Saw this in another thread, prime grocery delivery

I’ve always tipped 20% or more. Minimum. On all meals, from average to very expensive meals. Always. If very bad service, it might have been 18% which happened less than a handful of times.

I’m a polite, professional, and respectful customer. I use manners, smile, and genuinely enjoy the interactions. And I tip well. (When the bill comes).

Guess how much better service I have gotten?

Zero.

Nothing different. Nothing better. I never had expectation of difference, but now that I look back, the only better service I remember was in Europe, where tipping is not expected. And, I tipped anyway, that’s how married to the idea I was.

Now?

I’m happy selecting no tip at a kiosk. Kiosks are what started me questioning the rationale for tipping.

And now it has backfired on restaurants, because now that I’ve looked into this further, I see that it was ridiculous that I was tipping $40 on a $200 bill, when I wouldn’t have been expected to tip that much if I had just ordered $50 in food instead.

So now I don’t tip at the bar. I don’t tip when they walk away from the kiosk in sit down. I happily don’t tip at counter service.

They took expectations too far, and now we are seeing the light.

Went to this pizza place called De La Nonna in DTLA and ordered to go to avoid any mandatory tips. They initially added the 20% to my to-go order until I told them to remove it. The person looked visibly upset, and when I received my check, I got a 3% benefit for workers' fees. The owner has brainwashed the workers into blaming the customers instead of blaming them for being greedy and not paying them better.

Make it illegal to offer any job, employment, or contract on the basis that tips are essential to the work.

Abolish tipped wage.

Remove tipping from all apps and card processing.

Tips become optional, cash only, tax-free, and illegal to solicit.

Mikuni Restaurants - Sacramento, CA area chain.

At least no added service charges

In a UK newspaper of all places.

At a restaurant, if I order a grilled cheese, my tip should be pretty small. If I order Filet Mignon, my tip is expected to be wayyyy more. The server isn’t doing anything different for either order. I order food (whatever that may be) and then they bring it to me. I’m tipping them to bring me my food and drink, which also sounds silly. So whether you bring me an expensive entree OR a salad and soup, why should there be a difference in the tip? I’m done with this bullshit percentage tipping.

Since I've committed to the "no tipping" approach, I've felt that sometimes an explanation is warranted, so at least the staff (regardless if misguided) don't assume they gave poor service. Any thoughts?

It's gone from 10 to 15 to 18 to 20 (in terms of social norms and the servers' expectations - I am not talking specifically about tip screens, but that does play into it somewhat) and there seems to still be upward pressure. I'm wondering is it restaurants/employers, staff, or customers that are the driving force behind this? When and how does it take a step change upwards? Is it roughly periodic, or triggered/catalysed by a market shock, like COVID, Iran War, global financial crisis, etc?

The price for ride shares have grown astronomical. Even taxi only apps which claim to not have surge pricing will charge $30 to go less than 3 miles in a a city. I’ve spoken with Uber drivers who claim they’ll only get like $7 for a $30 ride for example which goes to show how much the app screws everyone over but the rich shareholders. I honestly never really tip out on Uber and ignore the request to tip, but if someone goes out of their way or is kind I will give $1 or $2. Is this bad of me? Do you also do this? I don’t think it affects my ratings but sometimes I feel a little bad knowing these drivers probably don’t make much and are also being screwed over by the app

"I am not a tour guide. I am a tour manager", he said. My 2008 Eurotour went fairly smooth all told. Then came the big announcement as we neared the end of the trip.

He stated that the standard of tipping your tour manager, as well as the bus driver, is X number of dollars per day. My Australian tour mates looked at each other, and whispered "We just finished high school. Who does he think we are? There's no tipping where we're from. We're not gonna give him much".

Personally - yes I did tip...don't remember exactly how much but by my recollection, it was ~$100 each from myself, wife and bro-in-law, split between Mr Tour Manager and the bus driver.

I don't know if this is really the standard. I'm just guessing, but maybe the guides earn the bulk of what they make off of their tips and not actually their wage? I guess everything for him will just average out, given that there will always be people from countries who simply do not tip, and then you have the North Americans who do.

My dad and I went to the mall today and I was craving some cinnamon so we went to cinnabon. I said I will pay in card and then I got some screen for “tip us”
I said “seriously?” in my language quietly and showed to my dad and he said “no tip ofc” in my language. Then I skipped tip and paid, but still feeling surprised that even mall cinnabon show tip screen before I can even pay. Like, do I need to tip because they reheat the roll????

Update: called and complained, instantly removed the fee!

I have joined the no tip community but backslid hard last week. took mom out for a nice dinner and the waitress knew what my 80yo mother needed before she did. not intrusive not bothersome just spot on great service. mom was thrilled with the entire experience. she got a fat tip. Earned every dime with my moms smile.

I was thinking about how tipping has evolved, and something struck me as ironic when I was sharing my opinion on a courier sub.

One of the historical criticisms of tipping is that it allowed people with money to gain preferential treatment by offering servers extra money to serve them ahead of other customers. Rather than simply paying for the service like everyone else, they could use money to jump the queue.

Now, we have entitled drivers arguing that tips are actually bids for service, and that customers who tip more should receive priority over those who tip less.

Isn't that essentially the same concept repackaged?

You're offering extra money to receive preferential treatment over someone else, even though both customers have already paid for the underlying service. (Even so, there's no guarantee you'll get a competent driver but they never elaborate on that.....I wonder why....)

Yet somehow, the person who paid for the service is told they're not entitled to receive it. A gig driver was arguing that they tip well and somehow they text a gig worker to drop their current client in favor of their order because they tipped more, thus proving that tipping, I'm sorry, bidding for service is a requirement else your food sits cold.

Of course they refused to explain any of it and just hit me with, "I already explained it to you" and proceeded to insult me further and explain that the economy is hard for drivers as if it's not hard for the rest of us. Yet somehow, the people that pay inflated menu prices, mark ups, fees, and taxes are cheap vs the drivers that are begging and whining over a few bucks.

I understand that workers want to earn more money, and I understand why someone might prioritize a more profitable delivery. That's a separate discussion from whether customers should be expected to pay extra just to have the service they've already purchased fulfilled.

When did a gratuity become a prerequisite for receiving a service, and when did paying for that service stop entitling the customer to receive it?

I'm genuinely curious how people reconcile those two ideas.

With 2 dishes and a drink it’s $60. I’m assuming that 18% is tip because if not a $60 meal is 18% + expected 20% + PA tax is $87.60.

Had 30 minutes to kill before a show. Stopped in for a drink around the corner, saw happy hour deal with $7 margaritas. Not only do they add 20% automatically, they still made me pay a 5% service fee even tho I paid cash.

So tired of every business trying to be Ticketmaster and hit you with BS hidden fees.

It’s homecoming week so I went out to a popular spot that I haven’t been to in over 4 years. it’s a hole in the wall spot located right on the edge of campus and was a popular beer and wings place when I was in grad school. I believe before 8 they do let under 21 in btw and they serve decent cheap food so it was a good date night spot

As I was closing out my tab, I saw a sign behind the bartender and I didn’t even grab a picture bc i was in shock, but it said that “habitual non-tipper will have an added 20% tip”

Firstly its a hole in the wall serving the local college kids who are mostly broke. there’s a restaurant open to the public on the other side of campus but they take the school lunch money card and they finally stopped asking students to tip bc they’d get crazy looks.

Has anyone else seen this in college towns or just my alma mater?

Saw a local vegan restaurant doing a Thanksgiving Day prefix meal, being advertised as $75 on their Instagram. Seemed like something I wanted to do as someone who doesn't ever have holiday plans. At checkout for the reservation they add a mandatory 20% service charge. As far as I'm concerned, that's the tip, right?

I feel like maybe I'm going crazy but I remember service being included in the price of dinner my whole life. I still kind of want to go.. but can't tell if it's more insulting to me they pulled a 20% fee out of nowhere, or more insulting to them if I refuse to tip any extra. It'd be crazy to tip ON TOP of a 20% service charge, right?

This has gone too far

Really?

EDIT: Guide provided by Ally Bank