Why do waiters in the US have to rely on tips to earn a good salary?

[Julie4]

Why not give a good fixed salary straight away?

[Gwendoline]

It's a catch 22 as Americans say. If they raise staff wages then the cost of meals has to go up which in turn means fewer customers spending which means there is a need for less staff or less hours for staff or they find ways to work with less staff.

Personally I think America has a much larger service industry compared to anywhere else mostly because for a long time it cost as much to eat out or less than to cook at home and because average Americans were making good money. I think in recent years with covid and the economic crash the service industry has taken a hit. Less customers, lower wages, less jobs, less tips. I worked as a waitress in my teens, not a job I'd want to be doing as an adult, it's more of a part time job you do after schoo/college or while the kids are at school or in the evening when your hubby comes home.

Tipping culture in America is ridiculous. Many restaurants add the tip to the bill sometimes 20-25%. 15% is fair and that's for good service only.

[Anonymous]

Not sure but it’s hard to find good waiters out there but the ones with experience make a descent salary. A lot of servers make more money a year than management

[Opinion Owner]

I feel if they raise the hourly wage for servers, they’ll have to raise the cost of food, which would bring down business unless you work in a location full of lobbyists and politicians. They spend their money sinfully

[KostasKouvalis]

Not really. They would still make a profit just not as much. Restaurant owners are just greedy.
They've already long been following the general rule of thumb of charging 3 times the price it costs to make it, when they could only be charging two times and just make a smaller profit. But like all business owners, they're just greedy

[Opinion Owner]

@KostasKouvalis yeah I left my last job because the union got involved and I didn’t want to deal with retaliation since they fired someone at my job who they knew was pro union.. she wouldn’t tell them who else was pro union.. lots of corruption in the industry

[Opinion Owner]

They even wanted to pay her to reveal who was pro union.

[KostasKouvalis]

Why am I not surprised?

[molonski2]

Its a ludicrous system , and not every place is tipped , so you ( the customer ) are offering a subsidy to a restaurant owner , so he/ she sells it to potential staff , " you can make great tips here " ( because of what they have created ) so they can put on more people , none of whom are paid correctly , and the customer pays the subsidy , so the price of the meal , that's not the real price.

Yet go work in some shitty fast food joint and get nothing pretty much. The entire system is a JOKE , and on top of that you have " tip shaming " , people need to understand what they are actually contributing to.

[sawno]

As a European I do small tips only at restaurants. Not for anything else, especially delivery driving I don't find it special enough to warrant a tip. I can spend 30 minutes with in depth knowledge and skill fixing an issue that is preventing someone from doing their job. A skill you can't just get someone to do. But cycling or worse using a motorcycle to deliver food to my house 5 minutes away from the place with a $2 delivery fee I am not tipping for. You got your money when I paid for the delivery.

[sawno]

I missed part of my. point. The 30 mins of work all I get is a thank you. The 1.5 hours of engineering I did not get thanked for today either since its behind the scenes. Tips are definitely not a thing for my skillfull job so they should not be a thing for a job that requires no skill.

[Zack-Bann]

It started as a performance based gesture of satisfaction and morphed into this hybrid payment model where a tip is not only expected but also demanded


This is one thing I absolutely love about France. Tips are still purely optional and not at all expected making them more meaningful when you do give (or receive) them

[exitseven]

This is complicated. In the state I live in there was a referendum question that wanted to give tipped workers better pay in lieu of getting tips. It turns out that the workers were all against this. I suppose having President Trump end taxes on tips may have had something to do with this

[loveslongnails]

LOL President "Scump" will NEVER end taxes on tips. LMAO Your Republitard representatives have voted against it for the last 40 years. Oops, I'm sorry... I'm confusing you with the facts.

[exitseven]

@loveslongnails Ending taxes on tips is included in the tax bill currently in the legislature,

[loveslongnails]

LOL No, it doesn't END taxes on tips, it allows for a $25,000 deduction, which is basically, poverty level. Big fucking deal. If you work ANY job at all in the USA, you don't pay taxes on the first $25k. LOL You've been duped again.

[exitseven]

@loveslongnails No taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime pay and no taxes on Social Security benefits.

[loveslongnails]

Not gonna happen. For one thing, overtime pay has basically been ELIMINATED by your Orange Orangutan fuck up, or did you miss that little provision? If your Social Security is cut in half and there are not taxes on it, who ends up making more money? You're sooooooooooooo bad at math.

[exitseven]

@loveslongnails How does Social Security get cut in half? How I'd overtime pay eliminated?

[loveslongnails]

Go read P-2025's directives on overtime pay and what they're trying to do.
I'm sorry exit, I just can't waste too much time explaining to you why Scump is a fucking villain and why you're too inept to recognize that you're being scammed by rich people.

One last time - you seem to be ignorant enough to believe that the poorest people in this country are somehow making your life worse, while the richest people who pay the least in taxes, are looking out for you. Somehow, you ACTUALLY believe they give a flying fuck about you, or the USA in general. Your level of denial is beyond my comprehension.

[exitseven]

@loveslongnails It is a well known fact that the highest earners pay the highest percentage of taxes.
taxfoundation.org/.../ The democrat lie that the top 1% pay nothing is fiction. Yes, the rich can afford tax accountants and lawyers to make sure they pay the lowest possible taxes but they still pay their share, Everyone except the Bidens.
Trump implemented no tax on tips. , Joe Biden implemented no tax on kick backs.

[Joshydavid25]

Paying waiters more would make the prices go up, and then less people would eat in restaurants.. Especially ones that are already expensive.. So Paying them a lower wage and allowance customers to pay them extra for their service, seemed like a gold exchange.. But good servers love tips, and can make good money from them..

[KostasKouvalis]

Not really. They would still make a profit just not as much. Restaurant owners are just greedy.
They've already long been following the general rule of thumb of charging 3 times the price it costs to make it, when they could only be charging two times and just make a smaller profit. But like all business owners, they're just greedy

[Joshydavid25]

@KostasKouvalis Some greed might be involved, but they still gotta make money.. Unless they're getting compensation by the government, catering to the customer is the ultimate greed of business owners.. I think they tried to give waiters/servers that type of wage and many didn't like it..

[Pet68]

It's because they're seriously underpaid and don't earn enough to even live on. In Australia, service staff are paid really well, and if you offer one of them a "tip" it will be seen as an insult. We don't "tip" over here (although some cafes have "tip jars" near the cashier's station that you can put coins into if you feel like doing so).

[NoDecision]

Because they are willing to work by this arrangement. If no waiter or waitress would work under these conditions then they would pay a decent wage. I mean what happens when you have a bad week and can hardly pay your bills?

[HelpfulWoman]

think about it. it's the USA. nothing is simple or useful for its own residents. the election says it all

[OneViewpoint]

Because the US economic system is a toxic form of Capitalism and we don't want to pay a fair wage to service workers.

[Shiprex]

Because employers don't want to pay those wages and expect to pay less employer taxes as a result.

[Jennz6]

A waitress doesn’t even make the minimum wage per hour and she has to sign a waiver saying that she does

[slatyb]

Because restaurant owners like it that way, and they have more political influence than the servers.

[NathanDavis]

" Capitalism... has made it this way "

[Pterodon]

Because it would be passed on to the cost of the food for customers. Customers will not pay high prices for food just so a waiter can make a decent wage

[KostasKouvalis]

Not really. They would still make a profit just not as much. Restaurant owners are just greedy.
They've already long been following the general rule of thumb of charging 3 times the price it costs to make it, when they could only be charging two times and just make a smaller profit. But like all business owners, they're just greedy

[Pterodon]

@KostasKouvalis ok keep believing that. Food including restaurants are self regulated. If the customer won’t pay they go out of business

[KostasKouvalis]

Okay. There comes a time when you need to stop being selfish and show compassion for others.

You can keep the prices low if there's high demand. You can also get subsidized. There are other ways.

Someone on here suggested making it illegal to raise prices and I support this idea.
Business owners don't care about regular people, why should I feel sorry for them if they lose money.
And if they're that desperate they can get subsidized.
Qatar and Emirates Air get subsidized so they can keep their prices low for their clients.
There's also a restaurant in Singapore that hasn't raised their prices in 2 decades

[Pterodon]

@KostasKouvalis nope no compassion stop being a democrat liberal and learn to take care of yourself

[DrPepper12]

Not true.

[KostasKouvalis]

I'm neither

[DrPepper12]

Because employers found it profitable to pawn off wages on customers. Simple.

[VyacheslavSokolov]

There is enough money in the world where do not need to struggle the way they did back in the 1700s. But greed is why we can't have nice things. Finland experimented with UBI and people used the extra the money to pursue their passions they didn't just sit on their ass and do nothing with the money which is what the rich will tell you why UBI is bad idea.

[beefcakebradybatson]

America's disgusting gig economy where many must work two or three jobs with no benefits so the overlords can make even more money.

[Anonymous]

To either give halfway decent service or find another job

[69Lonely69]

Because its hard to convince people to pay a livable wage.

[Uglygaypoorcoward94]

tips should be taxed, we get taxed every which way then are expected to tip for basic services

[Bklynbadboy12]

Well in the state I live in they don't have to worry about the tip cause the automatically put it on the bill in the form of gratuity

[Anonymous]

They earn a lot of money of tips. It is better for them to keep a tipped based salary.

[Agape93]

Because paying people a living wage is taboo here.

[oldpigg]

Because it's not an important job.

[msc545]

Because restaurants won't pay them enough.