To think we should all stop tipping now?

[MuggedByReality]

Tomorrow the minimum wage increases to £11.44 per hour. That’s an increase of 9.8%. It also increased by 9.7% last year. Inflation is currently 4.5%.

This is obviously a very good thing for millions of workers in low paid employment across the country and, whatever else the government has got wrong, it deserves credit for pushing through such large increases.

The minimum wage is now set at a level at which it provides fair & reasonable pay for unskilled service industry work. Therefore tipping such workers is no longer necessary or appropriate, so I won’t be tipping anyone anywhere from now on. AIBU?

I'll still tip my hairdresser who earns more than minimum wage, and taxi drivers and take away delivery drivers. Because I want to.

I spent a lot of time working in hospitality when I was younger and don't get me wrong, tips were great, but it's such an odd culture in this country (compared to, say, the US, where it's understood that tips go towards an individual's take-home pay. I think that's wrong, but that's probably an argument for another day).

Why do we habitually tip waiters, but not checkout assistants? Or taxi drivers, but not bus drivers? Beauticians, but not the man or woman who cleans the changing rooms at the gym?

But you don’t need to tip here? It’s totally a personal choice. No one cares if you do or don’t. So… stop if you want or keep going if you want or make a choice on a case by case basis.

I hate tipping. I never know how much and feel everything is dear enough.

I wasn’t tipping anyway most times. It doesn’t make sense here.

Another one of those things British have blindly imported from America. The main reason they do it in there is because they’re not paying the staff minimum wage. So their tips make up the wages from what I understand?

I used to work in a call centre making minimum wage and as a TA doing difficult work in school and would never get tips, yet I’d be expected to pay a tip at a restaurant when the person is getting paid the same as me or more - no chance!

If I receive exceptionally good service I might occasionally tip, like the Uber drive who I had an excellent conversation with while I was travelling in his car for an hour in America or the waiter who kept tnr restaurants open and didn’t rush me and my boyfriend despite the fact it was only us two in the whole evening! But I don’t do it routinely no. My hairdresser has high enough prices and she even charges more if she has to spend more time Doing something eg. Detangling your hair which is fair enough but I’m not going to add a tip on top of that.

And I’ve noticed companies make the option for tipping everywhere now - like places where you have counter service. It’s ridiculous. If you want to pay your workers more do that.

I work in a school and because I have the holidays it takes at least 2.50 PER HOUR out of my wages to pay for the holidays …so that means my hourly rate is brought down by at least 2.50 an hour

Nothing to do with tips just making a point I won’t actually be getting £11.44

I don’t tip my hairdresser all the time just sometimes. I keep telling her she should put her prices up (she and 2 friends own the salon) but they don’t.

Restaurants almost always add service charge to the bill and sometime if bad service we don’t pay it (rare).

That’s the trouble isn’t it, why are some roles deemed tippable and others not, it’s so weird.

If the service is great in a restaurant I’ll tip, but I’ve noticed lately more & more there’s a % tip option on the card machine even if I’ve ordered at a bar/counter! I mean what would I be tipping there, it’s not even table service.

No, you're not unreasonable to choose not to tip. Tipping is a choice.

You are being unreasonable to think that £11.44/hr is "fair and reasonable" for someone to live on. This doesn't represent any obligation for others to 'top up' wages via tipping, but it also doesn't mean that wages are where they should be. Everyone should have the right to put a roof over their heads and food on their table. NMW just doesn't cut it in a lot of cases and has nothing to do with how hard somebody works.

I went to stacks pancake franchise and was told I HAD to pay 5% on my bill for till service. So at this point I hadn’t had any service

when I asked for it to be taken off they said they couldn’t…

that’s illegal right? Isn’t service charge voluntary?

YANBU. I very rarely tip, only occasionally when I have had exceptional service and feel that adding a bit extra is worth the overall price.

The reason I tip the hair person/s is if they do a decent job and same re cab drivers. I've met cab drivers where the car smells and they are not polite or minium greet - so no tips. I wont tip just for the sake everyone does it

When we eat out, we will tip if good service if not, no tip

I follow my mum's rule of tipping anyone who touches my body (not HCPs) so hairdresser, waxing (bikini line) and the occasional massage. I would tip a facialist if I could afford to go to a facialist. I also tip in restaurants for excellent service.

I do not tip when I have to download/find the menu on, order from and pay on an app. I am also offended when the app tries to add on a service charge!

I never tip

I’ll still tip if I feel it is appropriate, it is and always has been down to personal choice.

The minimum wage rise is still an absolute drop in the ocean compared to the increased cost of living. I don’t begrudge any minimum wage employee getting a raise.

Therefore tipping such workers is no longer necessary or appropriate, so I won’t be tipping anyone anywhere from now on. AIBU?

Yes YABU. If it’s your personal preference not to tip these “such workers” then that’s absolutely fine. But don’t try to tell other people that they shouldn’t tip, it’s extremely condescending.

Yes. I stopped tipping after covid
I am not well paid enough to sub other people any more.
Our industry used to be a lot higher than minimum wage. Now not so much. Last time NMW went up we had to put the new graduate wages up. First time I have ever seen that have to happen for people with a degree in science.

Tipping culture is bloody weird. When I was younger I worked in retail (mainly furniture, flooring and white goods) and I'd spend hours with certain customers but on the very rare occasion we were offered a tip we weren't allowed to accept it, yet everyone (including me) will happily tip a waiter for carrying some plates over to the table. How did we decide what customer service deserves a tip and what doesn't?

Having said that I will continue to tip, as tipping culture is so deeply ingrained in me that I would feel horrible and rude not to do so unless the service had been actively dreadful. I would love it if the culture did change, but unfortunately I won't be the one leading the revolution 😂

I no longer tip.
Others can do whatever they choose.

I tip 10% in this country ( hairdresser, wait staff, hairdresser, uber )
I tip 20% in USA
Always have and always will. I earn a lot of money and can easily afford to.

I’m very happy to continue tipping, but I’ve worked in several industries where tipping was the norm, so I’m biased. A lot of these jobs are skilled by the way, but obviously not in a way you value.
I also know what staff think about customers who don’t ever tip, or don’t appreciate the horrible hours, split shifts, or how awful customers can be.
If you saw how hard one Ukrainian KP I once knew worked, living in a shit shared house, slogging away 6 days a week, and sending every penny home to his family you might re think.
The new minimum wage means someone in a shared house with rent of an average £600 a month, has to work over 52 hours a month before they even buy a pint of milk.

I tip. Although minimum wage might be better than the £4 an hour it used to be, the youngest people don't get what they'd get as an older worker.. which makes no sense when they probably have higher rent and bills to pay. Restaurant staff tend to be younger so I do tip. I can remember how grateful I was for tips as a younger person and if you can afford £80 for a family meal it seems tight to then not afford a tip too. But it's personal choice. I don't tip everywhere and tends to be dinner rather than lunch and I don't tip if they don't take the order.

YABU. The national minimum wage is not a decent living wage, despite the government's best attempts to rebrand it. If it was, the state wouldn't need to provide benefit top ups.

(There is a strong argument that benefit top ups for working people are nationalised subsidies paid by the taxpayer to protect the profits of exploitative private company employers, but that debate is probably for another thread).

I am relatively poor income-wise but I always tip where appropriate, because I know from experience how much lower paid workers appreciate the gesture.

Also people claiming that serving staff are just bringing you a plate of food, is completely ignoring that they're also clearing away your plates, wiping down your kids high chair and all the messy food, after being on their feet all day, not eating themselves and not getting home until you're in bed. The work is unsociable hours and means they're missing out from plenty of their own nice times to make yours pleasant.