Please don't be the jerk who leaves fake bills that say tipping is detrimental. I promise you that servers don't have power over management to change the tipping system, you'll just come off as an asshole.

The difference is that wait staff effectively get paid 20% less than they would otherwise, on the expectation of getting a 20% tip. According to US labor law you can even pay servers less than minimum wage, as long as their tips make up for the difference. So by not tipping you're shorting workers of their wages.

If you want to end tipping culture, call the restaurant owners and tell them to bake tips into the menu prices.

> The difference is that wait staff effectively get paid 20% less than they would otherwise, on the expectation of getting a 20% tip.

Yes, and the only reason restaurant owners can get away with this is because there is a labor market of servers willing to work for 20% less based on the expectation that they'll get the rest back in tips.

I agree that you should apply pressure to the system at multiple points, not just by foregoing tips. Tell managers straight up that you don't intend to tip and to pay their staff proper wages.

> You can even pay servers less than minimum wage, as long as their tips make up for the difference. So by not tipping you're shorting workers of their wages

By definition, the server cannot get paid less than minimum wage for wage+tips, regardless of many people stiff the tip.

(Normally I wouldn't mention this since minimum wage is often lower than market rate anyway, but apparently min wage was significant enough for you to mention it.)

Legally, yes, but it won't come as a shock that some employers (and employees) don't follow the law to the letter.

Since this is HN and many of us live in California, it’s worth pointing out that California doesn’t have a lower tipped minimum wage anymore, these people are getting $16 an hour before tips. The official reason is gone in this state, yet the tipping bs persists.

> they get paid less…

Not in California they don’t. Not for years. The tipped minimum wage is $16, same as the minimum wage for the people at Burger King (whose jobs are actually harder and worse, incidentally). Tipping is toxic and should die. And while I’ll tip at a sit-down restaurant I’m done. Counter service? Kiosk service? Mobile app ordering? No. I have a tip for management though: pay your damn employees yourself and leave me out of it.