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this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2026
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Don't worry American citizens are also confused by the expensive tipping culture in the US. I still maintain 15% for a good job, 10% for a mediocre job, 5% for anything below. Giving above 15% is just subsidizing the pay the employer should be giving. It's a symptom of the fact that wages have stagnated for over 50 years. The pay that once supported someone and even a child is now far below the poverty line for even an individual. So instead of increasing pay to match what it once was many businesses have turned to aggressive tipping over just increasing the prices of their service / products.
Talking about restaurant dining only... My baseline is 20%. Higher for breakfast and/or a great job. Shave some off for truly bad experiences.
I 100% agree that servers should be paid a full living wage before tips. But the truth is, they survive entirely on their tips. Not tipping over 15% isn't sending a message to the employer or the industry. The only person that is impacting is your server who probably doesn't even get to keep 100% of what you leave and makes an hourly rate that's probably 50% or lower of the minimum wage.
My hometown has a lot of restaurants and a few years back had a measure on the ballot to ensure that servers were actually paid the full hourly minimum wage by their employer. Somehow, the servers were convinced that it would be a bad thing and were against it. The measure failed.
Illegal everywhere in the USA. It is federal law that tipped wage workers must be paid the difference up to minimum wage if tips did not cover that gap.
I mean, yeah, but federal minimum wage is only $7.50 an hour. Hardly a livable wage anywhere in the country. The minimum for tipped workers in this town is $6.50 an hour. So at most an employer would need to cover $40 a week under that law.
I did not claim that the federal minimum wage was liveable. That's a separate point and convo.
And almost impossible to sue over and get paid not to mention servers don't have the money for confronting their bosses but sure make excuses for the blatant exploitation.
I'm not making excuses for exploitation. Servers are absolutely exploited in the US and the laws are dumb as hell. Servers, and everyone, deserves a liveable wage.
You don't need to sue. A couple people with paystubs can file a complaint with the state DoL and they'll investigate.
Of course this varies by state and will take months, but it's not like you have to pay to retain a lawyer.
I have to put my money where my mouth is. Generally speaking i have decreased eating out and generally avoid dining in locations where tipping is customary. I absolutely avoid like the plague locations that automatically suggest the minimum tip should be 20%+. That said even the completely automated car wash down the way asks if I want to tip now so I have doubts that tips go to that individual worker or to the workers at all in every circumstance.
If everyone behaved the same then this culture of businesses offloading their employees income directly onto individuals would end very quickly. Tipping wasn't always like this, the tip used to just be a little extra people gave sometimes and now it's been weaponized by unscrupulous business owners.
Avoiding eating out is how you put your money where your mouth is. If your impact truly matters, that's how the restaurant owners/investors will see it.
As much as I don't like it, 20% is now the standard for tipping. Anything less than that you're sending a message, but the only possible interpretation of that message is that you don't like the service. There's no method for delivering your individual feelings about tipping culture through tipping less than everyone around you. There's no form on the receipt that gets collated and presented to decision makers.
In reality the only person you're harming in tipping under 20% is the server. Either they're taking home less money and nobody notices, or somebody is paying attention to how much each server is getting tipped and you just gave them a bad mark that management sees.
Fair although I still think there's a debate between 15% and 20% being the default. Also I can totally eat out and avoid this issue all together, just eat at places that don't have tipping.
Society as a whole reducing or no longer tipping would make a big impact. My current State requires wait staff to be paid at the same standard state minimum all other positions have to. The employer has to make up wages to at least State minimum in one's that don't. Which is what the majority of the kitchen and bussers make. If servers are not getting Far better than minimum (at least at the dozens of chain restaurants I've worked at) they quit.
Boy though, would the transition (were it to occur) suuuuck for a lot of folks. So I don't even pretend to know the best way to start.
Should servers make more on average than cooks (who are responsiblefor both the taste and cleanliness of your food)? Probably an entirely different discussion.
Should a restaurant pay all workers a fair wage or go out of business because they rely on patrons to make up for their shiity pay hierarchy? I say yes.
I will also say, there is a difference between a chain restaurant and a local owned establishment. (Insert chain restaurant here) wants me to tip their servers 20% for a subpar service, just because it's expected? ... they can go suck socks. They can much better afford to pay each server that extra 20% than I. Aunt Margie's diner, who always has good food and what appears to be genuinely attentive and kind staff? Absofuckinglutely.
Side note. This is also why I always bring cash for tips, that way the server can opt to disclose what they wish. A real tip, in a fair world, imho, should be just for them. No taxes, no payroll accountancy.
....that got... long. Uhhh thanks for coming to my Ted talk?
Wait until you hear about the countries where they don't even tip 15%! You're sooo close.