Is tipping getting out of control? Many U.S. consumers say yes

Tipping is consumer subsidizing businesses.

"“Tipping is about making sure the people who are performing that service for you are getting paid what they’re owed,”

No, that's what your salary is. If you're not being paid for doing your job, quit.

Put it this way, I refuse to visit the US as a tourist, because of the tipping problem.

Tipping in the US is totally out of control. I love traveling outside this country because most places don't expect this practice as we do here. It's just too much. Employers should pay a "living wage" and forget the tipping. I have ZERO empathy for a service person (family members included) who whine about "poor tippers".

“Tipping is about making sure the people who are performing that service for you are getting paid what they’re owed,” said Schenker, who’s been working in the service industry for roughly 18 years.

What? This guy is exactly the problem. He thinks just doing his job is deserving of a tip and that is plain wrong. Your employer owes you money for working but the customer owes you absolutely nothing. It's the customer's option to tip based on the service received. Time to get like a lot of the world and add it in automatically in certain industries and ban it altogether in others. Hard to sympathize with this entitled know-nothing.

Schenker has spent 18 years getting tips, so yes, he advocates getting even more tips. He allegedly makes $400 in tips per month, for a 5 day work week that averages to only $20 per day.

Most good baristas make several times that amount, and all of them under report it to the tax people.

My policy: if a person carries something for you such as porters or waiters, tip. Otherwise, ignore it.

At restaurants, I tip to express thanks for seating me, taking and bringing my order, and then bringing my bill and then later my change.

When I have to go to a counter to order and retrieve food/drinks myself, I don't tip.

This is basically been the concept of tipping. Having someone do something extra for you that you can do yourself.

A porter carrying your luggage up to your room for you - something you can do yourself. A maid cleaning your room - something you can do yourself.

One of the great pleasures of living in Japan is the absence of tipping. People simply do the job they are paid to do and the customer pays the price listed (plus the increasing consumption tax). Tipping is a remnant of colonial times, when the better-off would toss a few coins reward to a starving laborer who did a good job. It's an insulting practice at heart.

That said, some people like tips. I once earned enough tips in 2 hours of refilling wine glasses in an afternoon to pay my month's rent. Nothing to do with the work I put in, but all about the price of the wine I was pouring. That said, there were other months when I worked much harder but meeting the rent was difficult.

But tipping is an awful practice. People should be paid properly for their work by the person who employs them. And people who accept employment should do the best they can for whatever they agreed to be paid. Jumping through hoops in hopes of a big tip (or in fear of a low tip) is demeaning. And putting pressure on a customer with add-on charges shows a lack of respect for the customer.

Happy to live in a country where tipping does not exist. On a visit to my American parents, we went for dinner for my mother's birthday at their favorite restaurant where I was "required" to leave a $150 tip. Although the wine was free as a gift.

Tipping is indeed getting out of hand, not to mention the out of control meal prices. Added together, going out for a meal in the US is no longer an enjoyable experience. I remember 10-15 years ago, the suggested tip amount on the bottom of your bill was in the 10-15% range, this past summer, it was 18-25%.

Many high-class restaurants have "unwritten" tip rates. If you don't pay don't try booking next time or expect to have a good table.

This must be bad for business if you think about it, In Japan I eat out fairly often in part because the lack of tipping makes it economically feasible for me to do so. Restaurants therefore get more of my business.

When I lived in Canada I almost never ate out. Tipping wasn’t the only factor, but it was a major one as it just made it too expensive to do on a regular basis. So Canadian restaurants got way less business from me.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

Do you notice the silent ones in these debacle? The employers.

Whay about they bring the fight to the employers to ensure a higher pay? This should not be a fight between consumers and servers.

I guess some Americans take their mothers to Mcdonald's for their birthday. No tipping there.

Companies, like in the UK, realize they can’t rely on tips to substitute any wage rises. To cut their costs! If companies would pay their staff properly, instead of cutting them, people might be happier. Tipping is a choice, not a right, otherwise it’s just a part of the bill. So why not be up front and just put in on the bill, then we can decide to go into the shop or not, and the shop can pay their staff a decent wage. If you have to pay a tip, for no he staff to live on, then the companies aren’t paying their staff a living wage., and we’re subsidizing the companies shareholders.happy to live in a country where we don’t have to tip, and their citizens can all get good affords health care.

Companies, like in the UK, realize they CAN rely on tips to substitute any wage rises. To cut their costs! If companies would pay their staff properly, instead of cutting them, people might be happier. Tipping is a choice, not a right, otherwise it’s just a part of the bill. So why not be up front and just put in on the bill, then we can decide to go into the shop or not, and the shop can pay their staff a decent wage. If you have to pay a tip, for no he staff to live on, then the companies aren’t paying their staff a living wage., and we’re subsidizing the companies shareholders.happy to live in a country where we don’t have to tip, and their citizens can all get good affords health care.

Living in a country where there is no tipping and returning to a country where there is makes me avoid restaurants until I return back and where I find the food tastes far better.

I basically don’t eat at American restaurants because of this.

$400/month for 18 years??? This dude can now afford to upgrade his skills.

I don't mind the extra money, I just hate things not being clear and precise. Don't make me do math or guilt trip me for not paying what ever you are expecting when I'm just out to eat.

Many decades ago tipping used to be a voluntary choice by the customer reflecting appreciation for exceptionally good service. Now it's expected and demanded regardless of quality or even absence of service. Most infuriating is the attitude of servers that they are "entitled" to it.

It is a huge untaxed cashpot, and now many restaurants already include a set % "gratuity" right on the menu. Last I saw ws up to 20%, don't know about now. It also creates the situation where an unscupulous restaurant owner may take advantage of pooled tips.

The practice of tipping should be eliminated, the IRS should come down on this huge often unreported cash flow, and let the restaurant charge a higher price and pay the employees as they wish. The arguments I hear from servers for tipping is that the wages are not enough. Well that is the Employer'sresponsibility, not the dining customer.

I always take care of people that are nice to me ,by giving them perks beside money ,that can change their lives forever

One of the great pleasures of living in Japan is the absence of tipping. People simply do the job they are paid to do and the customer pays the price listed (plus the increasing consumption tax). Tipping is a remnant of colonial times, when the better-off would toss a few coins reward to a starving laborer who did a good job. It's an insulting practice at heart.

When I first lived in Japan, I liked the surprises of little "service" gifts that many mom and pop stores gave to customers, especially at stationary stores. Thinking about it, I can't remember the last time I received a "sabisu" gift. It was like a tip to the customer, and I am sure we paid for it somewhere along the line. I am glad to give a "tip" sometimes when I have had great service, but I hope that tips go by the wayside in the United States where I now live most of the year the same way "service" gifts to customers fell out of practice in Japan. Swag never is free. Tips aren't free either. Just say NO.

The practice of tipping should be eliminated, the IRS should come down on this huge often unreported cash flow

It's not untaxed. The IRS assumes tips based on sales, and the servers are obligated to pay whether they received those tips or not. You will be happy to know that the IRS has already come down hard on the struggling working class - can't let them rise above their station, after all.

Foreigners with no experience living in the US are susceptible to giving an excess amount of tips, thinking they are fitting in with American culture but in reality they are just being taken to the bank.

Pity for them.

Painkiller never likes to tip.

They need the money.

That's what I love about the UK and Japan. No tipping.

Just pay people a livable wage or lower their taxes, and make it illegal to ask for a tip.

From I remember, our tips were taxed at 10% of sales. That's why 15% was the general tipping amount for good service, which the server basically got about 5%. But I still feel that tipping should be completely voluntary.

Tipping in USA is a (forced) charity.

Tipping in USA is brainwashing of the masses to convince them the client should pay the employees' wages and not the employer.

Tipping ruins the service because the employee now is looking at how much $$$ this person is going to give me and will provoke hostility towards the person getting the service.

Tipping culture in USA is awful and it is currently at its worst.

wallaceJan. 29  12:44 pm JST

Happy to live in a country where tipping does not exist. On a visit to my American parents, we went for dinner for my mother's birthday at their favorite restaurant where I was "required" to leave a $150 tip. Although the wine was free as a gift.

You weren't required to leave a tip.

It was a service charge.

And Japan has similar charges, such as table charges. Restaurants in Europe also have service charges, so this is not a new thing,

Also, you misplaced a decimal as $150 should be $15.

RKL

you have no idea what we paid for our meal only the tip I paid. Exclusive restaurants have their own rules if you want to be a regular customer. Guess you only visit cheap joints.