- Older generations tip maximum 15%, and decide what to tip based on service quality
- Millennials tip a flat 20%, regardless of service quality
- People who worked in the service industry will tip 30%, because they know what it's like.
But, yes, it's creeped up from 15% before tax to 18-20% on the total bill in general.
Someone didn't need to do anything and as far as I know, no individual decreed anything. (Although possibly guidebook and etiquette writes have helped contribute.)
It makes some sense with inflation and probably lack of increase in wait staff salaries. Restaurants often show recommended tips and even mandatory service adders for large groups. But, for the most part, it's probably been mostly organic.
Customer 1 (richy rich): $5 + $2 tip
Customer 2 (workin man): $5 + $1 tip
Customer 3 (poor man): $5 no tip
Total: $18
Menu: $6 burger
Customer 1 (richy rich): $6 + $1 tip
Total: $7
You've reduced your customer based on true affordability and perceived affordability. This doesn't consider the margin on selling a single burger but generally you need to push product rather than sell master pieces.
Because there are plenty of places that don't work with tips that do fine. Hell, some of our least expensive options operate in a tip-free environment. And no restaurant where tipping is expected is selling for the same price as fast food places in the first place. So it's not the scenario where you're looking at two options that seem equally priced, but one has the hidden tip tax on it. No, you're looking at two options where one is just more expensive and you have to tip.
And why are restaurants special in this regard? Why does no other sector have to operate on this model, where a customer has to directly pay a businesses employees? And why only in the U.S.? How did the rest of the world figure this one out but we can't seem to shake it?
Tipping is stupid and is anti-ethical to actual customer service as it pits staff against the customer and creates resentment in both directions.
Anyway I was speaking specifically on my own regions circumstances, we don't have fastfood within a 1hr round-trip. That 1hr adds up to a few bucks gas and time I don't have. There is no 2 options.
Workin man this week is poor man next week and then some weeks he's richy rich. Do you want to capture all forms of this guy?
None of this is rigorous of course but ya know we don't have a town full of 1 guy with a single budget. We have a town full of people with various and changing budgets, what kind of mechanism can be put into place to keep base finances workable in tight times while extracting more in good times?
Surely there must be a way because every other business seems to manage, and so do restaurants in 50%+ of the world.
Customer 1 (richy rich): $5 + no tip
Customer 2 (workin man): $5 + $2 tip
Customer 3 (poor man): $5 + $1 tip
The tip amount seems to depend more on empathy/demographics than the amount of money one has to spend.
Why are commercial rents so high? Because vacancies are preferred over "market rate" rents. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27939860
Not saying this is the case, but when a business shuts down the property it operated in stays in place. The rent will continue to rise to meet the financial demands of the property owner. So the next fool comes in and tries to run a business that is doomed. The young workers rents are subsidized by parents. Unless a restaurant owner is working in the trenches then they will NEVER be able to run the business effectively.
The banks get richer either way, but at a certain point there will not be any restaurants left as the societal contracts erode.
It makes more sense for those who have more decision power to eat the consequences. They can make cheaper burgers, lower salaries for everyone rather then single profession, change what they sell.
The wait staff can only decide whether they work or not.
You can pay either $8 or $10 for the same meal. If you pay $8 you feel bad, if you pay $10 you feel good. Thereby the restaurant takes in the full $10 from people who can afford it and/or aren't psychopaths, but still makes the sale at $8 for anyone else.
I forget the name of who put this idea forward, but businesses that barely break even when paying the absolute minimums, don't necessarily do worse if labor costs go up universally in an area, and everyone can begin to afford to use the services.
Most restaurants can barely afford to stay open because most restaurants are run by people who have no business running a business. Hell, let's be honest, most businesses are run by people who have no business running a business. Most people don't really want to run a business, they want to do something else, but also get paid to do it.
There are plenty of small restaurants around the world that get by fine without tips and manage to pay their employees. But for some reason, the U.S. thinks this is somehow impossible.
Tipping is stupid. But since servers can make more money than on a set wage, they don't mind that the restaurant owners are essentially pitting their employees against their customers. You know what would increase the overall level of service? If the restaurant paid a decent wage to their employees and then removed the obligation from the customer to pay the restaurant's employees.
Yes, that’s how capitalism, markets and commerce work. It has good parts and bad parts. If you don’t want the government to get involved when it’s going well, why get them involved when it isn’t? Greed and hypocrisy, that’s why.