There’s not much you can do as a consumer to fight tipping culture. If you don’t tip, you’re an asshole. If you do tip, you’re participating in the system.
I would start by recognizing that calling it “tipping culture” is inaccurate. It’s not a cultural issue, it’s a structural one. Tipping is part of the wage structure for tipped workers. To change it, the structure needs to be different, which means that establishments need to get rid of tipping. Some places do that, either by raising prices and wages so that it evens out, or by having a mandatory gratuity. I’ve seen some social enterprises frame the mandatory gratuity as a revenue share with employees, so the price is X and some percentage of that goes directly to the employees, which seems like a better way of thinking about tipping.
Ultimately, there are structural incentives for some businesses, consumers, and employees to maintain the current tipping status quo, and those incentives would need to be addressed in order to change the culture.
The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $7.25 for a 40 hour week pay period to guarantee a baseline. If a person earns more then that baseline, then any additional hours will be paid at $2.13 on top of any more tips earned.
Still scummy, but 90% of waiters would be straight dead at this point if that $7.25 protection didn’t exist.
There’s not much you can do as a consumer to fight tipping culture. If you don’t tip, you’re an asshole. If you do tip, you’re participating in the system.
I would start by recognizing that calling it “tipping culture” is inaccurate. It’s not a cultural issue, it’s a structural one. Tipping is part of the wage structure for tipped workers. To change it, the structure needs to be different, which means that establishments need to get rid of tipping. Some places do that, either by raising prices and wages so that it evens out, or by having a mandatory gratuity. I’ve seen some social enterprises frame the mandatory gratuity as a revenue share with employees, so the price is X and some percentage of that goes directly to the employees, which seems like a better way of thinking about tipping.
Ultimately, there are structural incentives for some businesses, consumers, and employees to maintain the current tipping status quo, and those incentives would need to be addressed in order to change the culture.
Well put. Federal wage for tipped employees is $2.13 per hour. This definitely is a structural issue that can’t be changed by individual action.
The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $7.25 for a 40 hour week pay period to guarantee a baseline. If a person earns more then that baseline, then any additional hours will be paid at $2.13 on top of any more tips earned.
Still scummy, but 90% of waiters would be straight dead at this point if that $7.25 protection didn’t exist.