So, What Do You Think?????

[cjs]

Doing away with tipping -

[Cubangirl]

I think it is high time. I hope it works well since his chain of restaurants is highly influential. I generally tip 20% on the original ticket (before any coupons), sometimes more when I've been particularly accommodated, and budget that when I plan to go out. It already happens when you have a large party, so I think diners will do ok with it in the long run.

[cjs]

And, another big reason, now the back of the house will be in on the money - a lot of places servers are not required to put in a pot to share with the cooks.

[Trixxee]

I don't really know enough about the industry to really weigh in on how workers would like it or not like it. From a personal standpoint I don't really care if prices are upped by 20% and then no tip is left. Just how they don't do that to alcohol - already marked up a ridiculous amount. If that were the case, we probably wouldn't really go out that much because we do like to enjoy a bottle of wine (not that we go out that much to begin with anyway though).

[BarbaraS]

And there's the rub - did they up the prices on alcohol as well?

There are a couple of restaurants in Philly already experimenting with this. And I have no problem with paying higher prices in lieu of a tip at the end. It works out better for the back end of the house.

Barbara

[DFen911]

When you go to Europe there is no tipping. I always wondered why we did it here. Seems no matter where you go now a days there's a tip jar too.

When I worked at a restaurant the waiters were paid just below minimum wage (MW) and their salary was made up in tips. They were required to take 10% of their tips and put it in the bus boy jar. That was later divided up evenly between the bus boys, who, were paid just slightly above MW. The hostess, or greeters, were paid a bit more than MW. The cooks however were paid significantly above MW because their working conditions in the hot kitchens and the hours they worked.

So if my dinner is $65 and I tip 20% that makes my bill $78. So if he raises his dinner prices to compensate for that and my dinner bill is $78 and I now don't have to tip, fine. But if I pay that and get lousy service, then I have issue.

But I do not agree with fast food places raising minimum wages to $15. Flipping burgers is a job, not a career. You're meant to get out.

[cjs]

You worked at a great place, Denise. But, the run of the mill places cooks are paid starving wages also and rarely get the benefits of tips.

Busboys paid more? Have rarely seen that.

[iBcookin]

In PA the min wage for servers is 2.83. Where Chels works they automatically tax all her credit card tips and the cash tips that she declares at night. Most of the time, she doesn't make enough on the wages to actually get a paycheck and also ends up paying taxes at the end of the year.

Plus she will be required to tip out the bartender and bus staff based on her TOTAL sales, not what she received in tips. So whether that bartender prepared a single drink for her, or whether she received a dime on a table, the bartender will receive a portion of her total sales. Her favorite customers are the ones who will give her a $50 gift card for a $48 bill and tell her to keep the change.

I guess this would depend a lot on location. Around here, people are cheap, they are 10%'errs all the way. You might be able to get that to work in NY where the prices and the meals are generally higher, but for cryin out loud, they won't buy my 1/2 lb burger for 6.99 without complaining about the price, you think I can charge 8.50 for it? These are the people that will drink water, and need lots of lemons so they can use half the sweetener in the caddy to make their own lemonade and then ask for a to-go cup to take the seconds home.

Can you tell this season needs to be over???!!!

And it isn't just Europeans that are used to not tipping - Cannadians are just as bad (sorry Lorraine). I ran probably 30 individual 6paks last year from the bar to the proshop, all packed in coolers with ice, at $7.50 each, with all of them going crazy over how cheap it was here compared to back home in Canada - and made $2 in tips.

It will take a massive shift in thinking to get this to work. Plus, I don't believe that adding 20% to the price of the menu item is going to cover the additional expense. There are additional taxes - medicare, unemployment, etc. - all that I pay matching as an employer. You up the wages for your servers and BOH staff, the employer pays higher wages and taxes on those higher wages.

I can applaud the concept, but I think the execution is going to be challenging.

[cjs]

Yes, it will be challenging.....

[luvnit]

In Minnesota the minimum wage for a server is $7.25. Plus tips, not too shabby. I don't care what they do. I always thought that tipping was stupid and made me slightly uncomfortable. Hair dressers too.