When I tip (outside the US) its done so as a genuine expression of gratitude for good service. It's my way of encouraging and rewarding good service. If its done under compulsion than its no longer a tip, it's a charge and good service is relegated as less meaningful.
That's interesting.
When in Europe I've found it pretty common to see a "tip" section in the bill, where the tip is already added on to the bill by the management and counted in to total you have to pay.
That's rare in the US, where at most one sees a "suggested amount", and usually tipping is completely optional.
I can't recall having ever seen this despite having travelled, and indeed continuing to travel, Europe extensively.
A denoted service charge is not uncommon, but I would be interested to see where exactly you believe the above to be commonly experienced.
In the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Czech, I've found it to be pretty common. It could have been other countries as well, as I traveled relatively widely, mostly in Northern and Eastern Europe myself. But unfortunately I didn't keep a log of exactly where this happened. Just noticed it happened a lot, and was more the rule rather than the exception.
Why not just increase the price of the food and service charges to compensate for the salaries?
It feels like some kind of psychological hack where they want price of food to appear cheap on paper till the moment you pay.
But you do have to pay the full total of your meal regardless of how you felt.
That's why making "tips" mandatory is the scam. It's not a tip if it's mandatory.
I wouldn’t have a problem if the menu stated all items will have a mandatory extra 18% charge for gratuity. I would gladly pay it. I simply want it to be clearly stated and transparent.
> what is the best path to end this ridiculous custom?
> minimum wage
But I'm not defending the argument, just adding to the debate. I'm fine with tipping, personally, because I think it aligns incentives to encourage good service. That good looking people get better tips doesn't bother me in the slightest—life isn't fair.
2. Greedy enployers can't use the promise of tipping as an excuse so they start to paying minimun wage.
3. Government intervenes making sure minimum wage is paid.
It starts with (1).
Starting your movement with "don't tip" is a great way to punish workers without much chance of being successful. It should probably start with the restaurants, or even regulation.
It's that so they can fiddle their taxes?
Why [else] would you not want to get the same money, on average, as a wage instead of having a high per diem variance?
Also, aren't most young women feminists, they should be against such things ...
The consensus theory among my industry friends is that Americans are more generous with their spending when there is a perception that the money is going to a real person -- tipping -- whereas a service charge goes to the restaurant company. Customers attribute the cost of the meal differently in these two scenarios and they are not as willing to spend more money if it goes to some faceless company instead of a person they interact with.
Presumably other areas of devices, like clothing or general retail are getting demands from unions to move over to voluntary tipping to tap that generosity?
In UK it's relatively common to tip some hotel workers and taxi drivers -- do USA hotel room cleaners also benefit from this effect of tips>>charges?
If your servers (or anyone working in the restaurant) demand higher wages, pay them the fair wage and charge what it costs to operate at that level. The expectation of a tip feels similar to the hidden fees charged by wireless carriers so they can advertise a much lower rate.