4 ms·

Anecdotal, but there's a supermarket chain in the Southeastern U.S. (Publix) that pays their employees a living wage, provides health coverage, and makes a poin

Anecdotal, but there's a supermarket chain in the Southeastern U.S. (Publix) that pays their employees a living wage, provides health coverage, and makes a point of letting the customer know that staff (even the folks that load your groceries into your car) doesn't accept tips. The food costs are a little bit higher than, say, Walmart, but closer to that end of the spectrum if Whole Foods is the opposite end. I don't know how well that model would translate to the restaurant industry but, personally, I would give preference to establishments that opted for that model than the current $2something/hour minimum wage + tips.

misja111 10y ago
I'm from Europe so I'm not very familiar with the tipping etiquette in the USA, but if I understand you properly, you're saying that in supermarkets like Walmart, people give tips to the personell? Like to the cashier? That's quite a culture difference with Europe, here they would think that you were crazy if you would do such a thing ...
- bradleyankrom 10y ago
  No, sorry if I wasn't clear. I used Walmart as an example for low cost but their employees typically aren't tipped. There are other, smaller (local or regional chains) grocery stores where employees can accept tips, however.
- zimzam 10y ago
  In many grocery stores the checkout lane have two people: the cashier and a 'bagger' who will bag the groceries for you and, if requested, will bring them out and load them into your car. The bagger sometimes gets a tip, especially if they are handling heavy items like cat litter. (Baggers are common in grocery stores with large parking lots: so they were common growing up in a mid-sized city in the Midwest but I've never seen one in NYC)
- deleted 10y ago
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cmdrfred 10y ago
Id like to support businesses that pay their employees a living wage but as a consumer it is difficult to find that information. I'd like to see a sign in each store along the lines of "our lowest paid employee makes X/hr, has X days of paid vacation, and is eligible for health insurance" this might be something the market could correct for if the information asymmetry was removed.
- bradleyankrom 10y ago
  Short of ordinances requiring that information be displayed, you're right, it's probably not ever going to be easy to find. It's enough for me if businesses that treat their employees well are encouraged to make that information known. Businesses that are hiring will usually list benefits in their "apply now" signage, so that's a start.
j2bax 10y ago
I think to some extent, this compensation method puts the ball in the waiters' court and requires a lot less performance management on the businesses part. I'd be interested to know if service is better/worse/same in non-tipping countries.

misja111 10y ago

I'm from Europe so I'm not very familiar with the tipping etiquette in the USA, but if I understand you properly, you're saying that in supermarkets like Walmart, people give tips to the personell? Like to the cashier? That's quite a culture difference with Europe, here they would think that you were crazy if you would do such a thing ...

bradleyankrom 10y ago
No, sorry if I wasn't clear. I used Walmart as an example for low cost but their employees typically aren't tipped. There are other, smaller (local or regional chains) grocery stores where employees can accept tips, however.
zimzam 10y ago
In many grocery stores the checkout lane have two people: the cashier and a 'bagger' who will bag the groceries for you and, if requested, will bring them out and load them into your car. The bagger sometimes gets a tip, especially if they are handling heavy items like cat litter. (Baggers are common in grocery stores with large parking lots: so they were common growing up in a mid-sized city in the Midwest but I've never seen one in NYC)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

cmdrfred 10y ago

Id like to support businesses that pay their employees a living wage but as a consumer it is difficult to find that information. I'd like to see a sign in each store along the lines of "our lowest paid employee makes X/hr, has X days of paid vacation, and is eligible for health insurance" this might be something the market could correct for if the information asymmetry was removed.

bradleyankrom 10y ago
Short of ordinances requiring that information be displayed, you're right, it's probably not ever going to be easy to find. It's enough for me if businesses that treat their employees well are encouraged to make that information known. Businesses that are hiring will usually list benefits in their "apply now" signage, so that's a start.

j2bax 10y ago

I think to some extent, this compensation method puts the ball in the waiters' court and requires a lot less performance management on the businesses part. I'd be interested to know if service is better/worse/same in non-tipping countries.