this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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This is really hard for me but I have had to put my foot down in recent times. It still makes me uncomfortable but I just can’t support this anymore. If I’m sitting down at a restaurant with a server I tip 20 - 25% but I’m tired of tipping for takeout and I absolutely refuse to give extra when checking out at a store.
20-25% is still pretty excessive. I try to stay around 10-15%.
We have let tips creep up a lot in recent years.
Tips have crept up because cost of living has crept up but minimum wage has not. People can’t live on 2.25 plus tips and 7.25 if you don’t make enough tips to be more than 7.25. It’s just insultingly low wages and impossible to live off of
Tip value sure, but tip percentage? I mean think about it, the price of the food will go up, so the percent of that elevated food price will also go up. Like, if I bought a $20 meal and tipped 15%, that's a $3. But if because of inflation or whatever, the $20 meal increases its price to $40, a 15% tip is now $6. The tip has gone up, but the percentage has remained the same.
So why are tips now going up to 21, 23, 25, hell I've seen a tablet that suggested 30%? (We all know the answer why, I'm being rherorical.)
As funnystuff stated in the other reply, since food prices have gone up, tip amounts have gone up as well.
The two main reasons I see that tip percentages have crept up is the social pressure to not be the one that tips "poorly" and that automated prompt with suggested tips.
Those end up in a feedback loop. If you're standing next to someone and the tip options are 15, 18, and 20 percent, there is a social pressure not to tip the lowest amount. It's the same where if there are 3 wines on the menu, the cheap, the reasonable, and the expensive. Most people won't buy the cheapest option. The cheapest option is there to pressure you into the middle one. Well, now that they have that, why not slowly increase the suggested amount to 18, 20, 22. Or like we are seeing in a lot of places now. 20, 25, and 30.
What sucks is that there are no repurcussions for businesses that suggest these larger percentages. Nor are there any for businesses that traditionally are not tipped to display the screen as well. Not until we either pass legislation to regulate tipping prompts or collectively refuse to purchase services from these businesses.
I understand what you're saying, and agree it's impossible to live on minimum wage in a big chunk of the country. However, tips are already pegged to inflation. If food gets twice as expensive, your 20% also doubles. For folks like Teachers, they might be lucky to get a 1 or 2% cost of living adjustment each year. That's waaaaaaaaaay below inflation, and just falls further and further behind, like the base minimum wage.
That doesn't explain why the tips in percentage increased. The cost of the meal at the restaurant is probably also related to the costs of living...
We're talking percentages. There's no reason why the percentages should have crept up when cost of living has gone up considering prices have risen along with the rest of cost of living.
Fuck it. 15 percent tops for me. This 20-25% for a tip? Fuck that.
Luckily in my state minimum wage is $15.74 plus tips.
Good god how do you write that all out and not realize the problem is the OWNERS, not the customers.
The OWNERS are the ones responsible for paying good wages. Start pointing your finger at the right people.
Of course it’s the employers responsibility to provide good wages, I never said otherwise. All I said is the minimum wage of literally $2 if you’re tipped is ridiculous
Yeah, at server rates in most areas if they get less than 20 percent tip they are losing money.
That's the golden number for me, but only if I eat in the damn place, not takeout. I also tip gas station employees only when they calibrate my tires or wipe my windows.
Honestly I dont use percentages unless the meal is insanely expensive. I never tip at something as simple as a coffee shop or quick-dine-and-go thing (unless I'm a regular). Otherwise they get 5, 10, or 20 depending on service and food (regardless of total meal cost). My favorite places always get a little extra (5 -> 7, 10-> 15, 20 -> 25)
In my opinion:
0% = absolutely abysmal service
10% = below average service
15% = average, expected amount of service 20% = above average or excellent service
That's my tipping policy.
Why would you tip for before average service?
Not tipping at all is seen as rude in the US culture.
Besides, there's a difference between below average service and absolutely horrible service. For example, there was one time years ago at a restaurant where my family went out to eat. First, our waiter got my mom's order wrong. Then, when she mentioned it to our waiter, he picked up the incorrect item off the plate with his hands. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting as it was years ago, but I think our entire meal (five people) ended up being comped. We were not happy.
Same. It gets a little skewed towards higher % at lower dollar amounts though. I might have a $8 meal with a water and leave $2. It's worth more than $1 and I'm not messing with change.
This is my policy if it's a sit-down restaurant with servers making minimum wage... I absolutely refuse to tip fast food. Because I work in fast food, and over time I've seen wages get more and more skewed towards dependence on tips. It's insane. Just give us a living wage, is that too much to ask of this capitalist meat grinder?
Same. The point of a tip is to tip the waiter, not anyone else. Tipping someone who's taking my order at the counter just seems weird. Same with tipping in a mobile order app.
15% was standard in Canada, 20% in the USA
52, American. 15% was always standard in my world until recent talk of 20%.
Yep, 20% is definitely NOT standard. It is too damn high. I give 20% only when a server is freaking amazing.
Really? I was always told Canadians pass as being cheap because we usually give 15% when we go to the USA 🤔
I remember 5-10% being standard when I was a kid, although I wasn’t the one paying.
It's intended to make you feel guilty. That's the point. "Make someone feel uncomfortable enough to give you money." Don't give in. Stay strong.
And 15% for table service is absolutely fine.
What about at a coffee shop or something similar?
I don’t go to coffee shops but I wouldn’t tip there either. I don’t think I should be responsible for paying employees a living wage. Charge me appropriately for the item and pay your fucking employees.
Cash is the answer here, I might leave 25p in the saucer.