I’m pretty sure that when I was a yout back in the 1960s, a 15% restaurant tip was considered generous. 10% was, I believe, the norm. Am I remembering this correctly?
Nowadays, though, 15% is considered sub-par, with 20% being the new standard.
Writing this change off to inflation makes no sense, as the amount is a percentage of the bill, and would organically increase as prices go up.
I understand that service workers depend on tips, but I do wonder where and how this tip inflation originated. Printed restaurant checks that I’ve seen these days suggest a minimum of 18%, sometimes 20%. Seems like only a matter of time before we see minimum suggestions rise again.
I’ve seen “suggested” tips up to 30% on some tabs - I think restaurants are doing whatever they can to avoid paying their workers themselves. Sad state of affairs, but I don’t see it changing any time soon.
As for me, I tend to pick a whole dollar amount between 15-20%, sometimes going a tad higher for exceptional service. But I’ve gone as low as 10% when we’re pretty much ignored. I resent being the one to provide performance reviews - isn’t that what the managers are supposed to do?
Not quite. I agree with your facts, but not your conclusion. There’s one additional factor you left out.
If the minimum wage for servers has kept up with inflation then you’d be right that there’d be no need to raise the tip percentage to keep the server’s total effective compensation constant versus inflation. But neither the legal minimum, nor the somewhat higher prevailing wages for many servers have been keeping up.
Leaving servers worse off and management essentially guilting us all into making up that shortfall on their behalf.
IMO the percentage of a tip should also be a function of the total for the bill: the smaller the total, the larger the percentage.
As an example, a few days ago I had lunch at the Olive Garden with my coworker. The bill was around $13. A 20% tip would only be $2.60, which I consider too low. So I gave a $5 tip (38%). For larger totals I will tip around 20%.
I agree with this. I never leave less than $5 for table service. This is usually only an issue when I’m eating alone of course. Not much difference in serving one person than two, is the way I rationalize it.
On the other hand, my nephew who works in a mid-tier restaurant reports that his 2022 income was more than double 2019. Combination of higher ticket prices (up 20-30%), higher tipping percentages and fewer servers per night. 20%+ was very uncommon just a few years ago, now 20% is average.
Mid-tier = $40-50 per person including a beer or glass of wine. Was $30-40 pre pandemic.
What I can’t figure out is why I’m expected to tip the person at the seafood or bakery counters in the “gourmet” grocery store.
The way pricing of goods and services should work ideally is that the price displayed to the consumer is an all-in total price. With transparent pricing, the consumer can compare like with like and market operates efficiently.
But there’s always inevitable pressure for vendors to do the opposite - to make their prices appear lower than they really are. So absent strict regulation you always get “added fees inflation”. Vendors always want to keep their displayed prices looking low while tacking on hidden extra charges - cable TV bills are a notorious example. “Resort fees” at hotels in Vegas. And there’s a natural tendency for hidden charges to creep higher and higher. In a competitive market, if one vendor tries to hold the line and be more transparent in pricing, they will lose out to competitors that appear to have lower prices.
The only way to keep this creep under control is through strict regulation so that pricing is transparent and consumers can compare like with like. For example, in the U.K. it is mandatory to include VAT (sales tax) in displayed prices, and if it were not, nobody would do it.
I think the difficulty with service tips is that tipping is a “traditional” way to compensate servers, so nobody feels the urge to step in and regulate it. In many cases, it has now just become a back door for this kind of add-on charge creep to happen. Better for a restaurant owner to keep their menu prices low, pay servers less, and “recommend” a 30% tip. It’s not restaurant owners being mean to workers that’s driving this, it’s natural market forces absent regulation.
For the grocery store, if those who work the seafood and bakery counters earn enough in tips, the store can “get away” with paying them a much lower minimum wage*. If they don’t qualify for the “tipped employees” wage rate, then receiving tips makes it a much more attractive position. Since these employees interact with the customers more than, say, a stock boy, this allows the store to “reward” employees who are outgoing, affable, and capable of steering customer decisions. If the customer supplies the tips voluntarily, this costs the grocery store nothing.
*The law does not require the store pay these employees less, only that they may.
I’m often alone (oh, put that violin away, I like it like that), and I’m a cheapskate, so my bill is usually very low.
When it comes time to leave, I think "Why should this server be penalized because I only ate fifteen bucks’ worth, when the table could’ve held a rich couple splurging on champagne and appetizers like escargots and couilles de mouton?
My other thought is that society is unfair. Does this person work harder than I do? (esp. now that I’m retired) And they get paid a pittance. Why the hell can’t I share?
I feel that the cost of a restaurant meal has not kept pace with rising costs, mainly because food cost has been flatter then most everything else. (this does not include the most recent pandemic pricing). So with costs of meals somewhat stagnant, but with all other things including wages going up, tips also came up.
However now the price of food and thus meals have increased I have not seen pressure to increase tips. I have seen suggestions of higher tips due to the digital checkout screens but I have seen many people override it if it’s too high, or select the lowest category and more recently I have seen those digital suggestions dialed back.
I do this too, I like to eat cheap but don’t want to penalize my server for it and usually will tip what it should have cost for a meal, not what I got and will typically tip as if I ordered drinks even if I got water, but the server needs to keep it flowing. I’ve actually seen some level of disappointment (but no loss of service) from the server on rare occasion from my small order but that changed around after they got the tip.
Wasn’t there a requirement that employers have to report employees tips rather than the employees themselves about 30 years ago? This meant that tips that traditionally flew under the taxman’s radar were now being taxed as part of their regular wages. I assumed the extra 5% became the societal norm to compensate for this shortfall in server’s net income.
No. At least not for a definition of “recently” that is less than 35 years.
In the late 1980s my sister was reporting tips to payroll. Of course no one was reporting all of cash tips voluntarily. They were reporting just enough to get to to the minimum wage when added to the $1/hour tipped minimum wage and credit card tips.
Often this meant the restaurant was reporting cash tips of $1000 a week on cash sales of $20,000. Later (early 1990s) the IRS started giving them grief about underreporting which set off a push-pull relationship between the waiters, the restaurant managers and corporate.
I worked in restaurants for years, through high school and early on in college. I was never a waiter but worked closely with waiters and waitresses. So I never give wait people a hard time and always tip 20%, unless the service or their attitude is really, really bad. I know how hard they work just to get by. Plus, 20% is easy mental math.
I remember in the 80s to 90s, 15% being considered a “standard” tip (and I worked in the service industry for a couple years c. mid-late-90s. Where I was at 15% was standard, but there was gathering momentum towards 20% becoming standard.)
I have read that tipping started only around 1900 and it was a modest 5-7%. Then it got to 10% around 1950 and has been rising ever since. I really hate it. Just put the total price on the menu, as the Europeans do. Service and taxes included.
I’m a 1971 Gen-X’er, and the “standard” was 15% growing up. It seems like the standard is 20% now, and I’m personally okay with that, because my circumstances allow me to be generous. Generally I’ll tip 20% including taxes and then round up. I’ll go higher if I’m taking a table and doing drinks only.
However, I get really pissed off when waitstaff start expecting my behavior rather than considering it a reward for well-rendered service. Entitlement really makes me want to leave you nothing.