3 ms·

I don't see why they can't just keep prices the same and add a "mandatory 20% service charge" at the bottom.

• argonaut 10y ago
  According to the article, tips must go only to front house staff by NY state law.
  • lil_cain 10y ago
    Do service charges count as tips?
    • argonaut 10y ago
      Yes, if they meet certain reasonable conditions (e.g. they're identified separately on the bill).
• waiseristy 10y ago
  People will get even more angry with that, as they will feel they have been slighted by a "hidden cost".
  • crummy 10y ago
    That happens all the time at many restaurants for larger groups.
    • waiseristy 10y ago
      I know, I was a waiter for years. We had to get rid of that policy because we were losing business.
      • rdl 10y ago
        My problem with mandatory tip (usually I see 18%), especially when it is just applied to people redeeming a groupon or something and not everyone, is that I then view it as both a floor and a ceiling, and so does the waiter.
• chipperyman573 10y ago
  Because then you're just adding a mandatory 20% tip, when a tip is supposed to reward good service. Of course, it really doesn't mean that any more (they're more or less expected/required) but I usually get pretty annoyed when I see a "Mandatory 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or more" thing at the bottom of a menu (even though I usually tip 18-20%). If you're going to require a 20% gratuity, increase all prices by 20% instead of making me multiply every price by 1.2. At least when tipping is "optional" restaurant owners can pull the "Well you can tip whatever you want, including nothing" card, but if you require 20% then you're just adding a hidden fee. If you went to walmart and there was a sign at the front of the store saying all prices would be increased by 20%, that wouldn't be acceptable. Why should it for restaurants? If you really want to give 20% of every bill to the wait staff, then increase the prices of everything by 20% and give it to them automatically.
  • SilasX 10y ago
    I much prefer "everyone pays the same" rather than "(the most aggressive and able-to-rationalize why they can tip less this time) get subsidized by people with qualms". The case of Walmart would seem to go against your point; they're much closer to the tip-free model. "You see this price? That's what you pay." (With the caveat that some items are taxed.) If anything, modern/Western retail stores closely parallel the transition that tipless restaraunts are making: there used to be an ad-hoc, inefficient, confusing, anti-introvert system for vending goods. It was called "haggling". It was replaced by a higher-volume, fixed price system that provided greater assurance that customers weren't getting ripped off or subsidizing those who were better at the dance. Lots of parallels to how tipping works. Edit: A closer parallel would be if Walmart replaced pretax prices and "you just have to know that some of these are taxed at whatever-the-current-local-rate is" with tax-inclusive prices.
• pulse7 10y ago
  In Italy you pay extra service charge...