Opinion | The Tyranny of Today’s Tipping
Category: News & Politics
Via: robert-in-ohio • 5 months ago • 124 commentsBy: Opinion by Andy Kessler
Few things annoy me more than "the tipping struggles" in America - charts telling me what I should tip on the paper receipt, on the screen as I try to process my credit card and as I try to place an online order.
I decide when and how much to tip based on the service that I receive from the individuals that I interact with at a restaurant. When I am picking up an order I usually round up to the nearest $ amount or a little more and when something is delivered to my house I consider whether it was on time and the order correct.
When I see labor service fees already included on the bill it definitely lowers the amount I tip.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
T he screen reads: “Add a tip: 18%. 20%. 25%.” For a takeout sack of burgers and soggy fries? C’mon. It takes extra taps to change it to 10% or zero. Instead, we sheepishly tip and feel resentful. Using Internal Revenue Service data, I extrapolate that tipping has almost doubled since 2013, when San Francisco-based Square turned iPads into cash registers with suggested tips.
It’s the American way to show gratitude for a job well done, but tipping has gotten out of hand. It’s become expected. Even required. A Mountain View, Calif., restaurant had a line on its bills: “For parties of 1 or larger, a 18% gratuity is applied automatically.”
Now tips have turned political. Donald Trump recently declared in Nevada: “When I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips.” In 2018 the IRS noted $38 billion in reported tips. Will insurance agents now insist on their pay in tips? Lawyers? Doctors? I’d certainly like my pay as tax-free gratuities.
Nearly five million Americans work for tips. Almost 70% of them are women. But according to a 2023 Bankrate survey, two-thirds of Americans have a negative view of tipping, probably because we’ve been inundated.
Why do we tip? London taverns in the 17th century suggested tipping “To Insure Promptitude.” Now it’s the cheeky “To insure prompt service.” Tipping spread to the U.S. in the 19th century. In 1899 the New York Times called it the “vilest of imported vices.” Probably so. The Pullman Company hired former slaves as porters at low wages. They mainly worked for tips. Wealthy Americans obliged.
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It’s the American way to show gratitude for a job well done, but tipping has gotten out of hand. It’s become expected. Even required. A Mountain View, Calif., restaurant had a line on its bills: “For parties of 1 or larger, a 18% gratuity is applied automatically.”
It's expected because the business owners have been allowed to pay these service workers less than minimum wage. There's a simple fix for that...
I lived on tips for a decade when the hourly wage for tipped employees was less than half of minimum wage. I know what happens to regulars with a bad tip rep in restaurants. I don't tip counter help and ignore tip jars. it's not my fault the owners of those businesses can't pay a wage that retains employees and depend upon their customers to subsidize their greed. fortunately, I live in a state that now pays servers a full minimum wage, instead of a portion like I got back in the 80's at $2.01 per hour.
It sounds like you have no earthly idea of what profit an average restaurant makes if you think owners are getting rich by paying less to servers.
it sounds like you have no earthly idea of what it's like as a server to average $1100+ per night in food and liquor sales weekly, back in the 80's, in a restaurant that had tablecloths...
it was a restaurant where you had to have a personal referral by an employee to get a job there. we were at the forefront of making business policy decades ago that are standard now. one check per table, 15% mandatory gratuity on parties of 6 or more, and credit card info required to make reservations on weekends and holidays.
"It's expected because the business owners have been allowed to pay these service workers less than minimum wage."
That's been the accepted practice since like forever. Most restaurants are privately owned or franchisees, and with today's inflation the profit margins aren't all that great.
privately owned restaurants are a license to print money, with competent management, especially at today's prices.
And that's why it's a standard practice expect people to tip now.
The market will self correct the shitty business models out of business eventually.
I frequent the restaurants that pay ALL their staff over minimum wage. While not required all restaurants around here that need help have signs in windows (including McDonald's) advertising starting wages at $17 an hour.
fast food joints in denver also advertise on their signs. fast food outlets in ski towns during the season really have to step up to the pump if they want to remain open.
Sounds great, but has absolutely nothing to do with my post
Nonsense.
When was the last time you owned or even managed a restaurant?
Do you have ANY idea what the average earnings are for restaurants are in America?
The margins aren't all that good with or without inflation.
... almost 40 years. the hours and pay sucked.
ours did $11+ million the last year before corp got out of fine dining.
60/40 cost to profit, with wine and liquor sales doing most of the heavy lifting, or a new GM by next weekend.
and that was in mid 80's money...
Your numbers sound suspect, as that would be over $33 million today, about $90k per day every day of the year. With those numbers, management bonus would have been killer.
The place I used to work at, a bagel and deli joint, the tips were tied into our wages of $16 an hour. It sucks. What is minimum wage now?
they should, after 40 years I had forgotten we also ran a lunch service the last 2 years. I never worked it, but it cut down on perishable food loss significantly and turned it into pure profit. lunchtime liquor sales sucked though.
what bonuses? the servers made more than the asst mgrs. the GM was mid 5 figures, but the high school busboys all drove new cars. friday, saturday, sunday nights almost always grossed over $125K combined in the end. liquor and wine sales completely dominated the profit margins.
That’s bullshit for a party of one. I can see it for larger parties but that’s about it. I won’t go to place that adds a tip automatically.
You do a good job, you get a good tip. A bad job might get tipped a penny.
Message sent
One thing I liked about New Zealand when I was there. Food service workers considered tipping by ignorant Yanks to be insulting. My very fist time there I was royally chewed out by a waitress when I tried to tip her. Their view is that they work hard for their money and consider tipping as charity. I only made that mistake once. People in this country should follow that philosophy.
Do waitresses in New Zealand make less than the federal minimum wage?
There's a reason servers aren't tipped there, but are here. Servers here can legally paid so little that an hour of work won't buy a gallon of milk.
I'd be all for eliminating tipping IF servers here made minimum wage instead of $2.13/hour. Nobody can or should be expected to survive on that.
Morning Ed..yes it is the same here it is frowned upon and regarded as an insult..
The minimum wage here is $23 an hour...and that applies to everyone..from wait staff, to office workers to cleaners....
If an employer does not pay it and are dobbed in then said person/company is hauled before the courts..
Woolies, Coles etc have been fined millions for underpaying their employees..and unions will also step in and black bans can be placed on them..
Yes alot of migrants, back packers get ripped off because they get paid cash in hand and basically don't know their rights, but when found out it is all over the TV.
Here you walk into a shop, any shop and the price is what it is...there are no add on taxes, fees or anything else...
I hear alot of Americans are rather surprised by that when they are here as you have to add on a tax when paying for the item over there? Is that correct?
not if you're costing the restaurant an empty chair at your table. got sit at the bar...
Morning...here no one would work for that amount of money..even the people on unemployment get $400 a week or more depending on circumstances etc..
The business would never survive nor should it and the media would have a field day..
The minimum wage in New Zealand in currently $23.15 NZD with exchange in USD equals out to $14.17 USD. That is considered equitable for New Zealand. Australia has the same minimum wage and the same views on tipping as New Zealand.
Funny thing is that the server I was talking about told me the next time I went there that she could tell I was new to her country and chewed me out solely to teach me a lesson so I would not embarrass myself again. The lesson stuck and we became friends. Sadly she was killed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Actually ours has just gone up..now $24.10..
Yes it not necessary here and regarded as some what of an insult..
That is dreadfully sad she got killed in the earthquake..one reason why I would never live there...those Isles are shaking all the time...pass ..
Some places you need to pay to work there because the tipping is so lucrative
you worked your way thru college as a stripper?
I never thought to do that...
I like money, but not all in ones
You may have missed your calling Thomas..
Or not.... (grimace)
Sparty
I agree with you wholeheartedly!
Gotta agree with Sparty,, you tack on an extra "service charge" to offset you salary costs, then you will never see me at your restaurant again and I will be spreading the word to others in the area to stay away.
Nuts isn't it? A restaurant where I was a hostess for a short while, I made $17 an hour while the waitresses made about as much as you stated, $2.13 an hour, and had to rely on tips.
Why? That's a pretty shitty thing to do.
That's pretty nasty. Why would you want to put them out of business?
is that one of those places where they only let you put the tip in
Thinking folks know that forced tipping standards like that easily cause more empty seats.
Easily.
basic economics in a busy restaurant. it costs the restaurant the same in labor, front and back of the house, to make half the profit with 1 or 3 wasted chairs. sit at the bar or order it to go if you don't want to pay the fee. better yet, argue with the server and the manager about it before getting your meal served and then take your chances...
So no mandatory tipping % at the bar for a party of one eh?
[removed, buy kind] [✘] of [funny][✘]
better service and if they add a service charge to the bill, add a few dollars to bring it up to 15%. any additional fees on top of food and liquor purchases is a management trick to reduce their staff turnover or to keep out undesirable diners.
You didn’t answer the question
Or to help pay for some state-mandated taxes or benefits.
go figure...
There's this show called Kids In the Hall that just reunited after 35 years on Amazon
There's this one sketch with a 60+ strip club/show
They throw change -
- 'it adds up, but it hurts'
no tip required at drive up windows...
Still avoiding the question.
Weak!
not my problem you don't like the answer. sound familiar?
That would be true if you gave a reasonable answer the question but since you haven’t. It’s just more of the same bullshit we have become accustom to here.
Good topic Bob, one I'm sure we all think about.
At what point did a tip for good service become an obligation?
give that 10% tip to the server before ordering a sit down dinner at a nice restaurant next time and find out...
Vic
At least for me - it is not an obligation, I tip for good service, I do not use the programmed tipping amounts, I feel no obligation to tip 15% or 20% just because and I only tip where actual service is in play.
I do not tip when someone pulls handle and fills a paper cup with sprite and hands it to me etc
Devangelical
And if the service is crappy in my view can I get the tip back from the server?
Do you think?
I can tell who are the shitty tippers around here! Glad I don't work in the food service industry anymore. You meet a lot of assholes there. A lot of decent people too. You can usually tell who won't tip.
yup. ask for the manager.
if they join their hands and bow their heads when the food hits the table, the server is generally fucked...
Myself, I tip solely according to the quality of the service I receive. If a server gives crappy service, they get little or no tip from me. Give me good service an I can tip generously. My late son, who was a restaurant server in his younger days had a outgoing personality with a gift to talk to just about anyone on any level of all ages. By doing so it was not unusual for him to make $100 to $200 a night in tips. This is in a small town but with a fair amount of tourists visiting. He just went out of his way to make his customers happy and be at ease.
Not if they have a mandatory tip. You tip at least what they tell you to tip. Regardless of quality of service. Tips should performance based by the customer experience not arbitrarily assigned by others.
Good service pays well in tips from all but those cheap pricks who shouldn’t even be there if they, “don’t believe in tipping,”. I bet we have more than one of those here.
Yep, same here.
Doubtful, very doubtful.
Bullshit. Connection missed, completely.
What an ignorant post.
A lot of the ones I could tell had some money also. They're the ones who bring their kids and let the fucking brats run amuck and make a goddamned mess - like the mom said to them - make as much mess as you possibly can - that low wage earner can clean up after us. I used to complain all the time about these entitled fucks and you just know they have nannies at home and housekeepers to clean up after their nasty asses. So glad I don't work in food service anymore. Sucks. The customer is not always right.
This is my working life after a pretty nice job at the University. My unemployment is being held up right now due to fact finding - moved around to four different food service jobs after leaving the University and they pretty much all sucked. Giant in the bakery. A sit-down restaurant that was decent pay but they cut my hours and when I said I couldn't live on those hours and was looking for something else, they said they'd give me the hours. A short while at Sonic. Over a year at the bagel and deli joint and let go over customer complaints. I was almost glad. I have some retirement funds that I am living on while looking for work and have appliled for Social Security to start in four months and that was approved thank goodness. I don't think I could take anymore bad news about my employment status right now but I'm not destitute, again, thank goodness. So many others are not doing so well.
we rarely had that problem because we didn't have a children's menu. if they sat in a chair, they paid full fare.
"Not if they have a mandatory tip."
My town is small enough with a 13,000 people population that would never fly here. Agua Prieta, Sonora just across the border has a 100,000 population and many come here to Arizona to eat and shop, especially at the Walmart Super Center here. Most businesses here do not want to risk losing them.
My area is a little bigger. About 140k in our metropolitan area. Places have tried it here. To my knowledge all have failed.
Not knowing about tipping on my first arrival in China almost 18 years ago I told the cab driver to "Keep the change" and he thought I was nuts, tried to give me the change. People don't tip here, and nobody expects it.
Tipping has gotten way out of hand
If I give something extra I want something extra for it
Like what?
looks like were back to strip clubs in this thread too...
Decent and friendly service should be a priority.
Places like the one where I just left SHOULDN'T rely on tips from customers being tied to their hourly wage. Bad enough you cannot get 40 hours and get benefits. They fuck you over every way possible.
No shit
no cost conscious restaurants have 40 hour employees, except for the managers...
I know. Then those managers work way more than 40 hours a week.
I am usually a fair tipper and I have been known to give large tips when particularly happy with excellent service in a restaurant.
I find that service in mom and pop shops is usually much more deserving of tips than in chain businesses.
I do not tip when "staff service charge" or similar charges are already on the bill
I have been known to leave a substantially small tip in return for exceptionally poor service - and I usually tell the service person what the problem was in such a situation.
we included a 15% gratuity on parties of 6 or more which was disclosed and agreed to when booking the reservation, and clearly noted on the table check. however, the person making the reservation usually wasn't the person paying the bill, and a lot of times an additional tip appeared on the credit card slip or cash was left on the table. servers called that hitting the daily double.
When do you tip and when do you not ?
I tip when I eat at a restaurant with table service, or when I get takeout from one of those restaurants, since they're getting paid less than minimum wage even if they're filling takeout orders. I generally tip 20% or more.
I tip for delivery when I have food delivered, but that's pretty rare, since I live so far out that only one restaurant delivers to my house. Again, 20%, or substantially more if it's bad weather.
I've heard too much bad stuff about Doordash, so I don't use them. I only order delivery from restaurants that hire their own drivers.
That's getting harder and harder to find these days. Out here in Phoenix the majority of food deliveries are no longer employees of the restaurant but Doordash and the associated companies. Pizza Hut went on record several months back (almost a year i think) by stating it was much cheaper for them to partner with Doordash then to have their own employees for delivery.
Here, too, with some pretty unhappy Facebook posts being aimed at Doordash and other delivery services. A locally-owned delivery service made the mistake of roasting their customers on social media, and I think they went out of business shortly thereafter. I think Pizza Hut still hires a driver, but I live too far out for them. Same with Domino's. The local mom and pop pizza place delivers, and hires their own drivers. When my son was still living at home, I think their cars could find their way to our house without driver input, but since he moved out, they're not at our house very much.
he lives across town in that house behind a mountain of pizza boxes and styrofoam food containers now?
No, in a college town south of here, in a house behind a mountain of pizza boxes and Styrofoam food containers.
Nah, once he was buying his own food, he figured out pretty quickly that Aldi's is a lot less expensive than takeout.
the grocery store I go to has a sushi island with real asians making sushi in it. pretty impressive for gooberville...
Regardless of the quality of the "service"?
Living down here in Douglas on the border, we have Doordash but it is fairly small scale. Total population here is only 13,000. Only two large scale restaurants in town with a lot of small mom & pop type food joints. Some use Doordash but most do not. Pizza Hut here still uses it's own drivers. Doordash in Douglas is fairly cutthroat among the drivers because of low population density.
here's a few hints robert. bad service in fine dining experience restaurants is extremely rare because that job is coveted due to the earning potential. restaurants that feature fine dining experiences don't need to advertise on any media to stay busy and be successful. cookie cutter concept national restaurant chains are not fine dining. tablecloths with full china, all the silverware, including a wine glass and water goblet setting, are fine dining ...
BINGO.
I couldn't afford to eat at such establishments. I bet some of the folks complaining about tipping here couldn't either
I'm just enjoying watching some people try to justify why they never tip correctly, if at all, regardless. they're the reason why most states are boosting wages and making minimum wage laws applicable to tipped employees.
waiting tables for a living was the hardest job I ever had, and paid the least for the efforts. it was mentally and physically demanding and required many skills to be successful. I ran my ass off for 7 hours a night, 5 nights a week. I would walk 5+ miles and lose 2+ pounds every night. I never left the dining room for the kitchen/bar unless I had orders for 3 tables, and never left the kitchen/bar unless my tray had stuff on it for 3 tables.
I tipped the hell out of my busboys and the bartenders, and got anything I wanted before anyone else. while everyone else gagged down the employee meal (turkey, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables, every day the entire 10 years I worked there) before the shift, I got a prime rib or steak sandwich after we closed from the broiler chef I also tipped. I never had to wait for my entrees at the pickup line.
I cruised thru the waiting area/overflow lounge on friday and saturday nights looking for my call parties (previous customers that had requested the server by name when making the reservation) and I comped their drinks. I treated my regulars like the most important persons in the restaurant and they threw money at me. I rarely waited on customers that I didn't already know by name, and their drink of choice, on those 2 nights the last few years I worked there. every weekend was like being surrounded by your friends, that all knew each other, and rotated every weekend.
it was the most successful outlet in a chain of corp owned restaurants across the US in major cities, even when denver was considered hicksville back then. the place was always crawling with corporate suits trying to figure out how we we were doing it and they eventually started running their GM candidates thru it. it was a very fun job that taught me people skills, sales and time management, and I gained some friends that I still have today. one of which was the last GM I worked with that I considered the best P&L guy in the business.
I found myself there and capitalized on what I had learned by repeating it throughout the rest of my working life. unfortunately, working there also totally wrecked me for several years to go into any restaurant that didn't meet the standard of service that I had set for myself.
You're awesome...and it's awesome watching you kick the asses of your constant and incessant detractors with the truth and experience
I was thrown into this late in my life - working life - and it's been a bumpy ride but things are looking up
I wasn't meant for food/customer service. Not a good fit - lol
It's hard to teach this old dog new tricks - especially the ones she doesn't want to learn . . .
There’s a microbrewery I go to about once a week, where I have a couple pours and decide what to bring home for my snobby beer stash. The suggested tip amount is always based on the total bill, even though the majority of the bill is for take out beer - thus making me do extra math in my head, since there’s no way in hell I’m tipping you for handing me a four pack from the fridge. That would be like tipping the cashier at the grocery store. I’m actually surprised that hasn’t become a thing yet.
Absolutely correct!
I tip waiters & waitresses in restaurants usually between 10 and 20% depending on service.
I tip $5 for delivery (Chinese or Pizza)
I tip 25% or more if I use a taxi or limo.
And the tip is always in cash even if I pay for everything else by Credit Card.
less than 15% for basic table service is an insult...
One thing many don't know is that it is a pretty standard practice for restaurants to charge the server whatever percentage the credit card processor charges the restaurant. Most also charge the servers a percentage of their sales as "tip out" that is usually split among bussers and bartenders, whether there is a tip on that sale or not. So if you pay with a credit or debit card and leave no tip at all, the server will actually be losing money by waiting on you. They will also be losing money if you pay in cash and leave no tip. And just about all POS systems automatically claim all credit or debit card tips for the server when they clock out. In most high volume restaurants, servers never get a paycheck outside of their training one, because the taxes on their claimed credit tips eats their hourly wage up. In most every state a party can refuse to pay an added gratuity on a check whether it is restaurant policy or not. State laws vary, of course.
I think that depends on location.
In my neck of the woods there is no delivery.
When I was a kid, around here 10% was considered fair for good service.
Then it went up to 15% and now they EXPECT to get 20% for minimal service. Hey, man. I gotta live too.
I averaged maybe 12% overall, even along with the tables that had a gratuity added. I wrote it off then as most people being too stupid to calculate 15% of a total, and just falling back to 10%. there were no cell phones with calculator widgets back then. substandard tips are a fact of life in the biz and it's those customers that have ever had to work for tips that exceed the average.
I vividly recall some bi-fold cards that looked like a folded up twenty from a few feet away with a scripture verse printed on the inside in the 80's. I received those a few times, and found one I had kept in the back of a drawer a few years ago. some people belong in fast food restaurants, that have a tip jar ...
less than 15% for basic table service is an insult...
Sometimes the level and quality of table service is an insult
chain restaurants that exhibit lackluster front of the house service usually aren't considered fine dining and likely have a high turnover and/or extremely poor management.
stick to places that feature a hundred chicken entrees, steaks that were beat to death on the menu, and servers bubbling over with fake personality...
you get what you pay for.
I prefer to pick up take out and most of it is only a few minutes away. I never tip them.
The pizza people are treated very fairly 20% in cash (combat pay for wading through a dozen sometimes hostile geese)
We have had several outstanding years financially and vastly improved the property and home. We, especially my Hispanish wife, are very generous with laborers, often to their shocked surprise.
The wife firmly believes that good karma will come back to us when we need it the most.
So far so good.
Arvo split..I do the same when it comes to tradies..plumbers, electricians etc...
If you pay cash they often give you a discount or if the invoice comes to $420 I round it off and give them $450 and tell them to go buy a coffee etc for them and the guys..
They appreciate it and it creates good will..to the extent a plumber fixed the down pipes on the shed the other week...while there he noticed the gutters needed cleaning out so he just went ahead and did that for me..he told me just as he was leaving...I was very thankful and he just said..no worries...
Maybe the delivery driver should go armed with a roasting dish and a photo..
Not my photo..
some loudmouth goober decided during the dinner rush to deride me in front of his guests on a table of 8 for bringing him a draft beer without 2 inches of foam on top, before they had ordered dinner.
"take this back to the bar and tell the bartender to put a head on it! " ... yes sir!
no bartender needed...
I am afraid that feral would have been wearing the beer...
I would go well in customer relations..😁
it was a high end dinner house, so I got to witness all forms of lowlife debauchery among their distinct clientele...
Same with me. My town is so small I can drive across in 10 minutes or less. Depends on if I use the back roads or not and avoid the traffic lights.
I wasnt going to comment on this, but then I saw this completely ridiculous paragraph
As noted in another comment, this "inundation" of tipping is because people at "takeout places" are not paid enough, although that is slowly changing in some states.
Business in general is more than happy to have the public subsidize their wages to their employees.
Are insurance agents or doctors or lawyers chronically underpaid ? This is not really a serious article.
John
I agree with your point
Perhaps you could get past the nitpicked minutia and comment on the subject of the article
Tipping - for it or against it? how much for good service? how much for bad service? fast food restaurants?.
This part is a bit more nuanced than the author would like for us to believe. Tips are taxable. Cash tips may not be reported, and therefore don't get taxed (although they should), but when you sign that credit card receipt, your server's tips will be recorded, reported, and taxed.
Which is why a lot of people say you should tip in cash only. I suppose there's something to be said for that, but that server will then have a lower income to report for Social Security, and will draw less in Social Security when they retire.
I was waiting tables when the tip/tax credit became law. since I was required to be my own IRS agent every shift I worked, I only reported credit card tips. that cash tip left to me had already been taxed as earnings from the person that left it.
If I sit down and have table service I tip, if not then I don’t.
ezpz. I might leave a buck or two in the tip jar for counter service if I see that the crew has their shit together and are efficient.
I don't eat out often because i follow a very niche diet, but when I do, I always tip 20%. I waited tables in College and it's a miserable job. If you doordash, you should tip, otherwise get your lazy ass in the car and go get it yourself.
I've heard every excuse why people don't want to tip, my advise is stay at home then. When being served by other people the morally right decision is to part ways with money to pay for it.
I often tip cows
Are there a lot of obese escorts?
Silly goose
I saw this cute cartoon with cows as baristas and it did say 'no tipping'
ride'em cowboy...
lol