41–50 of 250 posts
> Tom is willing to pay $6 for coffee and the shop only charges him $4, the deadweight loss is $2.
That is a consumer surplus, not deadweight loss.
Is there any empirical backing for this narrative? Some of this reads as pretty counter to intuition. Most suspicious in my mind is the core presupposition (not a contention, a presupposition--the article doesn't even argue for it!) that rich people will step up to the opportunity to fulfill their noble obligation to give more to the less wealthy. Having known some pretty stingy wealthy people (and some very generous…
Having owned a bar in the past I can tell you right now the most wealthy people either didn't tip at all or very little. Fellow service industry people tipped the best.
> If a coffeeshop wants to pay their employees more they will have to raise prices This does not follow purely from the facts presented. Consider: "If a coffee shop wanted to pay their employees more, the coffee shop itself might take a smaller cut and keep prices the same."
In practice coffee shops have tiny margins so they can’t afford to do that.
Dynamic pricing makes some sense in the concept of trying to capture maximum demand, it just feels horrible as a customer.
This also explains why people (including me) get SO MAD if they find out that tips don’t actually go fully and directly to staff. See: DoorDash.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's a US thing. I came from Bolivia and never once tipped anywhere outside of restaurants. No, I won't tip you for packaging 4 cookies in a box at Crumbl Cookies lol.
The intent is not to reward a task. It's a nod of appreciation that there is even an employee that's willing to show up to work and service you. You give them a dollar. At least that's how I look at it. I'm not a fan either just articulating my attitude towards it.
Tipping started as a way to express thanks for someone going above and beyond in their duties. It's devolved into a way for employers to pay less and shift the cost directly to customers via guilt at the cash register.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's a US thing. I came from Bolivia and never once tipped anywhere outside of restaurants. No, I won't tip you for packaging 4 cookies in a box at Crumbl Cookies lol.
The intent is not to reward a task. It's a nod of appreciation that there is even an employee that's willing to show up to work and service you. You give them a dollar. At least that's how I look at it. I'm not a fan either just articulating my attitude towards it.
As a bartender, I know that I will make more money from tips than any business owner would ever pay me, even if prices were raised 20+% and tipping was removed. I’d rather risk a slow shift with less tips than work a job with a slightly higher hourly rate and no tips. I know there is a lot of bitching online about tips, and I agree that since COVID I’ve seen some absurd situations with asking for tips when the custom…
The problem starts when you work for a place that does not get good tips but heavily relies on them.
But the cost of carrying deadweight by shaming is not going to work forever. I have been shaming myself and clicking lowest % shown in the screen but this past weekend I finally said no and clicked on 0%. Was not a restaurant just to pick up something pre ordered forget where.
I did four years of minimum wage work at McDonalds. The only time I can remember getting tipped was when I jumped out the window after a $50 the guy had dropped. He let me keep the $10 change.
If people running a drive-thru for 12h without a break don't deserve tips, I don't see why the people pouring coffee in a trendy cafe like the author describes would.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's a US thing. I came from Bolivia and never once tipped anywhere outside of restaurants. No, I won't tip you for packaging 4 cookies in a box at Crumbl Cookies lol.
The intent is not to reward a task. It's a nod of appreciation that there is even an employee that's willing to show up to work and service you. You give them a dollar. At least that's how I look at it. I'm not a fan either just articulating my attitude towards it.
Come inside and get a boba for $7! Then you go inside and they're like please give us $9 plus tax and if you actually want boba in it that's extra.
Just raise your prices at that point.