Should You Tip Less in a Recession?
I spoke with NPR's Neal Conan today on Talk of the Nation about whether it's okay to cut back on tips during the current recession. Callers who work in the service industry let us know that their tips are down a lot this year. (There were some exceptions -- a couple servers at high-end restaurants said their tips have actually gone up.) One Chinese food delivery man said he barely got $20 in tips from over $400 worth of deliveries.
Passions flared on both sides. I received an E-mail from one consumer who said he didn't think anyone should tip over 15 percent.
What do you think? Is it okay to cut tips when your own budget is squeezed? I tend to think that if you can't afford to tip, then you shouldn't go out to the restaurant.
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Reader Comments
tipping has got so out of hand
since when is it the responsibility of the patron to make up for the poor wages some jobs pay, you know what the hourly wage is when you take a job, if not your a moron. Why should i have to tip for anything below excelent service? i dont tip unless something above and beyond happens. all that but its not the waiters fault the cook took too long to prep the food... I tip based on the overall experiance not just what the wiater does. an average job gets no tip... if you want the security of better wages come on get a REAL job... i have known many people who are wiaters and the law is that if tips dont bring the hourly wage to min wage the buisness must bring the wage up to min wage. I have never heard of a waiter who does not get at least min wage, it just doesn't happen. and most/all of tip jobs are not reported to IRS as income SO ITS TAX FREE. why should an unskilled job be making more that a skilled laborer does they shouldn't its plain and simple. if you have a problem with your pay go to the management and demand better pay then you know where you stand they either give you the raise you wanted or you have to again decide if the wage they offer is worth you working there. they are not holding a gun to your head and forcing you to keep working there... its your choice and you have to live with the outcome. if every job was a "tip" job then things would be different but who decided some jobs are worthy of a tip and some are not...
standardize
Keep with the basics so expectations are clear:
15 - 18% for good service
20 - higher for Great service
1% for rudeness or non-existent service
0% for cashiers or counter servers
Tip the same in a recession; the percentages will rise and fall with the price of the bill
Tipping
The tipping system is ok, I guess, but I would prefer if we didn't have it. For one thing, it leads to confusion. It's one thing for restaurants where almost everyone knows that you're supposed to tip. But there's all the other services where people might not know tips are expected, or they might not know a tip is not expected or even allowed.
To the person that said that prices would go up too much, sorry, that doesn't make sense. If the price now includes a tip (otherwise, as everyone says, don't go out to eat) then the total price in a tip-free system would be the same. The only caveat there is taxes - the tip system lets tip recipients stiff the government out of taxes they legally owe on the wages they receive.
Also I don't understand what's up with tip "inflation." For as long as I can remember the standard was 15%, but it's creeped up to 20%. The only problem is, inflation is already calculated into the tip because the price of the meal, which the tip is based on, went up. I've gotten a receipt with a precalculated 18%, 20%, 25% tip amounts shown on it - give me a break! Expecting 20% is just plain greedy.
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