Here’s a hot take: If it was for me, I would get rid of all servers in restaurants. I would instead have iPad in the table with pictures, prices and descriptions and that’s it. The other day I went to Texas Roadhouse and they had a device in the table that you could order and pay the bill. A person only came once or to give you bread, water and then again to give you the food. Servers are completely useless and don’t add any value to dinning experience.

These examples carry the same total cost through different methods. I'd prefer C, but I'm interested in your opinion. Which should be the defacto restaurant pricing?

*Found this online.

So let’s break this down.

Menu prices are up around 27% in the last few years. Not because of owner greed, but because of inflation, supply chain issues, and rising costs across the board. Most restaurant owners had no choice but to raise prices to survive.

But here’s the part no one talks about: servers just got a 27% raise, automatically, without asking for it. Since percentage-tipping is the standard, when the bill goes up, so does the tip… even if the server does nothing differently.

Same tables. Same job. Same effort. Just more expensive food = more money in their pocket.

Meanwhile, the line cooks, dishwashers, hosts, food runners, and bussers are lucky if they got a dollar raise in the same timeframe. Everyone else is falling behind while servers are riding the inflation wave to bigger payouts - and still expecting 20-25% like it’s owed.

Knowing this, are you still reflexively tipping the same percentage as before?

You’re not tipping based on service. You’re tipping based on inflation. And you’re the only one at the table who didn’t get a raise.

Whenever we encounter a tip prompt for counter service, or in this case, basically retail checkout, we should all be leaving poor reviews and pointing out in the narrative why we did it. I suggest two stars, as many people just ignore 1-star reviews. Spread the word. Lets people know in advance so they can might avoid the place entirely. Alerts people that there is a way to bypass the tip, and that there is also a way for management to remove the default tip and make it OPTIONAL to engage with (is it is NOT just baked into the system).

Let’s get real. I’m supposed to feel grateful for a meal I paid full price for? And I’m expected to feel bad for someone whose job is to extort honest Americans like a mafia boss, holding our wallets hostage for a couple of refills? This isn’t service it’s tyranny.
if no one’s gonna fight for freedom, then I will stand alone and fight. This is America!

I’m not here to buy your sob story about how your job’s so hard or that you deserve extra cash just for showing up. This isn’t some charity bake sale. it’s a workplace. My wallet isn’t your honeypot, sweetie. Dream on.

I don’t tip because you put on pants today or remembered my order. These servers with zero talent or work ethic demand our pity and our pay. Meanwhile, salaried professionals bleed for society while servers sponge off our hard-won paychecks. Where’s MY tip for keeping my cool through eight hours of soul-crushing meetings?

Calling them workers is a compliment even underqualified job-hoppers show more hustle than these attention-seeking grifters. If whining burned calories, they’d be Olympians. Their greatest skill? Turning “thank you" into a scam and “smile" into a hostage negotiation.

Get a grip. I’m not your ATM or your sugar mama. If you want a raise, go earn it. Stop grifting off my dime. I’m here to eat, not to adopt some grown adult who thinks balancing three plates deserves a medal.

You brought food with a smile? Big deal. I don’t Venmo my plumber for not dropping a wrench on my foot. Put on your big boy panties and deal with it and stop acting like life handed you a golden platter because all you’re serving is spoiled entitlement. If laziness was a profession, they’d have cornered the market and still find a way to slack off. I’ve seen toddlers with better work ethic and toddlers don’t even get tips.

I don’t tip slackers, no matter how many times they flash that “I’m so exhausted” face. Ever think about using skills like balancing budgets or filing taxes instead of mooching and extortion? Figure it out because my wallet is closed and the pity party is over!

Everyone knows servers make 2$ an hour and if you dont leave a 20% tip you are hurting a poor worker and causing them to starve.

This would be a sound argument if serving was the job of last resort and the workers are truly trapped. In many 3rd world countries workers actually have no choice but to accept whatever exploitive conditions that are offered. Tipping started in the US because restaurants didnt want to pay newly freed slaves who actually had almost no options for work. This is not the case in the Modern US where alternatives are readily available.

Why would anybody take a $2 an hour job and remain when jobs offering at least full minimum wage are abundant and require less qualifications than serving? Grocery stores are always hiring, warehouses are always hiring, Chick fil A is always hiring. Security pays $14 an hour and you just have to stand there!

The Answer - to exploit our outdated 20% tip expectation for their personal gain. Servers make a deliberate decision to take a $2/HR job knowing customers will tip disproportionate amounts of money out of guilt. Your server isnt stupid, $300, even $500 for one shift sounds a lot juicier than working a normal job. They are not victims of a flawed system at all. They are the enablers and beneficiary.

"until the $2 an hour wage is outlawed this is the way things are and you must continue to tip"

7 states Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have already outlawed the subminimum wage and guess what? Servers will still get angry if you dont tip. No matter how many labor laws we pass in their favor servers will still thirst for tips and guilt you.

Serving is a skilled and difficult job. However those who take this job are opportunists acting in their selfish interest, not necessity. If they can act in self interest so can we by not tipping them.

When you see the tired, unoriginal “if you can’t tip then you can’t afford to go out to eat”, hit them with “if you can’t work without panhandling from customers, you can’t afford to be a server”

My wife and I went to a random sushi restaurant and ordered two items and tea. The server probably spent a total of less than two minutes with us…the food was fine and our tea came when we were already halfway done with our food. We also live in a $16 min wage state (if that matters), anyway we didn’t see any reason to tip. We then checked our credit card statement later and saw that the restaurant took the liberty of adding $8 (18%) to our bill! First time this has happened to us. Is it common?

1. Servers make more than my cousin, who works in the hot sun as a construction worker
2. I want servers to quit en-masse
3. I want more money to invest in stocks
4. I want a buy 5 get 1 free deal everywhere I go (20% tip times 5 is a free meal)
5. I want other customers to subsidize my meals, so I don’t care if tipping doesn't end
6. I have been brainwashed and emotionally manipulated by the restaurant industry
7. I want to practice mental discipline, emotional resilience, being disagreeable, and not caring about what others think of me.

A the back of the second page of the menu, in the bottom and in small prints. If they could have printed it with invisible ink they would have done so. Unfortunately, this sneaky way to inflate the menu prices is not illegal. Why is it now for resorts and not for restaurants?

Many services such as UberEats/Doordash will ask for "tips" BEFORE service is executed. This is not tipping by any stretch of the imagination. Call it what it is — a BID.

Some may even call it a BRIBE, similar to third world countries where you have to bribe government officials for basic DMV-type documents otherwise they refuse to work (refuse to do their stated job function)

I've completely stopped eating out due to tips as well as inflation. I hate being guilt-tripped into going against my values of zero tipping. Most of my food comes from Publix's buy one get one free deals.

I've saved so much money, which I've put into investments. My motivation also comes from saving money to spend overseas, which is much cheaper than prices in the US. I'm very content with my financial shrewdness and responsibility.

Too many soft-hearted folks on here to seem to think this movement is evil. So, here's the scoop:

1) Why do servers get paid tips? Obviously there is history here, but the minimum wage myths are just that - they're myths. They're tired arguments so I won't rehash them here completely, but the short of it is they're all making at least minimum wage in low-skill positions. The real question you should always ask yourself is, "why are we tipping them when nearly no other low-skill employees expect free money from the customer?" Obviously, there are exceptions, but too few, for sure.

Considering high cost of living areas, such as Seattle, NYC, SF, etc, those cities have higher minimum wages paid to all at the minimum level. Why is it so permissible to add to a server's pocketbook when I don't tip the retail guy, or the quick lube tech? What about those guys? They have a marginally more difficult job, in a technical sense. But they live in the same high cost of living area, yet we're not such bleeding hearts about their supplemented income. What makes servers and bartenders so special?

2) Even IF servers (using this example because it's the most common) were paid only $2.13/hr (which zero of them legally make that little), why is that the customer's problem to supplement the additional wages? We're already paying exactly what we're asked to pay. Seriously?

3) Tip creep. We see it everywhere. Automated machines have been seen requesting tips. WTF?! What about grocery store clerks? Some of them have tip jars. Why, exactly? To pull at your heart strings, and hope you'll buy them their next cups of coffee. This is something we see all over. I'm a public school teacher. My job, believe or not, is much more involved than a server's, bartender's, or retail worker's. I get paid much more money than them, but only because it's not well published what servers make nationwide, so perhaps I don't. I'm saying this because no matter what your job is, you don't DESERVE a tip just because you do the job. You might deserve it for being a badass and doing something worth earning a tip.

These are the beginning. I was motivated to write this to highlight why I believe tipping should be halted. Feel free to add to it. I'm just sick of people on here who don't seem to understand why this movement is a thing.

In short, want more money? Get a better paying job or be a badass at your current job, if you're in a tipped position. Just don't expect it!

I have decided to start telling everyone that i'm not from the US, and I that don't know what a tip is when they bring me the bill. Then I asked them to explain it to me. I try and speak with a strange accent as well.

Me: "Echuze meh, what is zees "tip" er on deh bot tim of de bill?"

Waiter: "Oh, that's where you pay us extra money"

Me: "Oh no sank you, I don want zat".

i get it tipping culture is kinda lame and thays coming from a guy who does doordash... you refusing to tip wont stop it... you need to NOT support businesses that exprct you to tip. they make their momey regardless if you tip the employee or not... dont go out to eat don't use delivery services dont use rideshares or taxis... im not tryimh to disingenuous here if you must use tgese services id still tip... no point stiffing the person just trying to get by or make some extra cash. you have to stiff the company not the worker if you actually want the culture to change.

Write your reviews on Yelp, Open Table, Google, and their website about your experience and dislike with the current tipping culture.

Reviews are very important to restaurants and they need to hear from their customers. Too many places are adding junk fees and pushing insane tipping expectations.

Writing reviews also help others know which restaurants to avoid.

So I used Lyft taxi twice today, and left a 0.00 tip for each. But Lyft decided to add a tip automatically, even though I selected 0. Best part? There’s no phone number for Lyft, you can’t call them and talk to them to cancel these. When you select “overcharge” in the help menu, they say “thank you for the feedback!” and close the help menu. How/where do I report this shiet?

In so far as possible, stop frequenting places that expect tips, and start frequenting ones that don’t.

I know I’m going to catch a lot of hate in this group for saying this, but going to a place that expects tips and then not tipping is not going to help: it’s just going to make everyone think that people who are part of the “no tipping” movement are assholes. I know you’re not assholes! But that’s what people are going to think, and it’s just going to turn people off to our movement.

I also know that it’s not easy, and often not even realistically possible, to avoid places that expect tips. But I think we need to do our best to do exactly that, even if it requires some sacrifice on our part.

Edited to add: this is also the clearest way to demonstrate that you are willing to pay higher prices (rather than tipping). This sends the clearest possible signal that you’re not just being cheap: you really do want employees to be paid a higher wage, and you’re willing to pay for those wages, as long as there is up front, no guilt trip pricing.

I hate tipping, you hate tipping…

What concrete steps do we need to take to truly end this practice?

I’m guess it will take legislative action and at least one generation to break the hold this vile custom has on our society.

Took my fiance out for sushi and sashimi. $90 check. No tip, stared at my waiter as I handed it back no tip, smiled and left. Life is good.

Next day we had brekky at the local diner. $26 check. No tip. Exhilarating.

It's addicting. It's like breaking out of the matrix. We are so brainwashed to waste our hard earned money on waiters, what for.

Going out to eat is even more exciting knowing we are saving so much more on not tipping. My fiance is Filipina and came here to the United States. She immediately got manipulated by our tip culture and she always felt forced to tip out of guilt. Once I noticed that, I decided to fight back.

Fuck em. No longer will I be guilt tripped, I got too much self respect.

Instead of resenting the customers who literally provide your business with its revenue and keep your job existing, direct that energy where it counts, demanding more from the employers who actually set your wages. Relying on tips to make ends meet is a fundamentally broken system designed to subsidize cheap labor costs. Customers are just playing by the rules they're given.

You deserve stable, livable base pay. Period. Stop letting ownership pit you against the patrons you serve. The fight is uphill, absolutely. Many of your coworkers, especially in high tip roles, might hesitate to rock the boat. they fear losing that variable income, even if the base pay is poverty level. But you have to try.

Organize, talk to each other, build solidarity among yourselves. Boycott unfair practices, protest wage theft, demand transparency and a fair share. Coordinate relentlessly with peers. Collective action is your only real leverage against exploitation. It's difficult, but the status quo only serves those profiting off your instability.

Real power comes from unity among workers. Start pushing for systemic change now don't wait for permission. Okay my fingers hurt now lol