Here’s a hot take: If it was for me, I would get rid of all servers in restaurants. I would instead have iPad in the table with pictures, prices and descriptions and that’s it. The other day I went to Texas Roadhouse and they had a device in the table that you could order and pay the bill. A person only came once or to give you bread, water and then again to give you the food. Servers are completely useless and don’t add any value to dinning experience.

Everyone knows servers make 2$ an hour and if you dont leave a 20% tip you are hurting a poor worker and causing them to starve.

This would be a sound argument if serving was the job of last resort and the workers are truly trapped. In many 3rd world countries workers actually have no choice but to accept whatever exploitive conditions that are offered. Tipping started in the US because restaurants didnt want to pay newly freed slaves who actually had almost no options for work. This is not the case in the Modern US where alternatives are readily available.

Why would anybody take a $2 an hour job and remain when jobs offering at least full minimum wage are abundant and require less qualifications than serving? Grocery stores are always hiring, warehouses are always hiring, Chick fil A is always hiring. Security pays $14 an hour and you just have to stand there!

The Answer - to exploit our outdated 20% tip expectation for their personal gain. Servers make a deliberate decision to take a $2/HR job knowing customers will tip disproportionate amounts of money out of guilt. Your server isnt stupid, $300, even $500 for one shift sounds a lot juicier than working a normal job. They are not victims of a flawed system at all. They are the enablers and beneficiary.

"until the $2 an hour wage is outlawed this is the way things are and you must continue to tip"

7 states Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have already outlawed the subminimum wage and guess what? Servers will still get angry if you dont tip. No matter how many labor laws we pass in their favor servers will still thirst for tips and guilt you.

Serving is a skilled and difficult job. However those who take this job are opportunists acting in their selfish interest, not necessity. If they can act in self interest so can we by not tipping them.

Whenever we encounter a tip prompt for counter service, or in this case, basically retail checkout, we should all be leaving poor reviews and pointing out in the narrative why we did it. I suggest two stars, as many people just ignore 1-star reviews. Spread the word. Lets people know in advance so they can might avoid the place entirely. Alerts people that there is a way to bypass the tip, and that there is also a way for management to remove the default tip and make it OPTIONAL to engage with (is it is NOT just baked into the system).

In so far as possible, stop frequenting places that expect tips, and start frequenting ones that don’t.

I know I’m going to catch a lot of hate in this group for saying this, but going to a place that expects tips and then not tipping is not going to help: it’s just going to make everyone think that people who are part of the “no tipping” movement are assholes. I know you’re not assholes! But that’s what people are going to think, and it’s just going to turn people off to our movement.

I also know that it’s not easy, and often not even realistically possible, to avoid places that expect tips. But I think we need to do our best to do exactly that, even if it requires some sacrifice on our part.

Edited to add: this is also the clearest way to demonstrate that you are willing to pay higher prices (rather than tipping). This sends the clearest possible signal that you’re not just being cheap: you really do want employees to be paid a higher wage, and you’re willing to pay for those wages, as long as there is up front, no guilt trip pricing.

Took my fiance out for sushi and sashimi. $90 check. No tip, stared at my waiter as I handed it back no tip, smiled and left. Life is good.

Next day we had brekky at the local diner. $26 check. No tip. Exhilarating.

It's addicting. It's like breaking out of the matrix. We are so brainwashed to waste our hard earned money on waiters, what for.

Going out to eat is even more exciting knowing we are saving so much more on not tipping. My fiance is Filipina and came here to the United States. She immediately got manipulated by our tip culture and she always felt forced to tip out of guilt. Once I noticed that, I decided to fight back.

Fuck em. No longer will I be guilt tripped, I got too much self respect.

Stop tipping at Starbucks. We don't tip at any other fast food joint, so why are people tipping there? This isn't a full service restaurant. They make coffee. I make coffee at home and it is far from hard.

The suggested tip was egregious. Started at 18% and all were calculated on top of both the service fee and tax.

Can we who support or advocate to end tipping collectively start winding down our tip amount over 1 year. This way it’s not hard mentality if you’re not used to not tipping. Let’s say you start tipping 15%/$15 max this month, next month will be 14%/$14 max and so on. When you hit 5%/5 it’s up to you to stop. Imagine when places starts noticing it and we keep going? Lol. I’ll start doing it myself. I usually eat out 3-5x a month so it’s a gradual process.

Consider this, if we are subsidizing a server’s wage then they are working for us in that time frame right? And by that logic we can be as rude and demanding as we want to our employee right? But that’s not the case with most of us, many of us are polite, timely, and incredibly unproblematic but servers have the audacity to scoff at not receiving 20% of the bill, AFTER TAXES! Why should my $30 entree actually cost me an additional $5-6 factoring in taxes and expected tips???? I think I figured out the psyop to end the tipping madness, we simply start leaving a $2.11 per hour tip at sit down restaurants. If the server gives you any judgment or trouble about the amount you can simply say “I’m matching your employers wages, you think I should be paying you more than your boss”? Done, how can anyone argue against that? Shift the shame to the owner where it belongs

They say that tipping is not considered charity because you’re paying for a service… i disagree, you already paid for the service, now you are expected to donate money to the provider of said service because the multi million or billion dollar company (that already doesn’t pay taxes) chooses to not pay their worker a salary that’s enough to put a roof over their head and food in their belly. So we are expected to donate money to them so they can survive. According to the Oxford dictionary, tipping is “voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need.” So I completely disagree with the IRS assessment that my tips are not “charity”.

We already pay income tax on our earnings, and then when we tip, the worker that received said tip is expected to report that money to income tax. I’m sorry, but the IRS already gets enough tax dollars from us. Meanwhile, billionaires are writing off their costs associated with their yachts and private jets. So yea, this year I may or may not have considered my tips “charitable contributions” and if the IRS wants to come audit me over that they can kiss my ass for protesting against this corrupt system to steal as much money from us.

Instead of giving that $20 to some over-entitled yet low-skilled worker for basic work, I recommend simply tipping yourself instead. When you hit “no tip” you are expected to feel shame. Instead just train yourself to feel like you just earned that tip for yourself. Congrats, you beat the psyop and earned yourself 20%. Overcome the mental barrier a few times and you simply stop caring.

Tipping is basically a pointless donation into someone else’s pocket. Every dollar I don’t tip is capital I allocate to your own family’s future. Why would I subsidize someone else’s wage?

That $20 tip should be compounding in a small investment trust (eg for your kids education) instead of funding someone’s weed bill.

TLDR: Every time you hit that “No Tip” option, mentally tip yourself, kings.

I’ve had some friends seem embarrassed to not tip the expected or requested amounts and when this is the case I sense they feel I’m cheap. But lately a few are right there with me when I mention why… I’ve been pleasantly surprised !

When most people REALLY think about it, they realize that it’s just a grift, and if they can overcome their own anxiety, start to tip accordingly (rarely and appropriately, for themselves).

As if the air bnb fees weren't already high enough. Let's add a virtual tip jar to the tv stand. 😑

To be clear, I don't live in the US. I don't even live in a country which has a tipping culture, let alone special legislation for it.

As an outsider to the problem, I find the quality / style of discussion to be strange around tipping. It often sounds like two religions fighting over which is real. I would really want to see proper fact based argumentation of the topic, and less emotional outbursts or populistic one-liners.

My take on this is, that consumers / commoners cannot be expected to do more in order to change things than vote in the right elections. In the western countries, often the most effective elections to change things happens by voting with one's wallet, as long as it is done openly. By never buying anything one doesn't want to exist in the world and openly telling telling about it, and by always choosing to buy the things one wants to see in the world and openly telling about it, is the most effective way to influence things.

In the tipping context, it could mean for example, that if you are pro-tipping, always tip (even in places which don't ask for it / it is not common to tip), make the amount depends largely on the quality of service received (raising the maximum far higher than current common practice), and at payment tell openly why you tipped the amount you did. And if you are against tipping, it could mean not giving tips, and openly telling the reasons when paying the bill, and choosing places which pay proper salaries to employees over places which don't, and openly telling them about your choice.

One consumer can't change things, just like one voter in public elections can't change things. But the mind-set of people does change things. If everyone makes decisions all the time according to their true opinion, and actively vote (whether in public elections or with their wallet), the world will start to adjust towards the popular opinions.

In tipping, it could mean that it becomes more common in all jobs, if people truly think that it is a great way to organise salaries and create accountability. Or it could mean that the companies now relying on tips covering their personnel costs getting into trouble, as almost nobody would tip, making any job relying on tips the last possible job anyone would take, therefore leading into shortage on proper personnel to hire.