4 ms·

The crazy tipping "culture" is forcing people to order out. State the price, pay your staff adequately and serve them well. They will return. It's that simple.

hooverd 1y ago
"forcing people to"? it's still more expensive in money or in time if you're getting anything more than replacement level fast food.
catlover76 1y ago
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MangoToupe 1y ago
I don't think this is entirely true, particularly when delivery sources that take a percentage cut are a large factor. Furthermore the tips would just be absorbed into the cost of the menu items. I think rising wealth inequality is also a problem. The top 10% of america can only eat out at so many places at once.
tpmoney 1y ago
They're going to have to fix their food quality problems too, especially if they're going to bake in (pun not intended) a wage hike for their staff. The last handful of times I've gone out to standard faire American restaurants (think Outback, Applebees etc), the price for two people before tip was anywhere from $30-$50 / person. $100 for Outback would have been a pretty steep ask even before "delivery" became a thing, but since the pandemic there has been a noticeable drop in quality across the board. The places are under-staffed and over worked and the need to cram as many bodies in as possible combined with "industrial chic" has made most of them noisier than a school cafeteria. The food is not only anemic in looks and quantity but the quality is barely better than a frozen dinner from the grocery store. I'm not avoiding the restaurants because I have to tip, I'm avoiding them because I'm being charged high end steak house prices for microwaved frozen food.
- hooverd 1y ago
  The price floor on the middling chain restaurants has gone up but the prices on the higher end haven't as much. Now it's a better deal to just go to the local, nicer restaurant.
Klonoar 1y ago
If the phenomenon was people ordering take out and picking it up themselves, I might be inclined to agree. It's not, though - you still have sticker shock of fees/tips/etc on DoorDash (etc.) orders. Tipping is an issue in America today but I doubt it's the cause of this particular problem.
pavel_lishin 1y ago
> The crazy tipping "culture" is forcing people to order out. Have you seen the delivery fees? You're not saving any money by ordering delivery.
- seanmcdirmid 1y ago
  They are free if you pick up your own order. I know this is about deliveries, but take outs are basically the same thing with the person ordering acting as the delivery walker (I live in Seattle/Ballard, so at least we don't have to drive to get food). I've recently discovered a local grocery store's salad/hot bar, and its basically my go to for lunch now (they grocery store doesn't even ask for tips).
  - Klonoar 1y ago
    There is a real argument in Seattle that tipping in most cases should not be required, and you shouldn't feel bad about just selecting "0" in many cases. We pay people a minimum wage here and the tipping arrangement that, unfortunately, exists in the rest of the country is inverted here as a result. Also if you're in Ballard, I hope the store you're talking about is Town & Country. Their hot bar is good enough that my wife and I grab dinner there some nights.
    - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
      Yep Town & Country, I used to just ignore it out of bias, one of those yuppy grocery stores, but it turned out to be way better than QFC, and its not like they do salad bars here like Ralph's does in LA. Tipping is crazy in Ballard, and the food options aren't that great anyways. If we drive, we just go to Bellevue or even Edmonds to eat (my wife is Chinese).
  - freejazz 1y ago
    Yeah, really crazy how when you eat out of a trough, no one asks you for a tip.
  - BeetleB 1y ago

hooverd 1y ago

"forcing people to"? it's still more expensive in money or in time if you're getting anything more than replacement level fast food.

catlover76 1y ago

[dead]

MangoToupe 1y ago

I don't think this is entirely true, particularly when delivery sources that take a percentage cut are a large factor. Furthermore the tips would just be absorbed into the cost of the menu items. I think rising wealth inequality is also a problem. The top 10% of america can only eat out at so many places at once.

tpmoney 1y ago

They're going to have to fix their food quality problems too, especially if they're going to bake in (pun not intended) a wage hike for their staff. The last handful of times I've gone out to standard faire American restaurants (think Outback, Applebees etc), the price for two people before tip was anywhere from $30-$50 / person. $100 for Outback would have been a pretty steep ask even before "delivery" became a thing, but since the pandemic there has been a noticeable drop in quality across the board. The places are under-staffed and over worked and the need to cram as many bodies in as possible combined with "industrial chic" has made most of them noisier than a school cafeteria. The food is not only anemic in looks and quantity but the quality is barely better than a frozen dinner from the grocery store. I'm not avoiding the restaurants because I have to tip, I'm avoiding them because I'm being charged high end steak house prices for microwaved frozen food.

hooverd 1y ago
The price floor on the middling chain restaurants has gone up but the prices on the higher end haven't as much. Now it's a better deal to just go to the local, nicer restaurant.

Klonoar 1y ago

If the phenomenon was people ordering take out and picking it up themselves, I might be inclined to agree. It's not, though - you still have sticker shock of fees/tips/etc on DoorDash (etc.) orders. Tipping is an issue in America today but I doubt it's the cause of this particular problem.

pavel_lishin 1y ago

> The crazy tipping "culture" is forcing people to order out. Have you seen the delivery fees? You're not saving any money by ordering delivery.

seanmcdirmid 1y ago
They are free if you pick up your own order. I know this is about deliveries, but take outs are basically the same thing with the person ordering acting as the delivery walker (I live in Seattle/Ballard, so at least we don't have to drive to get food). I've recently discovered a local grocery store's salad/hot bar, and its basically my go to for lunch now (they grocery store doesn't even ask for tips).
- Klonoar 1y ago
  There is a real argument in Seattle that tipping in most cases should not be required, and you shouldn't feel bad about just selecting "0" in many cases. We pay people a minimum wage here and the tipping arrangement that, unfortunately, exists in the rest of the country is inverted here as a result. Also if you're in Ballard, I hope the store you're talking about is Town & Country. Their hot bar is good enough that my wife and I grab dinner there some nights.
  - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
    Yep Town & Country, I used to just ignore it out of bias, one of those yuppy grocery stores, but it turned out to be way better than QFC, and its not like they do salad bars here like Ralph's does in LA. Tipping is crazy in Ballard, and the food options aren't that great anyways. If we drive, we just go to Bellevue or even Edmonds to eat (my wife is Chinese).
- freejazz 1y ago
  Yeah, really crazy how when you eat out of a trough, no one asks you for a tip.
- BeetleB 1y ago