Ask HN: Why aren't Americans rising up against tipping?

minimaxir

In the US, restaurants are comparatively cheaper than say Europe who then pay their employees more. Americans would riot if restaurants raised the prices to offset the loss of tipping.

jswelker

Mainly because it makes you look like a tremendous douchebag and does immediate harm to real employees for an intangible cause that looks like grandstanding. I say this as a person who hates tipping but mechanically leaves 20%.

delichon

Because Maria works so damn hard cleaning those hotel rooms, and if I take a stand on principle and don't leave her a tip when I check out, the only ones who will suffer for it are her and her kids. Should I instead write her a note about how we're helping society improve?

1123581321

It’s hard to stop because it means denying a dollar or two to a human in front of you who wants it and tried to earn it during your transaction. It’s not immoral, just less than ideal, so it’s endured.

Dumblydorr

It’s a Lose for the employees of the current system. You’re cheekily superiorly saving a few bucks on a cause that isn’t going to be helped by snubbing a servicing worker. There are a few tip free restaurants around, it’s sort of rare. Tipping at basically every random shop is out of control nowadays tho.

drsalt

it doesn't look good

shadowgovt

Because the economy is so busted that the least we can do is treat our servers a little better than their employers do.

isatty

I just hate corner stores and take out places expecting tips. I flat out refuse to do that. Please tip only for real service and sit down restaurants, thank you.

ex-aws-dude

Because it’s only marginally more expensive

TZubiri

It's a tradition, it's how the system works, why would you change that. That said, I feel like sometimes this is pushed with those tablets with tipping options that present 20% 30% and 35%. Especially in situations where you self serve by going up to the clerk, as a non american it feels like I'm being scammed by a tourist trap, I might press 30% out of feeling that it's customary, but then an American might know the actual rules and either tip 15%, or not tip at all since it isn't customary to tip for self service.

ButlerianJihad

Tips in America are not gratuities. Tips in America are wages. If you do not understand or accept that tips are wages, then you will not cooperate with tipping culture here. Our federal administration recently decreed no tax on overtime, no tax on tips. This is a judicious move; although it unfortunately enshrines tipping even more firmly, it gives relief to the rank-and-file worker. Generally, employees raking in cash tips always faced a tax-time dilemma: record and report all my tips from my job, and be taxed on them? Or just let it all slide under the table. Surely, nearly everyone does it. So, "no tax on tips" simply encourages you to report them without being docked for it. Tipping culture is business-friendly. It gives business the opportunity to hire more workers for more hours, and simply offload the wages onto the customers. End-stage capitalism's finest hour. As I mentioned earlier, tips in advance for services like food delivery? Those are bribes, not tips. They're also wages, but they're also bribes. It's fairly disgusting. I hate tipping. But I hate stiffing workers, and I personally enjoy a reputation as someone who cares about tipping people for services provided. That being said, I encounter rampant “tip cheating” in my everyday life. In my state, there are businesses authorized to solicit tips, and the rest are not authorized to do so. However, a common sight on the countertop is a clear glass jar with cutesy decorations on it. They are not allowed to write “TIPS” on this jar, so you will see many creative turns of phrase. But, they are illicitly soliciting tips from you in the silence. Ethical employees of ethical companies generally are discouraged from allowing customers to slip cash into their pockets. They do not want to get this kind of custom started when they are not authorized to accept gratuities. But it seems perfectly normalized to silently and passively solicit gifts from fake tip jars. The ubiquitous “take/leave a penny” tray is exactly the same low-grade tip cheating in convenience stores. So beware of this practice. If it is incorporated into their P.O.S. flow, I would expect it’s legitimate.

RiverCrochet

When restaurant food was cheap, tipping wasn't a big deal, especially before the trend of paying for your food first at the counter. A $10 meal and a $2 tip for a waiter/waitress that took care of you - not really bad. Today, that same meal is $35 - $40 and wages haven't kept up for most, so not only does the tip have to increase, but people are also just eating out less. Lately it seems restaurants are closing left and right. So I think restuarant tipping as a percentage of all tipping is probably really on the decline What's sort of come up in its place over the past few decades is the payment system asking you for a tip before you even get your food. I think there is a backlash against that, as well as tipping in non-food places. I'm seeing more and more Instagram posts about it.

jasonlotito

> I've read lots of articles about how Americans hate their tipping culture. You misunderstand. There is tipping in restaurants, and then tipping in other places where it's much more traditional to not tip. While some people don't like restaurant tipping, it's generally the other type of tipping the ruffles feathers. But in those cases, you don't have to tip. > But tipping is optional Again, you don't understand. No, tipping is not always optional. It's known and part of the bill in certain circumstances and this is known ahead of time. > If you don't tip you both help society improve I don't know, having been to European and American restaurants, I find the American restaurants to be far better at service. Couple that with free refills and other amenities (like again... actually good service), I wouldn't see it as better.

tptacek

You do not ethically have the option of not tipping in an American restaurant. If it's table service and they don't specifically say not to tip, you either tip or don't dine there. Tipping is part of the compensation structure for the front of the house. Refusing to tip is ethically comparable to wage theft.

bsuvc

> If you don't tip you both help society improve and you save money How would it help society?

chasd00

I’m visiting Austin tx and was in a restaurant last night. On the menu it said party of 4 means automatic 20% tip added plus a 4% “administrative fee”. So 24% tip automatically added to the bill. Fortunately only had two people with me. They got zero from me.

nucleative

I think many Americans feel a moral obligation to tip when asked, and when presented with the opportunity it suddenly becomes a decision between spending a few bucks or wondering if you won't be welcome to come back next time. It can be insulting to be considered "cheap" and that's the label you might gain if you stop tipping. We've heard from waitstaff and restaurants for decades that this is part of their income. I think the only way this changes is through regulation or a seismic shift in this mentality causing people to stop tipping, resulting in waitstaff retention issues, resulting in restaurant owners paying better. I wish the "morality gun" would point back at those who ask to be tipped, the same way a beggar who asks if you have some spare some change is castigated (in most places)

biggestriverman

We live in the real world so individual principles don't make as much of a difference to your community as leaving a decent tip.

kstrauser

I've drawn a line in the sand. I'll tip (and tip well! ) for traditionally tipped jobs, like waiter, bellhop, barber, barrista, bartender, etc. The hundred new things that corporations are begging for? Hell no. Absolutely not. I will not tip at a drive-through oil change service. I will not tip at a fast food counter. I certainly will not tip at a convenience store. Every single new tipping situation is a company begging me to subsidize their employees' wages instead of increasing them. Screw that. I'm not participating, and they can't make me. Those existing jobs were grandfathered in: waiters make below minimum wage on the expectation they'll make it up in tips, and that's f'ed up, but I can't change that by myself and I'm not going to stiff someone making sub-minimum to prove a point. All the others? Those cheapskate bosses can get bent. Pay more if you want to keep good help. Don't literally beg me to donate money to your employees as a charity.

prophesi

Last time I visited Miami Beach, I found out they have a forced 20% gratuity at restaurants. And still ask for a tip on top that. My friends and I were likely tipping >40% for subpar service and overpriced drinks for a few days until someone noticed it on their receipt.