Places replacing tipping with 20% price increase --- now u have to complain?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/b...say-no-to-tips-yes-to-higher-prices.html?_r=0

Some are charging 20% MORE for the service (and this gets taxed, unlike tips to the customer).

Now, I only tip 22% when service has been great at a restaurant. 15% when good ... and 10% anything less...

Now what am I going to do when I think service was sub-par? Call the manager over and demand he lower the bill (which I will !).

What should min. wage be? Whatever the market will bear....there should be no mandated hourly rate. Look at the mess it creates.

I "tip" for quality service is intended to be a gratuity (gift of thanks), not a service charge as a hidden means to pay for said service regardless of the quality thereof.

Nightmare said:

The problem of tipping is a fine introduction to the Principal-agent Problem in economic theory, involving moral hazard, asymmetrical information and conflicts of interest.

Locally, I tip rather heavily, knowing that I will be a returning customer and my hostess/maître d'hôtel knows it too. Traveling, I am probably pretty stingy.

Click to expand...

I don't eat out enough--and certainly not frequently enough at any single establishment--to gain any tangible benefit from a tip. Turnover being what it is in restaurants, I am very unlikely to encounter the same hostess or waiter the next time I make it a given establishment.

I tip because having worked in food service myself, I recognize that in our nation/culture, tipping is a significant portion of the server's income. While the system is far from perfect, it does provide a motivation to provide good service. And I feel morally obligated to pay for what I've received even if I could get away with not paying for it. Technical legalities aside, whether that is realizing a cashier failed to charge me for something I purchased (and going back to make him aware of his error and pay for the item--which has happened), or providing an appropriate tip, is the same in my mind morally. Which is not to say that every server would agree that the amount of tip I left was appropriate in every case. But I make a good faith effort to match my tip to the level of service. (I will refrain from an OT rant about how hard it is to find god service these days other than to ask, "When did waiters get the idea it was ok for a customer's water glass to get empty during a meal?")

DavidMcBeth's post points out one of those little costs when too many in society don't voluntarily do the right thing and instead have to be compelled. Rather than leaving a tip that is not subject to sales tax, we end up with "service charges" or just higher food prices that are subject to sales taxes.

Charles

davidmcbeth said:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/b...say-no-to-tips-yes-to-higher-prices.html?_r=0


Now what am I going to do ....

Click to expand...

Ran into this a time or two. Asked if the "service charge in lieu of tip" was mandatory, while explaining that here in Va the law is that if there are two prices the customer may only be charged the lower one. (This may not apply elsewhere.)

Also discussed "extortion" and "fraud". Then asked what they would do if I did not pay the "service charge in lieu of tip". When told they would call the cops and have me arrested for defrauding an innkeeper I handed them my phone with 9 and 1 already punched in. They punched in the last 1 and the cop who arrived asked me if I really wanted to go to jail and trial over $7.58. When I told him I was and why he decided a mediation session was in order. I did not pay the "service charge in lieu of tip" and the restaurant was not sued for extortion and fraud and false advertising. This all took place at the cash register where other patrons were backed up and some were intently listening. (Yes, I offered those waiting to pay and leave the opportunity to go ahead of me. I'm crusty but not impolite.)

I've done it also when out with a group. There the manager realized discretion might be the better part of valor and made a big fuss about comping the charge for the whole group.

It seems it is legal to have a higher price if payment is by credit card (but not by debit card) or to offer a discount if you purchase some other good or service. As they say, 'cash is king".

The strange thing is that when we have the weekly OC breakfasts or monthly OC dinners most folks base their tip not only on the quality of service but on the length of time they have "rented" table space. We may be there three or four times longer than the usual table turnover; it would be unfair to short a good server who could have picked up two or three tips had we not been there gabbing.

stay safe.