from Hacker News

The tipping problem in the US can be solved most simply by signage

by dfps on 11/4/23, 5:42 PM with 3 comments

You're looking for a restaurant. You see two side by side.

One has a sign above it that says 'No tipping in this restaurant. Tipping is not permitted' beside a restaurant that doesn't have this sign.

Which one are you going in?

(And staff are instructed to return any tips customers try to give, and if the customer finally won't accept the money back they put it outside on the street to blow away.)

Tipping culture, which almost everyone I talk to is aggravated by (except waiters), can be dried up by simple competition, if the two types of restaurants are marked this way.

(This problem has been exported to other countries now, who also complain about it. This includes the countries I live in, so it's become a problem harder to avoid by simply avoiding North America.)

  • by superduty on 11/4/23, 8:01 PM

    When Starbucks began their game of shoving the payment terminal at you and saying “it will have a question first”, with 3 tip amount options proposed, I was irritated. After a few experiences where silent and unhelpful “cup movers” working the drive thru shoved it at me I decided I was done with Starbucks.

  • by horrible-hilde on 11/4/23, 5:49 PM

    It has gotten worse with new payment systems which default to 20 percent. I was recommended a 20 percent tip for a man to hand me a pizza box to go (no utensils no bag no nothing) I changed it to 1 dollar. Also, if you buy a T shirt and a coffee at a cafe it will recommend 20 percent tip on the total goods not just the service.

  • by meristohm on 11/4/23, 7:03 PM

    I will go into the restaurant that doesn't take tips, all else being equal, and even if there's an imbalance, the no-tipping "perk" carries a lot of weight.