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People are confused about tipflation because they don't want to acknowledge how messed up the tipping system in North America is. With more places asking for t

People are confused about tipflation because they don't want to acknowledge how messed up the tipping system in North America is. With more places asking for tips I often see "I only tip if I am sitting down". Why? Because it's what people are used to. In time, this too will be normalized and people will one day tip at these places too like they do at restaurants. And frankly, people should be tipping at other places if they tip at restaurants since all the same principles apply - your plumbers, doctors, etc. work hard too, so they deserve the compensation the same way waiters do. And before anybody says that waiters make less (which is not true in certain states and Canada where they make minimum wage), then just remove the exception for minimum wage instead of having tipping. And no you shouldn't continue to tip in the interm because the servers themselves have no incentive to switch since they make more under tipping - they don't care about making minimum wage so why would customers worry about it for them? The usual response to this is that we shouldn't push people down but pull people up, so let's do that, tip everybody and pull up those compensation numbers.

jtriangle 3y ago
Tipping is a communication of exceptional value to the provider of a service. Doctors provide expected service, as dictated by the rules and regulations they, themselves are subject to. Plumbers are in a similar, though less rigid, situation, ie, most services have a very clear expectation of service to be provided that is not normally exceeded if at all. Food service workers are in a situation where, the expectation is self-service, and as such all of the service they provide, ie, the things you wouldn't do yourself, is exceptional and therefore it is necessary to communicate that additional value provided in the form of a tip. The reason the mass deployment of unnecessary tipping prompts seems so consumer adverse to most people is that they do not have a well thought out idea of what is actually happening when they tip, and instead have to wrestle with guilt or tradition to make their decisions. When you understand the situation at hand, there is no such guilt and that allows you to see the mass deployment of tipping prompts for what they really are: a ploy to manipulate customers into subsidizing employee wages.
- Nullabillity 3y ago
  That would make some semblance of sense if there was an option to opt out of the table service.
  - jtriangle 3y ago
    Most places post-covid have kept their to-go service.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- wryoak 3y ago
  Research demonstrates time and again that tipping has no correspondence with value provided. My own experience as a bartender anecdotally backs this up: someone visits the bar and asks for a single ($5) beer and tips $10 for my amazing value-adding service of opening the refrigerator and popping the top off a bottle for them. For another person I make four long islands (long islands have four alcohols and some mixers - not difficult to make but tedious, and the patrons witness the entire process) and they tip me a dollar on their $40 bill. These are all cases that happened in the last month. But that last sentence of yours sounds more insightful than it is: customers always pay employee wages. It’s not a subsidy, customers are the source of the base income as well as any bonuses, commissions, tips, etc. That’s how business works. Revenue covers liabilities, if successful. I’ve thought about it time and time again and the only justification I can identify for tipping is as a proxy for surge pricing. Maybe we just need to figure out how to price products based on business traffic. Do you price the empty hours higher because of the added value of privacy and exclusivity, or the busy ones to keep traffic manageable? The practice of “gratuity included for tables of 8 or more” seems to suggest the latter is a more natural business move, but there might be a place for the former as well…
StimDeck 3y ago
I see it the other way around, if I am not tipping my doctor or my plumber then why should I have to tip my server or barista. The answer of course is that people who rely on tips don’t earn a living wage. That’s before accounting for white servers earning more than their black peers. The US regulates other areas that perpetuate racism like borrowing and employment. Tipping should be illegal.

jtriangle 3y ago

Tipping is a communication of exceptional value to the provider of a service. Doctors provide expected service, as dictated by the rules and regulations they, themselves are subject to. Plumbers are in a similar, though less rigid, situation, ie, most services have a very clear expectation of service to be provided that is not normally exceeded if at all. Food service workers are in a situation where, the expectation is self-service, and as such all of the service they provide, ie, the things you wouldn't do yourself, is exceptional and therefore it is necessary to communicate that additional value provided in the form of a tip. The reason the mass deployment of unnecessary tipping prompts seems so consumer adverse to most people is that they do not have a well thought out idea of what is actually happening when they tip, and instead have to wrestle with guilt or tradition to make their decisions. When you understand the situation at hand, there is no such guilt and that allows you to see the mass deployment of tipping prompts for what they really are: a ploy to manipulate customers into subsidizing employee wages.

Nullabillity 3y ago
That would make some semblance of sense if there was an option to opt out of the table service.
- jtriangle 3y ago
  Most places post-covid have kept their to-go service.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
wryoak 3y ago
Research demonstrates time and again that tipping has no correspondence with value provided. My own experience as a bartender anecdotally backs this up: someone visits the bar and asks for a single ($5) beer and tips $10 for my amazing value-adding service of opening the refrigerator and popping the top off a bottle for them. For another person I make four long islands (long islands have four alcohols and some mixers - not difficult to make but tedious, and the patrons witness the entire process) and they tip me a dollar on their $40 bill. These are all cases that happened in the last month. But that last sentence of yours sounds more insightful than it is: customers always pay employee wages. It’s not a subsidy, customers are the source of the base income as well as any bonuses, commissions, tips, etc. That’s how business works. Revenue covers liabilities, if successful. I’ve thought about it time and time again and the only justification I can identify for tipping is as a proxy for surge pricing. Maybe we just need to figure out how to price products based on business traffic. Do you price the empty hours higher because of the added value of privacy and exclusivity, or the busy ones to keep traffic manageable? The practice of “gratuity included for tables of 8 or more” seems to suggest the latter is a more natural business move, but there might be a place for the former as well…

StimDeck 3y ago

I see it the other way around, if I am not tipping my doctor or my plumber then why should I have to tip my server or barista. The answer of course is that people who rely on tips don’t earn a living wage. That’s before accounting for white servers earning more than their black peers. The US regulates other areas that perpetuate racism like borrowing and employment. Tipping should be illegal.