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“No tax on tips” is an industry plant

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Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#441

Post by Der_Einzige »

afthonos wrote: post #402
rtp4me wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you say “I didn’t tip because the service was what I expected”, you’re pretty much considered an asshole Sorry, this is definitely not the case. Many times the worker is doing exactly what is needed and nothing more (eg: pour a beer in a glass, handing me a pizza). Why would I be considered an asshole if I didn't tip? That is ridiculous. As other people have said, tipping in the US has really become obnoxious. I…

I 100% agree with your value judgement. Nevertheless, the social pressure exists.

The OP above you is guaranteed to have had their food spat in or otherwise tortured as punishment for not tipping.

Tipping isn't just a social thing, there are real physical punishments for not doing it!

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#443

Post by Ylpertnodi »

wat10000 wrote: post #243
cherryteastain wrote: post #199

Doesn't this also open a huge opportunity for tax evasion? Say I am a small business owner selling a $90 item which is $100 with state sales taxes. I say if you are willing to tip me at least $90, the item is $1. The buyer saves $9 from state sales taxes, and I save on income taxes because tips are exempt from tax.

I’m not sure if this is meaningfully different from offering a cash discount because you evade taxes on cash transactions.

And EMV fees.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#444

Post by Workaccount2 »

xp84 wrote: post #371
vladvasiliu wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is a mechanism to move labor costs to the consumer. How does this work? The corp already handles some form of payment to the worker, especially when you tip as part of a card payment. And in both cases, the consumer foots the bill. How's it different from paying the worker more and asking for more money upfront?

The gready sleazeballs who like the "tipping" system (mostly, restaurant owners) would prefer to pay all their employees $0 and have all diners/customers/etc pay 100% of the wages out of guilt. While 10% was customary in the first half of the 20th century, the standard tip gradually increased to 15% by the 1980s. In 2025 it's not uncommon to see little shortcut buttons for 20, 25, 30%. You can see where this is going…

The workers love the tipping system too, and it is directly in their interest to talk about how much it sucks, so that you are guilted into tipping more.

I spent 10 years in the food service industry working every position. The whole thing is racket, and the narrative used is carefully worded.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#445

Post by Der_Einzige »

kelnos wrote: post #228
9rx wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tips subsidize profits, plain and simple. Nah. Profitability for the business would be higher without tips. I take x% of gross income as profit. No tips means I can charge the customer more, which means a higher gross income, which means more profit. When tipping is involved, the money slips through without allowing the business to take its cut. Good for the server, but not good for the business. However, as theore…

It's not that simple. Restaurant owners don't pay payroll taxes on tips, but they do pay it on regular wages. Raising restaurant menu prices by 20% (or the average tip amount) will not result in 20% (or the average tip amount) more going to the workers. Some restaurants have tried this out, and it's backfired. Restaurants already run on very thin margins; a loss of a few percent can kill them. Also consider that cust…

"Some restaurants have tried this out, and it's backfired. "

Where I live, many restaurants have the "required 18% gratuity" thing and ask that you not tip beyond that. Maybe this is a PNW hippie specific thing, but a movement against tipping exists and is being ran by some good, successful, restaurants.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#446

Post by walterbell »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #441
afthonos wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 100% agree with your value judgement. Nevertheless, the social pressure exists.

The OP above you is guaranteed to have had their food spat in or otherwise tortured as punishment for not tipping. Tipping isn't just a social thing, there are real physical punishments for not doing it!

  LLM, please create a techno-finance solution to this social problem, inspired by historical precedent for defending royalty and other high-value individuals against food poisoning.
> We can perform DNA and poison surveillance tests on delivered food. For statistical sampling, actual tips can be temporarily and randomly set to zero before delivery, which may or may not match the random deliveries that are chosen for screening. Positive test results will result in lifetime bans and proportionate penalty for system-wide discouragement of food tampering. An additional service fee will be imposed on every delivery to fund liability insurance for customer harm due to false negative results on tampered food delivery.

Non-technical solution: move to a location with high social trust, e.g. neighbors and workers know and support each other socially and economically.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#447

Post by Der_Einzige »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #413
pc86 wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's crazy is that you can so confidently claim "tipping is a thing of the past" when it's... not? You can think tipping should go away, that's a completely valid viewpoint. But your statement is just objectively wrong. I see this a lot (not specific to HN) - some person doesn't like $THING, so they just declare that that thing is bad, or "a thing of the past," or whatever.

Saying something is a “thing of the past” is the same as saying that something is archaic and should go away. It’s not a declaration of fact.

We should be held to higher standards with our discourse than this.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#448

Post by Der_Einzige »

bapak wrote: post #74
oellegaard wrote: post #71

It’s crazy that this still happens in the US. Tipping is a thing of the past. Pay for your meal and have the restaurant pay their people for their work. End of story.

The crazier part is that it's spreading to more industries and more countries thanks to Americans thinking they should tip everyone everywhere. Thanks.

This is why power/hegemony are good. This is what Euros get for their lazy, easy lives of "work to live" and siestas. You don't get to have your own culture anymore. Start working hard or continue to fade into obscurity.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#449

Post by theptip »

Lord-Jobo wrote: post #385
bobwell wrote: post #239

For example, Amazon caught lowering delivery driver pay with the tips making up the difference and then lying about it: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/amazon_flex... > At the outset of the Amazon Flex program, from 2015 through late 2016, Amazon paid drivers at least $18 per hour plus 100% of customer tips > Beginning in late 2016 ... Amazon secretly reduced its own contribution to drivers’ pay to a…

The largest type theft done in the United States, by far, for decades, is wage theft. In terms of dollars stolen. All other forms of serious crime have dramatically fallen since the 90's per Capita. Some are at 1/3 the rate they were then. (FBI UCR) remember that next time you see a headline or politician speak about crime. We are safer, doing less crime to each other, and seeing more prison population than ever befo…

The US prison population has been declining since 2010: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_...

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#450

Post by squeaky-clean »

coldtea wrote: post #349
huvarda wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a Louis Rossmann video (i think it was the one on food delivery guys on e-bikes) he mentions never tipping in app but leaving a note that says he will give a cash tip if the driver brings the food straight to his door. That seems like a decent compromise as it doesn't let the app take a cut from the tip and makes so the driver actually goes the extra mile to 'deserve' the tip.

>* but leaving a note that says he will give a cash tip if the driver brings the food straight to his door.* Why, where else would they take the food? Leave in at the patio? Drop it on the lawn?

About half the time I order UberEats I get a call from the driver that they're here and to come downstairs because they won't enter my apartment building. Could be laziness, it could also be because the street parking is always full and so the only place to park close by is a fire hydrant.

The app has different options for meeting in the lobby / come to my unit and I always select my unit, but whatever, I get why they might not do that.

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