<p>I have to agree with MommaJ. Maybe I’m out of date, but 15% – a “generous 15%” (round up, etc.) seems like the standard for decent service, 20% for exceptional. I don’t know when 20% became the new baseline. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a baseline.</p>
<p>I do tip at Starbucks and similar places, but honestly, it’s just because I can’t be bothered with the change, and would rather throw it into their tip jar. Whether it’s 7 cents or 87 cents. Not because I’m “rewarding” anything necessarily. </p>
<p>I’m so tired of this whole nonsense of tipping. Especially when the companies keep adding service charges for this or that. Pizza places are the worst. They charge a “delivery charge” but are very clear that does not go to the delivery person. Yesterday I ordered from Pizza Hut and my cost came out to $18.70 or something like that. I gave the guy a $20 and told him to keep the change. I’m sure there are plenty of people who will chew me out for it, but let’s look at a breakdown here…</p>
<p>Of that $18.70 there were charges for:
3.75 delivery fee
0.90 tax
14.00 for the food itself</p>
<p>And it was over 10 minutes late. So while that originally sounds like so little at a $1.30 tip, it’s actually over 10%. And about 1.5x the tax…</p>
<p>No, I’m not tipping based on the delivery charge! That’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>I am with pizzagirl and MommaJ. While, I’ve tipped 20% on occasion I don’t consider it a standard tip. The only time I have heard of 20% is on disscussion boards and mostly coming from people connected to industry. Seems like a self-fullfilling prophecy.</p>
<p>Actually, I’m reasonably sure the standard tip varies by region. Growing up, 10-percent was fine. In NYC it was 15-percent at that time. So, I’m guessing it’s 20-percent there by now. But, probably not everywhere. </p>
<p>They aren’t getting minimum wage. Waiters/tresses are one of the few employee categories where restaurants are legally allowed to pay less than minimum wage as they’re expected to make most from their tips. </p>
<p>However, due to various factors whether it’s ignorant/cheapskate patrons or a quiet night with little business, there are nights where they may end up not making much or sometimes even lose money. Moreso if the tips have to be shared among other staff, it’s worse. </p>
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<p>Out of curiosity, how old are your friends? </p>
<p>One sticking point about the 15% to 20% issue is that many folks who are older and don’t eat out a lot may not have been aware that due to changes in laws governing estimated tip percentage calculations for tax purposes sometime in the '90s, 18-20% has become the reasonable tip for good service while leaving 15% or less is only done if the service was mediocre. </p>
<p>I was fortunate to have been made aware of this by parents of college classmates and later, supervisors/older colleagues who dine regularly during my undergrad years as that caused me to avoid some embarrassing episodes in dating and other social situations where one’s date/peers would feel tipping 15% for reasonably good service marks one out as a horridly extreme cheapskate and treated accordingly. </p>
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<p>Oldfort, </p>
<p>18-20% tip is not overpaying for good service. Rather that’s the minimum for reasonably good service from sometime in the mid-late '90s onward. </p>
<p>On the other hand. while 15% was once considered a minimum for reasonably good service IN THE PAST, that’s no longer the case. </p>
<p>If you give 15% tip, you’re actually UNDERPAYING if the service was reasonably good. </p>
<p>If given 15% tip, most waiters/tresses would be wondering what they did wrong to leave a tip which communicated he/she gave mediocre service or whether you were just a cheapskate. </p>
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<p>How much one tip is not only determined by level of service, but also custom. Scarcity of service is not applicable due to custom</p>
<p>Moreover, if one is to err in this situation, it’s better to err on the side of generosity than stinginess. </p>
<p>That’s not to say one shouldn’t give lower/no tips for mediocre-atrociously bad service. However, the current commonly used scale is 18-20% for reasonably good service, 15% for mediocre but not terrible, and nothing-10% and a demand for a discussion with the owner/manager if service was horrible and/or the waiter/tress was rude to oneself or more importantly…one’s friends/date. </p>
<p>And if one can’t afford to dine out and allocate 18-20% tip for reasonably good service, then he/she essentially can’t afford to dine out at a restaurant with waiter/tress service. </p>
<p>@cobrat,
So essentially you’re trying to rationalize a “High-Tipping/High-Aid” model where not only need I tip more to float lower income tippers, but i need also to float low volume times of the day; cheapskate tippers; greedy restaurant owners. And I also need to tip in cash to shield reportable income from the Internal Revenue Service and from greedy cooks.</p>
<p>Regarding thumper’s question to me, I pay proportionately more for a breakfast at a quick stop than I do for an expensive restaurant meal, so to me it’s not whether it’s 10% or 15% or 20% it’s about a tip for the work performed. Sorry, but a $40 tip for a $200 meal is not reasonable in my opinion. But I know I’d leave more than $2 bucks for a $10 breakfast. </p>
<p>Also regarding the Thumper question about lunch and dinner prices and tipping. For the server, working dinner is generally preferable but not always. Lunch diners are in and out in less time and what you lose in total bill per table you can make up in volume. Mileage will vary.</p>
<p>I thought IRS used 8% as an estimate of cash tips. If they raised it to 12%, then they realized that waiters were still under-reporting their cash income. So, according to this logic raising standard tip to 20% was done so that waiters could continue under-reporting their tip? </p>
<p>Seems to me that IRS will eventually catch on and raise their estimate again. And then the industry will insist we have to raise a standard to 25%?</p>
<p>Kindly exclude me out of this race to a 100% tip. </p>
<p>^^ So true. When I was young I liked the breakfasts and lunches because I could flip tables quickly. and liked having my summer nights free. One of my kids liked the high-end restaurants…less work.plus big tip money because people tend to do the 15-20% thing without thinking about it. It was easy to walk out at night for him to have a minimum of $500 bucks in his pocket for a medium busy night and $300 on a slow night for a 5 hour shift. That’s crazy money simply for putting up with people’s idiosyncrasies. My other kid disliked serving “the public” and preferred back of house, but you make a whole lot less money. But in general the flat percentage tip always is an odd concept. </p>
Ah yes, Baghdad by the Bay likes to impose itself into just about every area of life…rumor has it they will start charging a breathing tax…you know…some use more than others >-) and must be forced to pay their fair share. SF already has a mandatory health care fee added to the tab. And remember you will be charged for a container if you take home a ‘doggie bag’.</p>
<p>Yes, weird about the lunch cost differential. Since H and I have the flexibility we tend to each out for lunch much more than for dinner. Neither of us like that heavy feeling late in the evening. And as for the tipping…I tend to tip 20% at the lower end eateries. I’ll tip the server at the concession stand quite well - THAT is hard work. However, the few times we go to high priced places I tend to tip closer to the 15%. And, frankly…I’ve stopped ordering alcohol (H doesn’t drink so it’s always by the glass)…and do what the college kids do…load up before the event.</p>
<p>I have cruise many times and do not understand the above. The auto tip covers the cabin steward and the daily wait staff. Why would you not expect to tip a bartender when used at various times throughout a cruise. It is also news to me that passengers are “supposed/expected” to ‘tip’ at the beginning of a cruise. </p>
<p>Momofthreeboys…my question was NOT directed at YOU. It was directed to the posters on this thread.</p>
<p>This is a very easy thing to solve. If one really doesn’t want to tip, they can go to a fast food or cafeteria style restaurant, or eat at home.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if that sounds snarky. I worked as a waitress working my way through college. I have a kid who pays his rent as a waiter. We both know the importance of providing excellent service, cheerfully, to those we serve. Waiting tables is not the easiest job on the planet. no, it doesn’t take a college education, but it takes an abundance of good manners, thoughtful service, and careful planning (it’s not easy to jockey several tables who arrive at the same time, get all their orders correct, and serve them HOT. Not to mention that the better restaurants require their staffs to have a good knowledge of the menu items, ingredients, and the like.</p>
<p>Cobrat, did you look at the table that I linked in post # (sigh…we can’t do that any more…). In the post you quoted? By “minimum” I meant the $2.13/hour or higher depending on the state that is the minimum for tipped workers.</p>
<p>I tend to find it nauseating sometimes that some boast about being generous tippers or try to put a guilt trip on others that they are cheap for not leaving 20% or more; and if you don’t tip as expected that you shouldn’t eat out.
When not on vacation, I rarely eat in restaurants simply because I prefer home cooked meals where the ingredients are better and sodium and sugar are controlled.
I worked a second job as a waiter at night at a nice restaurant in New Orleans when I first got out of college . Yeah, I worked hard for the tips but some of the practices I saw in the kitchen area left a lot to be desired.</p>
<p>I am sorry you misconstrued some of the posts here as people not wanting to tip. I view tipping in US as a social contract, if I go out to eat I know I’m expected to tip. We are all fully aware that waiters rely on the tips for their livelihood. </p>
<p>However, let’s not pretend that most waiters do not make decent hourly wages. It would not be a sought-after position if it was the case. Also, let’s make it clear that everyone is guaranteed at least minimum hourly wages regardless of tips. If the tips fall short, the restaurant owner is required by federal law to cover short-fall. However, if this happens, the waiter should either reconsider his profession or place of work. The tip-credit law exists because of the tipping culture, not the other way around.</p>
<p>While waiting tables is hard work, so is many other jobs with far less overall compensation. As oldfort said effort is not what compensation is based on. </p>
<p>As I said, I do sometimes tip more than 15%, but I resent the push to 20% as a standard. All the reasons for this change stated so far will not fly in other professions.</p>
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