Posted on 08/03/2025 1:06:48 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
(How much do you tip a cow?)
I was wondering the same thing
LOL dang small phone 📱 keyboard ⌨️
I think $5
We got everything the Jetsons got except the most important thing. The flying car.
That’s pretty much how I see forced tips at fast food locations.
I find it highly offensive and it has changed my eating habits.
I use to enjoy going out for lunch “just to get out of the house” for a while. Eat lunch at home now much more frequently. Cheaper and probably healthier for me.
In essence, you are correct.
But how does one determine a server is making a “living wage” as well as their living expenses?
I don’t like tipping, but I do. In particular when the service is good, the server is well mannered and clean.
“A tip is supposed to be for the non-taxed portion of the food. The expectation, as can be seen by the screen request for tips and sometimes at the bottom of a receipt in a restaurant, is the top percentage is based on the entire bill amount. Sorry, I’m not tipping the government(s).”
Extremely important point! That is taxes on Taxation!
Tipping is a reward for actual service received in appropriate cases. It’s smart for customers of regular service. Americans abroad have been known to tip in bars in cultures where tipping isn’t customary. The locals couldn’t understand why the bar staff gave the Americans such good service. Rewarding good behavior pays is life.
Tried of the near constant push for more and more. The tip rises with inflation built right into the price of the food. An increasing percentage of the price of the meal is unreasonable.
20% is standard in some dreams. Growing up and into young adulthood it was 10%. 15% and more is generally and easily more than the person who owns the restaurant is making in margin. I’ve gotten soft in my old age and if a person is doing a good job and pleasant I round to around 20% and always leave a cast tip and always make sure the server gets it instead of just leaving it under the plate or something. I tip nothing for fast food or take-out. Nobody will deliver pizza out where we are.
Around here taxes are usually in the 9 to 11% range. Just not right for the gooberment and the help to make more than the fellow taking all the risk of ownership and operatorship and all that goes along with that and adding 25 to 30% to the cost of a meal. That is a significant impact to the cost of eating out. If 10% is enough for the gooberment it should be good enough for the help as well on top of what they make per hour. What is more, with the break on taxes, I’ll be reducing my tips that are now tax free paid with money I am compelled to pay taxes on.
What is a good operating margin for a restaurant?
For a full-service restaurant, operators can expect the business to make anywhere between 0 and 15% profit, with the average restaurant profit margin landing around 5% – 10%, depending on your source.
And the other one is working for tips.
There is little to no housekeeing in hotels since the scamdemic. Daily room cleaning and beds made are a thing of the past. Nothing to tip for any longer.
A “good” tip should be 25% and no more unless you are trying to make a girlfriend. But in your math you may have forgotten about Covid and the lockdowns. During the lockdowns everyone was programmed to pay 75% to 100% tips for deliveries even from fast food. Then after it relaxed this rate “stuck” even in businesses that do not deliver. They jumped on the tip bandwagon too. We are probably lucky that they only expect 35% after that fiasco.
An the idea of adding tips to pricey places like Panera or Chiptole when you stand in line to order and pick up your order is the reason why I no longer go to such places.
H3ll, at Chick-fil-A, I can pay for my food, get a cute little table marker to sit down and they BRING you the food when it is ready. No tip expected.
What’s also irritating is many stores today asking if you want to round up.
Yeah. I am.
A BIG reason why I LOVE visiting Japan. Ranks only a little down the list from visiting family, friends and a beautiful civilized country.
In someone’s dreams, never in my reality.
“How much are servers paid in Japan?”
Average in Tokyo about $ 12 an hour . Minimum wage is around $ 8 .
Imagine a waitress asks for 20% while God asks for 10%.
“Not that long ago, 10% was the norm.”
My Father and I owned a truckstop. Even in 1975 the gals expected 20%. How long ago was “not that long ago?”
At my local pizzeria if I order takeout and use a card the screen gives me options of 18% 20% or 25%. What did they do? Bake the pizza and hand it to me. I put a dollar or two in the tip jar and that’s that. I want to stay on their good side but 20% for takeout is ridiculous.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.