t demand from from one of these people to explain the difference with what the other person said.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#344
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You them everywhere. Most insane are the bars where you have to walk up from your seating to the bar to order, the bartender plops the drinks on the bar and immediately moves on to another customer, and the terminal still displays default tip amounts and you have to do custom → €0. What the hell am I tipping you for? At this point I'm waiting for supermarket self-checkout to add a default tip amount.

I've seen this (UK), albeit "round up to £x.00 and donate the change to charity", which will use to announce "We've donated £X million to charity".

Interestingly I haven't seen the charity thing seen here in Germany for a while. I guess its because they all are asking if you have a customer loyalty card now (sometimes for both the chain-specific one and wider programs) and there is only so much they can ask for before the cost from lower throughput becomes significant.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#345
post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's configurable on any terminal that supports it — obviously the terminal is designed so it can be used in a restaurant, or for paying in a shop, or paying a fee to the government. (To give an example of where even Americans don't tip.)

I'm not American, but from what I've heard about the wait times at the DMV, I'm sure many would love the option to tip 20% for faster service.

Then they would be shortsighted because before no time you would need to tip 20% minimum to get even the quality of service you get now.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#346
post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In many USA restaurants, the waitstaff tips are also shared into a pool This doesn't change anything because the incentive is still to drive up the bill to drive up the tips. This is caused by the staff being primarily paid in tips. > The chain restaurant could just "overstaff" with dedicated table runners with no need for a "full hands" rule. Unlike servers, bussers and runners are generally paid minimum wage or c…

>Only over staffing servers helps make more income. There are several gaps in your assertion about USA restaurants being overstaffed with servers. #1 the mathematical relationship between servers and income is questionable: Servers acting as quasi commissioned salespeople by upselling patrons on "another beer?" or "anyone here want to order desert?" ... can be time-staggered interactions across multiple customers as…

> Let's say, a restaurant has 20 tables and initially has 5 servers.

This is already overstaffed and you are doing the math backwards. The place with 5 servers in the USA almost always has runners as well making total floor staff 8-10.

The comparison is not a mythical restaurant with 20 servers for 20 tables. In Europe a typical place with 20 tables will have 2-3 servers and no runners. We go from 8-10 floor staff down to 2-3.

Hopefully it is clear how 5 servers dedicated to 4 tables each and backed up by runners can do a lot more upselling than 2-3 staff doing team service. And they don't need to because their salary isn't dependent on it.

Locking down 1 server to a strict set of 4 tables is very inefficient as well especially when one section is slammed and another is half empty.

You will find plenty of study of tipped wages and restaurant economics but they generally don't use words like "overstaffed" instead they say things like analysis found that owners systematically offload slow day risk to tipped employees.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using the example of my local chipotle as a typical stand up and order and pay at counter arrangement, the food is made before I get to the POS terminal.

Is that really typical though? IME there are more places where you order and pay and then wait for your food to be made than there are places where your food gets put together while you are ordering and you pay afterwards.

I guess it depends? Subway, Chipotle, lots of other places (poke bowls?) you choose your stuff and the food is made and then you pay. Taco Time as a randomly chosen fast food example, you pay at the time you order and then someone in the kitchen (not the cashier) makes the food. Both seem common.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#348
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless it's a bottle deposit tax, then it gets added outside the advertised price ;) 2 Euro bottle of Coke, great, I have 2 euro left, pay 2 euro 20 please... Fawwwwwkkkkkkkkk

It's not a tax, it's a 'loan'. You'll get the money back if you return the bottle later.

It still should be on the sticker price if the rules were consistent.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#349
post #295

Every time tipping comes up there's a vocal contingent of anti tippers, coming from one of these perspectives: European pride, cheap fuckery, or faux labor concerns. It's important to remind that American restaurants work well - we have promp and good service as a rule, the majority of Americans are fine with and enjoy tipping and the vast majority of service workers enjoy getting them and are ahead financially vs Eu…

>European pride Europeans tip, just not as crazy as Americans. >It's important to remind that American restaurants work well Japanese service is top-notch and tipping is generally frowned upon there.

That's fine. I am pointing out that the American system works well. Other systems can work too.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan is amazing in some places, that you can order with a tablet apps then you pick up your food yourself when it arrived. Very minimum interaction and employees needed.

If I go to a restaurant and it’s all handled through a tablet I leave. I can get that treatment at the airport.

You can order drinks at a bar and on an airplane, what's your point? Do you go out to eat specifically to talk to cashiers? If i want fine dining, being served is part of the experience. But if I want a good bowl of ramen, I can't see how using a tablet is some sort of deal breaking issue. What vital experience do you get giving a regular food order to a cashier?
Post reply on HN