4 ms·

Seems like the entire cost of running the business and keeping people employed has been passed on to the customer. Is that not the only way it can work? Unless

Seems like the entire cost of running the business and keeping people employed has been passed on to the customer. Is that not the only way it can work? Unless a business is being subsidised by someone as a hobby or Softbank is pouring money into it for it to be set on fire (more charitably in some kind of growth phase where they can stomach taking a loss for years), then the income from the customers surely has to cover the costs.

frumper 3y ago
Just price it in. The reaction to all the point of sale fees are transparent pricing laws which will just make the business have to calculate and track all of these silly fees, add them up and then display the final price to the consumer before they choose to buy it.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Except that tips won't even count as those "fees", because they're technically a gift from the customer directly to the employee. That's a big part of why I get so angry about this. This practice has subverted a good and very nice human act into a something demanded. It strips out all of the value of tipping.
toomuchtodo 3y ago
Wages must be built into the costs, otherwise the owner maintains their margin subsidized by the customer through tips. Otherwise, the "true costs" are what the customer pays + tips. It's resort fees for services!
Symbiote 3y ago
Yes (generally), but the $100 ticket would be better advertised as $175, and the $24 pizza should have been listed as $24 on the menu, not $16 (+10% tax, +$2 fair wage fee, +25% tip). </european-pov>
manuelmoreale 3y ago
Usually running costs are built into the price of something. It would feel weird if Netflix was asking you to add a tip to help pay for the developers after charging you for a subscription. As a business owner you set the price of a product or a service while factoring in all costs, including wages. Tipping should not be mandatory and if it is then it means something is profoundly wrong with the way the specific industry works.
blueridge 3y ago
If you're starting a business you need the resources and the financial fundamentals in place to keep the doors open. If you're renting a space you can't afford, or you're spending beyond your means for supplies, or your menu is too broad, or your opening hours don't make sense...you can only compensate by increasing costs for so long—people will go somewhere else. "I really like the food, I like the space, but I can't keep buying a $15 bottle of juice and a $22 sandwich with a single slice of meat, and I don't know why I'm on the hook for all of these extra fees..." One of our local eateries recently closed their doors because they just couldn't make it work. They ruined goodwill with customers by substantially increasing the cost of everything, every few weeks: sandwiches, drinks, small baked goods, small bags of chips, etc. On top of that, they added one service charge after the next, and it always came with a plea to help them stay open. But they made a lot of bad decisions along the way, like opening up a fancy organic eatery in a part of town with no foot traffic and no parking, by taking on even more debt to expand their space and open up another pop-up store before they had got the basics rights with their first location. Fewer and fewer people came to visit and that was that.

frumper 3y ago

Just price it in. The reaction to all the point of sale fees are transparent pricing laws which will just make the business have to calculate and track all of these silly fees, add them up and then display the final price to the consumer before they choose to buy it.

JohnFen 3y ago
Except that tips won't even count as those "fees", because they're technically a gift from the customer directly to the employee. That's a big part of why I get so angry about this. This practice has subverted a good and very nice human act into a something demanded. It strips out all of the value of tipping.

toomuchtodo 3y ago

Wages must be built into the costs, otherwise the owner maintains their margin subsidized by the customer through tips. Otherwise, the "true costs" are what the customer pays + tips. It's resort fees for services!

Symbiote 3y ago

Yes (generally), but the $100 ticket would be better advertised as $175, and the $24 pizza should have been listed as $24 on the menu, not $16 (+10% tax, +$2 fair wage fee, +25% tip). </european-pov>

manuelmoreale 3y ago

Usually running costs are built into the price of something. It would feel weird if Netflix was asking you to add a tip to help pay for the developers after charging you for a subscription. As a business owner you set the price of a product or a service while factoring in all costs, including wages. Tipping should not be mandatory and if it is then it means something is profoundly wrong with the way the specific industry works.

blueridge 3y ago

If you're starting a business you need the resources and the financial fundamentals in place to keep the doors open. If you're renting a space you can't afford, or you're spending beyond your means for supplies, or your menu is too broad, or your opening hours don't make sense...you can only compensate by increasing costs for so long—people will go somewhere else. "I really like the food, I like the space, but I can't keep buying a $15 bottle of juice and a $22 sandwich with a single slice of meat, and I don't know why I'm on the hook for all of these extra fees..." One of our local eateries recently closed their doors because they just couldn't make it work. They ruined goodwill with customers by substantially increasing the cost of everything, every few weeks: sandwiches, drinks, small baked goods, small bags of chips, etc. On top of that, they added one service charge after the next, and it always came with a plea to help them stay open. But they made a lot of bad decisions along the way, like opening up a fancy organic eatery in a part of town with no foot traffic and no parking, by taking on even more debt to expand their space and open up another pop-up store before they had got the basics rights with their first location. Fewer and fewer people came to visit and that was that.