<p>“Please do explain where that money is going to then… other than the owner’s pocket…”</p>
<p>Here:</p>
<p>[The</a> Average Profit Margin for a Restaurant | Chron.com](<a href=“http://smallbusiness.chron.com/average-profit-margin-restaurant-13477.html]The”>The Average Profit Margin for a Restaurant | Small Business - Chron.com)</p>
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<p>So maybe somebody with some more math knowledge can help me out here… 32+33+6=71%. Where is the remaining 29% going?</p>
<p>I would assume taxes take a big chunk, also.</p>
<p>I happen to agree with the poster who said that if people arent willing to pay a tip for reasonable service, then they are cheap. There really isnt any good explanation as to why one should not pay. Making 6 figures means what? Who cares. So do I. Money doesnt buy good manners.
Taking things out on the server is petty and if you really have complaint about the service, you should notify the manager. In my experience they have always taken an entre off the bill or given a free round of drinks or made some sort of gesture at restitution.</p>
<p>I’d like to clarify something that I hear again and again: The server’s base pay would result in below minimum wages (in the states that allow below minimum wages for servers) if no-one tipped. This is an absolute hogwash. The law guarantees at least the minimum wage to waiters if they fail to earn enough in tips. The restaurants have to cover the difference, if the tips do not.</p>
<p>Also, for people who do not tip on principle, I would like to point out that for checks that do not include tip on credit card, the restaurants report 8% of the check to IRS as a tip earned on that check whether or not that tip was left. In addition, the waiters usually tip out 1 or 2% of the check, to the bar and bus boys - again whether or not the tip was left. So, if you don’t leave a tip - it is like the waiter pays you to eat.</p>
<p>With that being said, because of the system we have right now, to me tipping when eating out is a social contract: I agree to tip, but the waiter agrees to wait on me. And just like the waiter expects me to fulfill my part of the contract, I expect the waiter to do the same. I have no problem leaving 10% for inadequate service (extremely rare occasion) or 1 cent for the horrible service (only happened once).</p>
<p>While the “pastor” was wrong, so was the waitress who posted to photo. She should have been disciplined - not sure about being fired, but I am not well versed in the labor law. I hope both the “pastor” and the waitress learned their lessons.</p>
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<p>I assume a good chunk of it goes to fixed costs and debt service. But even if all 29% went to profit, why are you against it? I thought private companies are in business of making money, am I not correct?</p>
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<p>If this were true (I don’t know that’s why I asked), then why am I the one being called “cheap” if I choose to not give whatever percentage ABOVE purchase price? But the employer is not? According to what I linked above, 33% of purchase price for food already goes to the staff wages. Why should I then be expected to shell out even more and not the employer?</p>
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Well, look at this sensibly. If the employer were to pay these people minimum wage, your food prices would rise…probably by more than the price of the expected tip. So, you really can’t justify not paying the tip. Either pay before or after.</p>
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<p>Please do explain where that money is going to then… other than the owner’s pocket…
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<p>What do you mean by “that money”? There isn’t much profit on food. Money is made with beverages and extras. That is the source of profit and to pay for rent, etc. You do understand that the restaurant does need to make a profit, right?</p>
<p>To pay the servers more would require an increase in meal prices.</p>
<p>Hop_scout, I just hope you’re arguing for the sake of entertainment and really do tip. Because if you don’t and visit any restaurants more than once, you are consuming significant amounts of server saliva.</p>
<p>But assuming you are serious, the “purchase price” you’re so enamored of is payment for the food and drink and a small percentage of your service. The tip is payment for the most of the service. So if you allow someone to wait on you and don’t leave a tip, you’re stealing and should just stay home to eat.</p>
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<p>Another reason why I frequent my favorite places and tip very well :D</p>
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Given that, I wonder how many waitstaff people report the full amount of tips they receive to the IRS?</p>
<p>Regarding minimum wage - don’t most waiters/waitresses end up with more than minimum wage? If not they’d do better at McDonalds but I always thought many/most of them actually did reasonably well compared to minimum wage.</p>
<p>If the system changed to the Euro system of non-tipping the meal prices would increase to cover the higher wage of the server but the ending cost of the meal would be about the same since one wouldn’t tip - it’s a wash. And I think there are plenty of people who would do a fine job of serving without the carrot of the tip. They manage to do just fine in Europe without it and I think decent people with a reasonable work ethic will do a decent job even with no tip but rather, a reasonable wage for the position - about what they’re making now with the hourly wage and tips. I don’t buy the argument that service would go down the tubes if there was no tipping. Management would take care of servers who do a poor job by replacing them - just as is done with people who serve others at retail establishments and many other areas. It’s a hypothetical point though because I doubt it’ll change.</p>
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<p>believe me, the waitstaff talk amongst themselves and know just who will tip and not tip, if you frequent the place. If they know you tip well, they actually go out of their way to accomodate you.
I cant stand cheap people. If they are cheap in this way, my thought is that they are usually skimp in life in other ways.</p>
<p>I find tipping a bit stressful, not so much from the standpoint of how much to tip, but rather when dining out with others, not knowing whether they are tipping, or how much they are tipping. So I would be absolutely fine with an increased price, no-tip approach.</p>
<p>I wonder if people who hate the idea of tipping avoid dining out to avoid having to tip, or if they enjoy the feeling they get when cheating waitstaff?</p>
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<p>If its a wash I’d prefer a system where I can incent good service.</p>
<p>I had no idea there was so much thought and angst over tipping. I never think much about it. I tip 15% for ordinary service and at least 20% for good service. I have a minimum, however. I frequent a locally owned diner with friends and never leave less than a $5 tip, even if I have a $8 burger. I don’t just factor in the price of the meal.</p>
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<p>Because it is social norm here, just like having clean underwear on while in public. </p>
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<p>I have not met one yet. </p>
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<p>Of course they do, but I often hear them say how they are paid $2.50 per hour and their paychecks are often zero, conveniently forgetting that they are guaranteed a minimum wage by the law. In reality they are making more than minimum wage. The reason their paychecks are zeros is because of taxes that pay on the tips they already received. </p>
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<p>I guarantee it is not going to be a wash. Last time I checked, barristers at Starbucks were paid more than minimum wage. Yet, here it is: a tip jar on a counter. I don’t give less tips in states that do not allow tip credit vs the states that do. I think that if we switch to “non-tipping” system, the line for tip would still be there and you would still be expected to pay extra for service. Look no further than cruise industry and any time dining that requires pre-paid gratuity. For some reason, people are still given envelops for additional tips.</p>
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<p>I personally am not going to police the world and make sure that a waiter gets tips from everyone. The only thing I am going to do is to make sure what I do is right - tip according to the bill I receive.</p>
<p>When I vacationed at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica, we were told that employees would be fired for taking tips. All that meant to us was that we very, very discreetly slipped them cash in an area where we knew no one could see it. There was no way I was going to be waited on hand and foot for a week and not give a very generous tip.</p>
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<p>I am not sure where the slippery slope started, but the tip jar hanging out of the drive through window is problematic. </p>
<p>You putting a tea bag in water and handing it out to me with my change is never going to be a tipable event.</p>
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By that theory, every sales clerk should be paid a couple of bucks an hour and depend on tips. So I’d generously tip the shoe store employee who makes multiple trips to the back room to bring out boxes of shoes while I hem and haw, the liquor store employee who helps select me an appropriate bottle of wine, the department store employee who rings up my purchase with a smile and some cordial conversation–but give less to the shoe store employee who keeps disappearing when I need a different size, the liquor store employee who makes me wait while he finishes a personal call, and the department store clerk who won’t look me in the eye or speak a word to me. Of course all that would be absurd. Why is it any less absurd to have to tip wait staff? I don’t want to have to bribe my server to treat me properly. Like every other employee, they should do their job well because that’s what they’re hired to do.</p>
<p>As for the Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts tip jars, I see them as a chance to give a little something extra (EXTRA, not part of their normal pay) to a few employees I see on a daily basis and have come to know. I don’t do it every time, and from what I see standing in line, most customers choose not to tip at all in these kinds of establishments. (When DS worked as a barista and whined about poor tips, I told him he was way out of line.) I think a no-tipping system would work fine in any restaurant.</p>
<p>I worked at a restaurant a few summers as a youngster, so I think I can see more than one side of the issue. I was taught to take pride in any job, so I made it a point to give good service and most times we got really good tips. The staff didn’t pool the tips at the end of the day, therefore the best workers (as far as customers were concerned) really stood out by the size of their nightly purse.</p>
<p>That summertime experience made me a fair tipper as an adult, but also made me a demanding customer. Honestly, I never believed that customers should be socially required to tip. I can’t stand to see tip jars at fast food joints and the like, but I know that some patrons are just cheapskates who nevertheless insist on gold standard service. Many on this thread have said that existing American wage/tip method is the system that we have to live with. Why? Why do we excuse employers from the minimum wage? If we’re going to have a minimum wage, then it should apply to all employers of unskilled labor. And I don’t buy the excuse from the Restaurant association and other business groups. When the circumstances justify, they offer better pay. Years ago on assignment in another big city, I noticed that more than one McDonalds posted huge signboards outside of their buildings offering at least a buck more than minimum wage for new employees. Why? because the local kids had better opportunities, or didn’t need a job. Classic demand and supply, which apparently some businesses don’t want to live by, so they game the system by getting exemptions granted by local legislatures.</p>