61–70 of 149 posts
Servers like it, customers like it, business owners like it, clearly we must get rid of it
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is the incredibly low wages employers are allowed to pay at tipped establishments. Federally that wage is $2.13 per hour. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped
That's only if the employee has earned more than $5.12 in tips. For what it's worth, I know many illegal aliens making $+20/hour in tips. Minimum wage here is not a problem.
Consider that single 20% tip on a $40 order once an hour is enough to clear the federal minimum wage. It doesn't take much, if you can't make that much in tips then either the restaurant is dead or you're consistently fucking up orders.
Okay, so make all added fees, including tips, illegal. All prices everywhere include sales tax. All meal prices include gratuity, or everyone in the restaurant is paid a tipless wage. Let people get over the sticker shock.
Increasingly, everything in this country has three prices: the sticker price, the price with sales tax, and a third price which depending on the industry is either the price with gratuity, the price with fees, or the subscription price.
"Customers looked at the higher prices ($25 for the chicken instead of $21, $17 cocktails instead of $14) and ordered fewer and less-expensive items, even though they were paying exactly the same amount for them by tacking 20% onto the check at meal’s end." You know what, I worry about this sometimes. We think that we're so evolved and advanced race - that we have poetry and literature, modern medicine and rocket sci…
Back in the day, I used to oversee a lot of usability research for a well-known travel engine. Every single time, people would choose the lowest possible base price. It did not matter if you explained to them how uncomfortable it might be, any add-on fees they'd occur, quality of product, or literally anything else. All that mattered was the first number they saw. I don't know if it's a uniquely American thing, but t…
Look at something as simple as sales tax - in the US, that's not included in the price on the shelf, but in most of the developed world it is. It's not like there's some centuries old custom at work there - it's regulation.
You think restaurants are bad... you should see services like UberEats and DoorDash drivers. I have had orders cancelled by the driver because they found something that tipped higher despite me tipping $7 for something down the street less than 1 mile from my house. I have also tipped $20 only for instructions to be ignored where I put my gate code, unit# and ask for it to just be dropped off at my door step but the…
Prior to that the only way to equitably pay them alongside front of house was to pay them a higher wage out of the food costs. Those increased food costs put the restaurant at a disadvantage in the market even if the total take (food plus tip) was the same.
I never really understood why tipping is not considered a bribe (which is why a lot of Asian countries has banned tipping during corruption reforms).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Servers like it because it gives them more money, but so would paying them properly. Business owners like it because they save money on not paying their employees good wages. Customers do not like it because it's, essentially, a hidden fee. If I had bad service, I should not be obligated to tip. But society has decided that I owe a 15-25% service fee to my waiter even if the service sucked.
"If I had bad service, I should not be obligated to tip. But society has decided that I owe a 15-25% service fee to my waiter even if the service sucked." I wish folks with this attitude got docked some of their pay when their co-workers or boss decide they weren't happy with their work. I just consider tipping the surcharge for not having to do service / restaurant work myself any longer. Been there, done that, don'…
That's unnecessarily hostile. I worked customer service up to a year ago, and I never felt obligated to tips. I did my job and got my money. Every once in a while, a customer would tip me for good service, but it was never required. Tips were on top of my wages, not part of them.
> I just consider tipping the surcharge for not having to do service / restaurant work myself any longer. Been there, done that, don't want to do it again.
Then what am I paying for? If $6 is a more appropriate price (for the item) to cover wages than $5 is, then the business should charge $6, not $5 plus a "hidden" fee.
The odd thing is how specific to restaurants it is, and only a handful of other industries. You dont tip in any other context. If you want the deluxe experience you order the deluxe option. To me this seems wrong. If tipping were so great then why isn't it universal? What is special about restaurants? Taxis/Uber/Lyft want tips. Same with barbers/salons/spas. I know that the gray market is a big factor. Untaxed cash t…
Tips are taxed, and probably more likely to be electronic these days rather than cash.
I know people who have explained how being a cabbie etc was only lucrative because of cash tips.
But yea, electronic POS is now more common.