Quote:
Originally Posted by MitchL
I think the reason people dont bitch about having to tip in America is that opening a restaurant is pretty much the most high variance business endeavor. Very few would survive if they had to pay their wait staff a decent wage. It also promotes customer service which helps the bottom line.
When I go to a restaurant, I already know that the real price of any meal is going to be the price of the meal plus the price of the tip. A meal that costs $10 really costs $12 (since I'm tipping 20% or so, maybe slightly less). If I can't afford a $12 meal, I won't eat there.
In a world without tips, the restaurant owner would raise the prices so the meal costs $12 and pay the waitstaff more to compensate for what they would otherwise have made in tips. And again, if I can't afford the $12 meal I can't eat there. So the restaurant would still be getting roughly the same amount of business, the waitstaff gets roughly the same pay, the customers pay roughly the same amount. I don't see how it makes things any better or worse for the restaurant owner.
It might promote customer service if the tips were conditional on good service, but generally they aren't. Tips are almost mandatory (ie repeat customers who don't tip are going to hear about it, get crappy service, etc). Customers will pretty much respond to a $10 meal + 20% tipping situation the same way they would to a $12 meal + no tip expected situation.