Why some US restaurants are banning tips

deadbabe

Retail stores should also ban tips.

phreeza

Next also include sales tax in label prices.

_zoltan_

finally. they should pay employees a better wage instead of relying on patrons to pay the tips (which might or might not end up with the employees...)

anovikov

These are reasonable prices for a place much cheaper than SFO. This is what people pay in Eastern Europe. 2500 CZK for a set - around $120 - won't be at all surprising or perceived as high in Prague, for instance. It can go up to 8000 or so.

Rygian

As a foreigner in the US, I've made the faux-pas of assuming waiters and waitresses were being paid a full salary by their employer. I even suspect that I received sub-par service from some of them, who may have identified me as a "no-tip risk" from the first moment.

ciconia

FWIW France has it right: there's no tipping, service is always included.

nkrisc

I never thought about paying staff via tips being a tax dodge for the restaurant if it lets them avoid raising prices and thus taxable revenue.

FartyMcFarter

Good. Tipping creates so much mental overhead and unnecessary bad feelings on everyone's part.

qsera

I am against the popular opinion and I actually tip if the hotel is somewhat cheap (ie food does not cost a small fortune). I do it out of selfish reasons. When I order chicken, I want them to bring me a good piece. Or if I order Porotta, I want them to bring me the most fresh one. Or sometimes when I get a very tasty meal, I just tip them to share them some of the happiness that they brought me. But totally depends on how strapped for cash I currently am... This is India, and not US, by the way..

chistev

Mr. Pink doesn't tip in Reservoir Dogs - https://youtu.be/M4sTSIYzDIk?si=VkoIHgKpIFz-eMOJ

getfacl

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a commissioned sales person but the customer pays the commission. This is the least efficient way to run a restaurant with regard to staffing. European restaurants typically use a team service model, which greatly reduces the number of staff needed. Every front of house worker can take orders, make and serve drinks, run food to tables, etc. Instead of checking on the customer every few minutes they rely on the customer to ask if you need something. There is no pressure to run up the bill or clear out quickly in this model.

walrus01

We need to at least normalize not tipping for counter service. Given the current wage structures and labor laws in the US and Canada, if I sit down at a table and I receive table service, I'm going to tip 15% unless the service was abhorrent. I am not going to tip if I order and take my food from a counter and serve myself (and then almost certainly clear my own table as well), or I buy any other form of product standing up. Basically, if I'm standing for the entire customer service transaction, it's not tippable.

palata

> the problem of going tip-free is that customers struggle to get their heads around the maths. Maybe they should show the price "without tip" next to the full price, so people can compare. Paying employees with tips is an insane concept, fundamentally abusive. If it wasn't, then the owner would also get paid from tips. "The meals are all free, and we count on you to pay them through tips". Obviously no owner would take that risk, because it is insane. They make their employees take that risk because they can abuse them, that's all.

yanhangyhy

who invent this shit? +1 reason not to travel to USA

KellyCriterion

Very often regarding those articles, you read in the comments different varieties of "good service": - may I ask: What does this actually mean? I have never been to a "high class" or "fine dining" location, so maybe my expectations are in general not high. My expectations are just simple: Give me the menu quickly, let me order quickly, let me eat and let me pay quickly. Thats it. What do I miss? EDIT: Im located in EU.

zoobab

Been to Santa Cruz visiting the bike factory, went to the bar next door to drink with some mountain bikers. They had 'Brussels IPA' and 'Belgian IPA', I ordered those beers coming from Brussels and did not knew those beers. The waiter looked at me strangely. I did not gave any tips.

neya

Tipping is a weird phenomenon that's only an issue in the Americas. I have traveled extensively all over Asia and even the same chain/restaurants which are US based don't actually have the concept of tipping. Sure, you can always tip if you want. However, the issue with tipping culture is the blatant entitlement. I always tell rude waiters who literally demand tips for shitty services this: A tip is a token of gratitude, should the customer choose to offer. It is not an entitlement. I get it, their wages aren't great. However, that is a discussion to be had with their employer, not me. Of course, I want them to get paid a fair wage too - the only way to fight against this culture is taking a stand against tipping. If enough people don't tip, hopefully the restaurant will struggle to find staff and eventually - either close down or increase the wages. But, don't try to run a restaurant when you clearly can't afford to pay your staff a decent wage. That's just running a business on hopes and dreams. It's not my job to subsidize your poor financial and business planning.

mpweiher

I always thought "paying" your staff via tips was primarily a tax dodge. Yes, the staff are supposed to declare all their untraceable cash income, but...yeah. So at least some of that income is untaxed, meaning higher net for same gross, meaning total prices even including tip can be lower.

oldsklgdfth

I grew up in a restaurant in the US. Tipping is a counterintuitive evolution in wages, I’ll probably dig in more. Anecdotally, a waitress could easily earn more than minimum wage during a shift. Sometimes easy clearing $100 when minimum wage was $7/hr (it was $2.15/hr for wait staff). Add to that the tip reporting was lax and no there’s no tax on tips, waiting is on par with minimum wage. An interesting side effect is that adding waitstaff is marginal cost to an operator.

vorticalbox

> The people breaking their backs and minds in the kitchen - often the least visible and the least celebrated - were taking home a fraction of what the front staff made on tips for the same hours Why not put all tips into a pool and just share it out between everyone?