Re:“tipflation” and “tip creep” are sparking a backlash
by kelnos on Saturday January 28, 2023 @02:39PM
(#34560868)
> the price you see for entrees in the U.S. is pretty much +$10.
Generalized, I just add 30% to whatever I see. Sales tax is 8.something% here (and if it's food service, there's often a "Healthy SF" fee of a couple percent), so adding 30% ends up being roughly accurate, or even an over-estimate. I'd rather over-estimate and end up seeing a lower final bill than the opposite.
> it's a legalized way to fool people into becoming customers
Pretty much. People are calibrated to expect certain things at certain quality levels to cost a certain amount. If laws changed and businesses were required to report the final cost of everything on menus, price stickers, etc., that would likely -- at least for some amount of time -- cause patronage to drop. People would get sticker shock and pass on things they'd usually buy, even though the final prices are actually the same.
And of course few to no establishments will buck the trends and include all costs, because then -- at first glance, at least -- they'd appear more expensive than their competitors, even if they're the same.
Generalized, I just add 30% to whatever I see. Sales tax is 8.something% here (and if it's food service, there's often a "Healthy SF" fee of a couple percent), so adding 30% ends up being roughly accurate, or even an over-estimate. I'd rather over-estimate and end up seeing a lower final bill than the opposite.
> it's a legalized way to fool people into becoming customers
Pretty much. People are calibrated to expect certain things at certain quality levels to cost a certain amount. If laws changed and businesses were required to report the final cost of everything on menus, price stickers, etc., that would likely -- at least for some amount of time -- cause patronage to drop. People would get sticker shock and pass on things they'd usually buy, even though the final prices are actually the same.
And of course few to no establishments will buck the trends and include all costs, because then -- at first glance, at least -- they'd appear more expensive than their competitors, even if they're the same.