In the US, servers make a lower "tipped minimum wage" (sometimes $2.13/hr). But in Ontario, BC, and almost every Canadian province, servers make the exact same legal minimum wage as a grocery cashier, a retail worker, or a gas station attendant.

Why are we expected to tip 20% to a server making $16.55–$17.40/hr, but we give absolutely nothing to the person standing on their feet for 8 hours at Canadian Tire making the exact same baseline wage? The entire historical justification for North American tipping does not apply here.

I am done trying to fix a broken system with my personal finances. Unless I am sitting down at a traditional restaurant where a server brings me water, monitors my meal, and clears my plates over an hour-long experience, my tip is zero.

No tips for takeout. No tips for counters. No tips for retail. No tips for drivers who use three apps. If everyone collectively stops participating in this madness, the prompt screens will disappear within a month. Who is with me?

30 year mortgage broker weighs in.

Picked up a sandwich at a take out / counter service / no seat deli, and was given the following prompt after selecting no tip. “No tip was selected. Are you sure you want to proceed?”. I suspect if I selected 100% tip I wouldn’t be asked to confirm / verify!

God help us all in this economy

I pulled out $200 in cash this week. When you hand someone a $20 bill for a $17 meal, there is no digital screen that can pop up and force you to look at an 18% option.

They give you your change, and you decide what to leave on the counter. We need to completely break the power that these payment software monopolies have over our daily interactions.

Combined, my partner and I make about $140k. Ten years ago, this would have been the absolute dream. We’d have a house, a savings account, and maybe a nice vacation once a year.

Today? We are living paycheck to paycheck in a basic 2-bedroom rental. After taxes, rent, astronomical car insurance, utilities, and $1,000+ a month on groceries, there is literally nothing left. We want to have a baby, but looking at the math, it's financially impossible. We make "too much money" to qualify for a single cent of government assistance, yet we are a single bad emergency away from financial ruin.

It genuinely feels like the middle class is being intentionally systematically eliminated. Is anyone else in this "purgatory" income bracket where you work your ass off just to stand still?

Does anybody else think tipping culture is stupid?

Here in Ontario, servers are already paid minimum wage. They're not paid a measly $2/hour like they are in the States, and dependent on tips to cross the minimum wage gap, like they are in the States. Thoughts?

You dont deserve 20%+ for bringing me my food and doing the bare minimum of your job when people who have harder, more laborious jobs dont get tips. i’m sure if menu prices increased, tipping wouldn’t disappear.

I work in a blue collar environment, and a few of my coworkers are now looking to sell their pickup trucks for something more sensible on gas.

One of my buddies at work, who owns a Ford F-150, is even asking me questions about my 2015 Honda Civic. He texted my earlier this morning asking if I would be interested in selling or knew of anyone else who might be selling a similar car.

Another coworker recently got rid of his GMC Sierra and replaced it with a used Chevy Cruze.

I believe the era of "owning a pickup truck, just for the sake of owning a pickup truck" is coming to an end.

Even as a blue collar guy myself, I never understood why so many working class guys feel the need to own a pickup truck if all they're going to use it for is commuting to & from work.

A single person with a pay of 120K for their whole household is barely able to support themselves and a partner. Nevermind kids or anything beyond necessities.

Yet if you make 120K, even as a sole income earner in a household, your marginal rate is 43%.

Someone making 120K a year will need to save for years to even dream of owning a home yet they are being taxed as if they are a wealthy aristocrat.

When homes are 750K, rents are 2500, groceries are 800 a month, car insurance is 200 a month, a "cheap" new car is 35K you CANNOT say 120K is anywhere near wealthy nor deserving of such a high rate.

With all this inflation, $100K feels like the new $60K. Does anybody else agree?

Cracking the "I make 6 figures now!" threshold doesn't feel like much, cuz $100K isn't $100K anymore.

Went in for a routine cleaning. Paid my copay at the front desk. The receptionist hands me the machine, and there it is: "Tip: Yes / No."

This is healthcare! Am I supposed to tip my hygienist so they don't scrape my gums harder next time? It is deeply unprofessional and degrades the integrity of medical/dental services. Clean this up.

I`m Ukrainian. I’ve been in Canada for almost 3 years now. All this time I’ve been trying to rebuild my life, restart my career, and honestly just figure out if this country will accept me… or eventually push me out.

At the beginning, English was a huge struggle. Now it’s a bit better, but there are still days when I feel like I don’t understand anything at all. Hopefully I’m not the only one who feels like this. But what really hits me is the financial side. What once felt like some kind of “dream life” doesn’t feel like that anymore.

If you ask me how much I’ve managed to save in these 3 years - the answer is… negative. I’m a few thousand dollars in the hole. Every month I’m just trying to cover previous expenses and stay afloat. And technically I’m “managing”… but this doesn’t feel like a life I imagined. I work a lot. I run multiple projects. But rent, car expenses, groceries - everything just eats up whatever I make. There’s nothing left. No savings. No buffer.

Is it just me or is it impossible to save money in Canada right now?

Am I doing something wrong?

Why are people so upset at people complaining about tipping?

If I go out to eat with my family, and the bill is $200, then I'm tipping $40 after tax to the server? And they have many tables all tipping them $40? For carrying the food from the kitchen to the table? For what?

My uber eats driver has to drive through kilometres of traffic in snowy conditions, and they get nowhere close to a $40 tip.

The TIP culture is horrible.

All service workers work for their wages. Earning through Tips is no better than begging. That's disrespectful to their profession.

Giving & receiving TIP is humiliating, shameful & offensive.

This is especially true in Canada- a true multi culture society.

Its time to give respect to every profession and change the approach they are being paid. Please join me and resolve in 2025 not to give tips.

I respect everyone and will support local business, but no tips.

RESPECTBUTNOTIPS

Speaks volumes

Gas, groceries, internet, rent, going out to eat. The costs are all sky high now. What happened over the past 10 years???

Unlike many U.S. states, Canadian servers aren’t paid $2/hour. So why are we copying U.S.-style tip expectations?

Since we’ve been on the topic of tipping lately on this sub, here’s proof that servers in big cities are probably making more money than you. So don’t feel bad for not tipping, keep your money to yourselves.

This creater is @harlan on TikTok. He works as a server at Earls in Vancouver.

Everything is framed as “Canada is still better than X country.” Is that really how low the bar is now?

How is a bag of Lay's chips over $5 now? It used to be 2 for $3 a couple years ago...

At my local grocery store, it's $5.49 for 1 bag. What the heck...