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I'm not convinced those purposes really pan out, though. Some alternative takes: * A spectrum of competition can also be created the way it's done in any othe
by bunderbunder 14y ago
I'm not convinced those purposes really pan out, though.
Some alternative takes:
* A spectrum of competition can also be created the way it's done in any other industry: Expect a higher level of professionalism and competence from holders of higher-paying jobs, and attract more qualified employees by paying them more.
* A commission system can be handled the way it's done in any other industry: The employer sets the commission, and builds it into their price structure. This would be more transparent, since it means the consumer is being directly told how much the item will cost rather than being expected to do mental math to acquire its true price.
* Studies have shown there's not really a lot of correlation between the server's quality of service and the tip they get. It has a lot more to do with the temperament of the tipper, etc. It's not an incentive if it doesn't incentivize. And a basic demand for professionalism and courtesy works anywhere else. There's something fundamentally broken about a customer service philosophy that assumes your customer-facing employees need financial incentives to be nice to people. For one, it implies a poor opinion of the people who are doing the job.
* An straightforward commission would also encourage increased table turnover. Again, with more price transparency for the consumer, and more respect afforded to the server.
- tptacek 14y agoHow does a backend commission that customers play no part in improve transparency for customers? What's more transparent than "I can actually select the commission my servers gets, from 15-20%"? Help me understand how tipping is customer-unfriendly, and jacked up menu prices and backend commissions aren't. I'm just not getting it. Is it just the requirement to do math?
- bunderbunder 14y agoIt's partially the requirement to do math. Folks just aren't necessarily thinking about the eventual gratuity at order time, and can end up spending more than they intended when the time comes to calculate the tip. Meaning that, in essence, there's a sort of minor dishonesty built into the pricing scheme that encourages people to spend more. Perhaps we're talking past each other on the wording of things. I'm drawing a distinction between "transparent pricing" and "flexible pricing".
- tptacek 14y agoBuy a bottle of wine at a restaurant and you are almost certainly paying 1.5x to 2x more than the bottle costs in the store right down the street. Bring your own bottle to a restaurant that serves wine and, because the restaurant expects to make much of its ROI on wine, they'll charge you a corkage fee. That's opaque pricing. You can rail against wine markups too, I suppose. Of course, since most restaurants work on razor thin margins and most fail, there's not much point; they're charging what they need to succeed in their market.
- jack-r-abbit 14y agoWe also have to think of the tax that will be applied. You got out to eat and order a $7.95 burger/fries and a $1.50 soda[1]... most people already know that it'll be more than $10. It is not so hard to do the math. Since tax around here is in the 8.5-9.5% range, most of the time it can be safe to just double the tax on the receipt to get roughly 17-19% tip... round up if you want to show extra thanks... down if not. Many places will also print on the receipt the various percentages of tip so you don't even really have to do much at all but some multi-digit addition. So unless one has a hard time with "carry the 1" the math isn't that bad. I tend to over tip so I can get my grand total to a nice round number. And it is not uncommon for me to add an extra buck or two if my kids have made a huge mess of the place. [1]But don't get me started on the extortion of $1.50 for a fountain drink.
- tptacek 14y agoI just divide by 10 then double.
- jack-r-abbit 14y agoya... that too.