521
submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemm.ee to c/news@lemmy.world

Summary

Tipping in U.S. restaurants has dropped to 19.3%, the lowest in six years, driven by frustration over rising menu prices and increased prompts for tips in non-traditional settings.

Only 38% of consumers tipped 20% or more in 2024, down from 56% in 2021, reflecting tighter budgets.

Diners are cutting back on outings, spending less, and tipping less. Some restaurants are adding service fees, further reducing tips.

Worker advocacy groups are pushing to eliminate the tipped-wage system, while the restaurant industry warns these shifts hurt business and employees.

Key cities like D.C. and Chicago are phasing in higher minimum wages for tipped workers.

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[-] Glytch@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

I assure you I am also angry at my corporate masters, but they're irredeemable scum and aren't on Lemmy. It angers me more when I see people cheering that food is being taken out of my mouth as though it's some virtuous blow to my bosses. It's not. You're only further exploiting already exploited people

[-] asret@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 month ago

It's so much nicer travelling in places where service workers are valued by their employers.

I still support the anti-tipping people though - it's the single best option they have to effect change. It's something small, concrete, and moves things to the desired end-state.

Stop tipping and donate the amount to community organizations fighting poverty instead.

[-] Glytch@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Or better yet advocate for a minimum wage that is actually livable so people don't have to rely on charity organizations that often come with religious strings attached.

[-] AtariDump@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

It angers me when I have to subsidize someone else’s wages because they’re not built into the price I’m paying.

Do you tip the cashier at the grocery store? The technology employee who recommended what TV to buy? The book store worker who helped you find a book?

No, you don’t.

Why? Because their pay is already factored into the price of the goods being sold or the service being provided.

If anyone’s stealing food from your mouth it’s your employer.

[-] Glytch@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Yes, blame the exploited for their exploitation and never acknowledge your participation in it. You are a good American

[-] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 month ago

the exploited are in on it in this case. Because, by federal law, "below minimum wage jobs" don't exist. You either make minimum with tips, or the employer is forced to pay the full amount. So the problem is wage theft. That is not the concern of the clients, but of the relevant authorities, if the servers bothered to report, of course

[-] prole 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Try to live off $7.25/hour, let alone raise a family. Servers make even less (~$3 something/hour?).

This shit is so fucking tone deaf and misguided.

[-] Glytch@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago
[-] don@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago

“No! No! My employer shouldn’t be paying me a living wage, the people I serve should be paying me my living wage! My employer is categorically not at all responsible for paying me!”

— you, a very wonderful person, and a damned good American!

[-] Glytch@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

By continuing to support a business that you know exploits its workers you participate in the exploitation of those workers. Your desire to not pay for services rendered only amplifies said exploitation and does nothing to incentivize its cessation.

To paraphrase PBS: Exploitation is made possible by customers like you.

[-] don@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[-] AtariDump@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Don’t feed the trolls. :)

[-] prole 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Dude, read the thread, Glytch is not saying that! Holy shit you people are dense...

You are supporting the exploitation by using the service in the first place.

100% of the tip is given to the driver (in the case of delivery apps), and refusing to tip does nothing but directly hurt other working class people.

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

"Do you tip the cashier at the grocery store?"

What cashiers? All of the cashiers have been replaced by electronic self-checkout systems.

[-] AtariDump@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Even if they have, that doesn’t negate the other two examples.

And every grocery store I’ve been to still has human cashiers even if they’ve implemented self checkout.

Good day, sir.

[-] prole 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm with you, these replies are delusional. Saying that the employer has to pay minimum wage if the servers don't get tips is so ignorant it's insane. Servers make like ~$3/hr in a big chunk of the US. That's slave labor in our modern economy. $7.25 is not much better.

They think they're making some grand statement by tipping their UberEats driver $0, while in reality they're just taking money directly from other working class people. And if they actually wanted to make a statement, they would not have used UberEats in the first fucking place.

Edit: To be perfectly clear, when I say servers make $3, I am referring to the federal minimum wage for servers, and yes it is different and much lower than $7.25/hr.

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

I also agree with you but i wanted to point out that if the worker getting paid $3/hr doesn't make enough tips to cover the remaining $4.25/hr in tips then theoretically the business is legally supposed to make up that remaining hourly difference. -I've never seen that happen but a server making such a low amount in tips repeatedly is a server i'd expect to not remain working in that role.

[-] prole 1 points 1 month ago

You are mistaken. The US has two different federal minimum wages. Servers have a lower minimum wage. It's like ~$3/hour.

[-] fartemoji@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa

According to the DOL, an employer may not pay their employees less than $2.13 per hour even if they make enough tips that they'd still be making minimum wage just off of tips. So there is a separate, lower minimum wage for tipped workers.

At the same time though, tipped workers still have to make the full (federal) minimum wage. If your $2.13 per hour plus your tips only come out to $6 per hour, your employer has to pay the other $1.25 per hour.

Enforcement is another issue, of course, but tipped workers have the same minimum wage as everybody else. The tipped wage just allows businesses to count tips as wages up to a certain point. If a tipped worker is only being paid $3 per hour because they didn't get enough tips, that business is stealing their labor and needs to be smacked.

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I was a server in addition to an Office Assistant that adjusted payroll among other things in the hospitality industry here in the U.S.
-That additional amount is supposed to be made up for by the employer if the server doesn't make enough in tips. If as a server you are not making at least 7.25/hr in wages or alternatively in combined pay and tips then you need to contact your local states Department of Labor because you're likely having wages stolen.

this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2025
521 points (100.0% liked)

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