All true: - The system we have is internally consistent, which your comment very ably pointed out. - Restaurants are incentivized to employ workers whose pay

All true: - The system we have is internally consistent, which your comment very ably pointed out. - Restaurants are incentivized to employ workers whose pay falls under the "tipped workers" regulations. - Americans are used to tipping, and we understand the trade-offs, and those of us who don't work for tips (like you and me) generally like a tipping-based system. What's not to like about a system that gives us the power to control or punish service workers according to our whims? ;) Finally, citing profit margins as the reason to artificially depress payroll obligations of employers to employees might be accurate, but it's also a great example of how the system is broken: Why do restaurants exist that can't afford to pay their workers a fair wage?