Tip Culture

[KitaYama]

I've never understood Tip culture in other countries.
Not only we don't have it, we don't even understand why customers should tip someone who is being paid to do his/her job.

Up to now, it was a mystery why tipping exists but I was just OK with it. Different cultures different methods
And now I'm completely confused by what I see in social networks.
Instagram and X is filled with clips of self-service checkout machines that are asking for tips.

For God's sake, it's a piece of machine that's designed to do a specific job. Why should somebody tip a computer for just calculating the total of their purchase?

Should You Tip at Self-Checkout?

If you've used a self-checkout kiosk lately, the machine might have prompted you to leave a tip. If you were taken aback and wondered why you should tip when you did all the work, you're not alone. The practice of asking for a tip at self-check kiosks is called "tip creeping" -- and it's a way...

www.gobankingrates.com

 

[The_Doc_Man]

For various reasons, restaurant servers were traditionally not paid very well in the USA and the price of food served by wait staff doesn't include much for their salary, so someone came up with TIPS: "To Insure Prompt Service" - as a way to incentivize more courteous and timely service. The dilemma that most restaurant owners face is that if their wait staff is to be paid minimum wage, that price must somehow be factored into the price of what you buy, but doing so raises restaurant pricing high enough to be unaffordable for the average person to go to a restaurant in the first place. Which is, if you look at it, a negative feedback spiral that would lead to zero business.

The use of wait staff tips became so prevalent that USA income tax forms have a separate slot for Tip Income vs. Wage Income, and there are even rules regarding assumed tip levels. There have been lawsuits regarding some restaurant owners pocketing tips and not passing them along to the wait staff. I have to agree with you, @KitaYama - if wait staff is properly paid, tips should not be needed. But it IS what we have here.

The COVID-19 pandemic didn't help because restaurants were forced to shut down their dine-in areas, which meant that large portions of their dining establishment became "dead space" - business overhead on which you paid rent but that couldn't produce income. Wait staffers chose to go on welfare rather than go to a work place where nobody was coming in anyway. Their wait staff wages were less than the welfare amount in many cases, so the loss of tip income "tipped" the scales towards not working. When the pandemic started to die down, it took more money to lure the former wait staff out of their homes. Which often means that wait staff works even harder and restaurants have an almost perpetual "Help Wanted - Wait Staff" sign on their doors.

Particularly in a city like New Orleans that prides itself on its food services, this negative feedback spiral due to COVID put restaurants totally out of business. Restaurant survival in the USA, which DOES have a "tip culture", becomes a matter of finding an equilibrium that nobody likes, but nobody seems to be able to improve.

 

[pbaldy]

It has gotten out of control in the US. In establishments like fast food places, where previously there might have been a tip jar where you might have thrown $1 or your loose change into, they now present you with a screen with tip options starting at 20%. That might be an appropriate % for a sit-down restaurant where a server spent an hour taking care of you, but is ridiculous for someone just taking your order.

Non-tipping cultures aren't immune. My wife and I have made several trips to NZ, where customers normally don't tip. One of our daughters lives there. If she and her family go to a restaurant, they are not presented with the tip options when they pay. If my wife and I go alone to the same restaurant, obviously Americans, we are presented with tip options. The servers know Americans are in the habit of tipping so they can and will turn on that option when serving one.

I would just as soon increase pay and prices and not worry about tipping.

 

[Mike Krailo]

In the U.S., tips should be reserved for actual service for dine in meals. I have no idea why they present you with those tip amounts on the credit card machine for fast food or at substation II (where I usually see it). I don't go out to eat very often because of the high cost involved, but when I do, I like to get outstanding service and the best food possible. So I don't mind tipping in those rare scenarios. The last place I went to was a high end Mexican restaurant that had some of the best Margaritas I've ever had and I made a mistake when ordering the food. I explained that I wanted chicken enchiladas, but at the same time pointed to a different dish on the menu that I thought was the correct dish. The server delivered the dish that I pointed to on the menu and I was like, this is not chicken enchiladas. The waiter quickly ordered what I wanted, and I just enjoyed that awesome margarita while I waited. It ended up being a great experience in spite of the mistake (my mistake really). That waiter got a really good tip.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

What got me recently was that for a take-out situation, I was presented with the automated credit-card machine with the 15%, 18%, 20% tip options but I was taking out, not dining in. When I inserted my card, it wouldn't take it unless I entered something for a tip. Fortunately, it DID allow me to select "custom tip" and enter 0, but I found that off-putting.

 

[Mike Krailo]

That's grounds for walking out of that place immediately, Doc. I would never go back to that place ever.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Cash is more flexible in these situations.

 

[KitaYama]

Non-tipping cultures aren't immune.

What you explained is not a non-tipping culture. It’s an optioned tipping culture.
I’m living in a country where nobody tips and never have seen or heard of a place that asks for tips either to locals or Americans.

I think Americans are rich and like to spend a part of what they have. In movies, it is very obvious. They take a cab and pay the fee and then they say the driver can keep the change. There’s an initial rate when you get on a taxi ($3.0?) and then the meter goes up each 1/5 miles (70 cents?). It’s been decided based on a lot of factors. Why should you pay more?

Greed is part of human nature and most people can be greedy to some extent. If you leave a $5 tip on the table in a restaurant, the next customer who leaves a $3 is frowned upon. Someone’s $10 tip, will ruin your $5 tip the next time you visit the same restaurant. Even in a country with tip culture, it should be an option, not a MUST. I’ve seen so many clips where the staff fights because the tip is not enough.

if wait staff is properly paid, tips should not be needed. But it IS what we have here.

Isn’t there any law about the minimum hourly wages? I’m sure you have it too and it should be enough for a normal living.

 

[AccessBlaster]

We often tip street musicians especially around the beach.

 

[ColinEssex]

So how do you all feel about restaurants that have in small letters at the bottom of the menu - 'a 10% service charge is included in meal pricing'?
In other words, you allegedly pay 10% on each item, irrespective of whether the service is good or bad.
Col

 

[AccessBlaster]

So how do you all feel about restaurants that have in small letters at the bottom of the menu - 'a 10% service charge is included in meal pricing'?
In other words, you allegedly pay 10% on each item, irrespective of whether the service is good or bad.
Col

Not a big fan of that, or tipping before receiving anything.

Post Covid-19 lock downs and the high turn over in staff, I put the money I would have spent into better cuts of meat, ale and make it myself.
If I don't know how to cook something I look it up.

 

[Isaac]

Trust me, many Americans share the same opinion as I do. It may be an American thing, but we hate it and wish we could do away with it. It's hard to do away with something that's so entrenched but I don't think anybody disagrees with the ridiculousness of machines at counters asking for tips for no particular reason when there is not even anyone to be tipped.

And please stop calling the cashier at Starbucks a barista. It is no more special opposition than any other store where someone has to learn 50 to 100 cash register combinations and 20 to 75 different sandwich combinations.