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Has tipping in America reached a tipping point? (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 6 days ago by MicroWave to c/news

94 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

Tipping in America has expanded into unexpected areas, with 72% of Americans saying it is expected in more places than five years ago, according to Pew Research.

While tipping can release feel-good neurotransmitters, a Bankrate survey found two-thirds of Americans now view it negatively, and one-third feel it’s “out of control.”

Critics highlight issues like social pressure and wage inequality, while businesses attempting no-tipping models, like a New York wine bar, have struggled to sustain them.

Many believe tipping culture has become excessive, with calls for reform growing.

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[–] [email protected] 152 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (25 children)

If your business can't survive without my tips, you don't have a viable business.

[+] papalonian -8 points 6 days ago (22 children)

I generally agree with you, but what is your response to businesses like those mentioned in the article that tried a no-tip model and could not sustain it?

I think that tipping models are starting to emulate app microtransaction models - they know that a majority of people are not going to tip, or will round their total up to the nearest dollar or something. It's the person that sees the option to tip and decides to throw an extra $20 just because that they're after. If they instead raise the prices to make it average out, the majority of people that normally would not be tipping go somewhere that's cheaper (because they do tips), and the few people that would pay extra no longer have the option to.

To tie back to the microtransaction analogy - the games that bring in money are the free ones where you can pay to get stuff. Most people pay very little or nothing, but a small percentage throws tons of cash into the game. If you were to take the amount of money brought in by these whales over the life of a game, divide it among all people that played it, and charged that much for the game, it wouldn't profit nearly as much, because none of those people want to pay the $5, and the people that were spending hundreds can only buy the game once, if that.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 6 days ago (16 children)

what is your response to businesses like those mentioned in the article that tried a no-tip model and could not sustain it?

That they don't have a viable business.

[–] papalonian 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I mean, yeah. Obviously. But to the other businesses or potential business owners that want to try a tipless model, that see these businesses failing, that's not very encouraging or helping to figure out what the underlying issue is. If people are trying to do a good thing but can't quite figure out how to make it work, should we just say, "guess you're not very good at this" and continue giving business to the places asking for tips, or should we try to look into what's going on?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What you do is you legally mandate a minimum wage, require businesses to respect that or else get shut down by the labor board, and then if you still can't make a profit then yeah, sucks. Should have planned better.

The underlying issue is that companies are allowed and encouraged to pay well below the minimum wage because tips make up the difference. This was a stupid idea from the very beginning, and was born shortly after the Civil War when the FLSA ruled that companies could do this so that they didn't have to pay newly-freed slaves a fair wage. Remove that and you remove the problem. American tip/gratuity law spits directly in the face of our own fair labor standards.

The problem you're describing comes from trying to do this piecemeal and let the free market push the demand, but the free market isn't going to do that when cheaper options are available. Even if those cheaper options are built on exploitation. So trying to eliminate tips in your restaurant when the restaurant next door is still on tipped wages is asking for disaster. But if everyone were forced to change at the same time due to change in legislation then you don't have this problem.

The price of eating out at restaurants will increase, but of course it will, you aren't going to dodge that no matter how we address this problem.

[–] papalonian 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Thank you for giving a thought out response to my question. I wholeheartedly agree that tip culture, as it is, is garbage. ~~I think being able to tip is very appropriate in certain scenarios, like at a bar where the bartender is very friendly and charismatic (and is bringing in repeat customers) they should be able to receive tips. But I guess at the same time,~~

I actually changed my mindset halfway writing this comment. No; I, the customer, should not be paying the bartender more for giving me a more pleasant experience than the bartender next door. The bar owner should be reinvesting the additional profits brought in by the better bartender into said bartender's salary and increase their wage that way. Tipping the better bartender gives them a raise at no cost to the establishment, which is ok for the bartender, great for the bar, bad for the consumer.