Tipping culture in U.S.
There are laws in place for service workers related to minimum wage. The employers have to make up the difference if tips don’t meet the rate for hours worked. It seems to me that’s not sufficient for the times. Hypothetically, if everyone were to stop tipping in the U.S. would things be better or worse for workers? Would employers start paying workers more?
The employers have to make up the difference if tips don’t meet the rate for hours worked.
Is that true in all states? I thought I read recently that there were still holdouts.
Anyway, in the immediate term it would be terrible for most tipped staff who depend on that money for things like rent, food, gas, etc. For employers to pay more, they would likely need to raise prices; smaller restaurants in particular can operate on some pretty tight margins and I doubt the big guys will take less profit. Where that ultimately would go, I'm not sure.
I live in Japan now and we don't do tips here. Things are more expensive in menu price, but there's no magical 20% to pay after. We also have single-payer health insurance system. Businesses are required to do some health insurance stuff for full-time employees, but I don't know what what point/size. Even if the employee has to pay 100%, health insurance and pension are income-based. Rents are also generally less crazy. As with everywhere, food prices and inflation are issues here, but people are surviving. The bar down the street pays 1500/hour to start (minimum in Tokyo is a bit over 1000/hr) and that's increased for the late night portion leading to a higher amount of pay.
It's amazingly cheap to eat out in Japan compared to the US. I used to live in Japan and have visited since. Just a couple of years ago, even, right before the pandemic struck. It is a little more expensive in Japan now than it was then because they're seeing inflation for the first time in practically forever, but it's still very cheap compared to the US.
It's one of the best things about visiting Japan. You can go nuts eating fantastic food at bargain prices. You can find expensive restaurants if you want to, of course.
Stuff like more order-at-the-counter or online from your phone instead of a human waiter coming to your table.
This already seems to be happening as companies push to squeeze more and more profits for the shareholders. I was at a local pizza place not long ago that you were forced to scan the QR code and order yourself. They did bring the food out, but that was it. You even had to get your own drink and refills.
Off-topic, but that was also the biggest bill I had from a pizza place in as long as I can remember. It was bumping $100 for 4 of us to eat sub-par pizza.
It’s state by state. And for those that do pay their waitstaff up to minimum wage to make up for low tips, it’s averaged out over a pay period. So a waiter won’t get paid for a low tip hour or even a low tip night necessarily, so long as they hit minimum wage on average over a pay period. Which is not a liveable wage.
Anecdotally, myself and many close and extended family members have waited tables and I can’t recall ever hearing about a time in which someone was paid up to min wage to make up for low tips. There was always some excuse or trick for the restaurant to get out of it.
Hypothetically, I think if everyone stopped tipping, we’d see a drop in service level as restaurants reduced waitstaff. Stuff like more order-at-the-counter or online from your phone instead of a human waiter coming to your table. And I think there would be attempts to pivot to contract or “gig” waitstaff to put a layer between restaurants and employees.
Hot take but I think tipping culture is one of the main reasons why Americans are suffering from such large class issues.
In Japan tipping is offensive because it puts the customer above the server when it’s a fair exchange between the two parties. It makes sense imo. For people to respect each profession it has to be treated like an equal value exchange. The server that brings my food is not my temporary slave but we have a social contract that they’ll be hosting me as the representative of the restaurant and “forced donations” completely ruins this exchange. It’s incredibly toxic.
Don’t be so hard on them. Consider that media is owned by private interests, and that’s been their whole life. Unions are evil, worker rights are a privilege, and you wouldn’t want to regulate or tax businesses if it means they would make less profit. Nor should you tax established fortunes, even that is used as a direct benefit as leverage. Higher taxes on very high income is also unwise, because that’s also bad.
Tipping culture is obviously one of the main reasons at fault here…
The main reason is that it shifts payment of the wait staff to the customer, not the employer. That means the employer has less payroll, payroll tax, etc. and pockets the difference.
It’s a financial motive, not a classist one.
In Japan tipping is offensive because it puts the customer above the server
Saying they don’t put the customer above the server in Japan sounds very wrong to me. Servers use highly polite language to customers, while customers generally act in a way that feels very dismissive to me as an American - e.g. yelling to no one in particular when you want service, saying nothing when a server brings food or drinks. This is my experience at least.
Hot take but I think tipping culture is one of the main reasons why Americans are suffering from such large class issues.
It’s not a cause, it’s a symptom
It is definitely messed up, but it’s also the only reasonable way for people in a lot of more conservative states to make any money at all as service staff, because those states tend to have comically low base pay for servers because “they work for tips”. It’s an intentionally self-perpetuating cycle that makes things more expensive for customers, and fails to pay the business’s workers what they deserve.
It’s basically enhanced wage theft combined with a pricing structure that also intrinsically hides the fact that the business owner is also intentionally hiding something like 15-25% of their cost of business, and you get to make up the difference.
en.wikipedia.org/…/Fair_Labor_Standards_Act_of_19…
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer has to pay each employee the minimum wage, unless the employee is “engaged in an occupation in which the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips”. If the employee’s wage does not equal minimum wage, including tips, the employer must make up the difference.
www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/faq
If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference.
Thanks for those.
I don't think it is very common knowledge. I wonder how many people earning $2.xx / hr know this.
I went to subway for lunch, and the machine offered 18%, 20%, and 25%
I gave zero because he’s doing his job; if I would have sat down and he served my my sandwich on a plate and refilled my drink, I’d have tipped
My only exceptions are Housekeeping and Valet
Out of interest, why? (I’m not American)
this is only really for Hotels (not motels and not long term stay hotels)
Forgive my ignorance but what’s different about motels and long stay hotels?
How do you know the same person will clean your room every day?
What’s a girl stay?
Editted. Hotel.
And they talk to each other. They know which rooms are bad and which are good
No, it’s basically consistent across the US. Servers (waiters and waitresses) and I believe food delivery drivers are paid a tipped wage.
Essentially everyone else is not paid a tipped wage and you should not feel compelled to tip them. Absolutely no one at any counter service restaurants or fast food trucks are paid a tipped wage, even though the computer screen often asks you if you want to tip. There is no need to.
Wrong www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/…/tipped
More states are following.
I also do this most of the time.
Cash is also much less likely to go anywhere but where you want it to go.
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