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?

You stop tipping if you like. I’ll continue to tip, unless the service is really poor. They’re still low paid and do a difficult, thankless job, and I can afford it. Let’s spread it around a bit.

Tipping has always been optional in the UK. I tip my Uber drivers because the pay is awful, I tip service staff if the service was very good.

If you can no longer afford to tip and believe that minimum wage is getting to close to your wage then you need to consider it your employer values you, perhaps a new job or career progression is in order. If your own wage has stagnated it might be due to any number or reasons or even industry specific, but that isn't a good enough reason to demand that service staff deserve less.

You could work elsewhere though? Holiday club, tutoring, hospitality if you already have some hours on the side as Easter, Christmas, summer are busy times. An agency teacher I know picks up bar work.

If you can find vacancies were I live for a few hours here and there not realistic

I stopped tipping a while ago. On the rare occasions I eat out, you order with a QR code now or at the bar. I’m not tipping soneone just to carry a plate to my table. That’s a bit half arsed.

Service now seems to be automatically added to restaurant bills. We had £17 added to a Sunday lunch bill for 3 a fortnight ago and a massive (I think) £27.50 added to our meal for 4 earlier today.

i don’t mind tipping but I do object to having the choice withdrawn, or at least made difficult for me. I think I’m aware of the value of good service and perfectly capable of working it out for myself.

How is £2.50 being taken out of your wages to pay for your holiday?

I get 16 weeks of a year and get paid for that hence the 2 50 per hr coming out of my wages pro rata

I used to work in jobs wheee I served the public that weren’t in a restaurant or hairdressers and no one ever tipped me and my hours were long and wages were shit. It was much easier working in a restaurant.

I hate that tipping has selected a few trades and decided they are the ones that get tips. It’s stupid and bonkers to me.

You are still paid at least minimum wage for the hours you work though. Many people choose school jobs to fit around their children so they don't have to pay for holiday care.

Sorry… what? School staff are deducted £2.50 an hour?

Or is this because you’re only paid like, 10 months of the year or something so you’re working out how much you “lose” because you’re not paid for holidays.

You can always get a holiday job.

I don't tip, it's something left over from the days before minimum wage when historically some jobs like hairdressing were lower paid than other comparable jobs

That’s right it’s stretched out over the year I work in a school for the holiday so I can go to Australia to see my daughter and granddaughter no other job would allow all that time off every year so yes that is mt reason

This is not the USA where tipping is expected (to the point if being demanded in some places) tipping in the UK is an acknowledgement of good/superior service from whoever it is you are tipping.

The amount of the NMW has no bearing on whether I leave a tip or not.

You're fucking nuts. 11.44 is not a living wage when a bag of shopping costs £80.

Right… but a huge number of people are paid minimum wage. So why should they tip? They’re already struggling to afford meals out. If the tipping pushes them over the edge and they don’t go out, then hospitality workers won’t have jobs.

There is no need for tipping in the UK, not when so many people are paid minimum wage but expected to top another min wage worker.

It's a wage that a lot of people have though, just because you are well paid not everyone is. Some that were earning just above the old minimum wage will have pay rises as well as they will fall below minimum wage. Where did you pluck £80 from anyway.

I work in hospitality. It is shit hours, seasonal work and requires a huge amount of bowing and scraping. That's why we are tipped. Because we make you feel special and important. Nobody else does that for minimum wage.

I wont be tipping as my wage has barely increased in 10 years so I dont take home a great deal more than minimum wage now.

I don’t tip. My hairdresser gets £120 off me every 7-8 weeks and she teaches as well. I know it’s the salon who get it but I don’t think she is skint plus I buy my products from there. I could do my hair at home. Not as well but it’s still an expense I could do without. My nails I have tipped before but they always look embarrassed so I stopped. I rarely tip taxi drivers. I do tip in restaurants and we tip the lady at the pub we go to once a month for book club because she looks after us and actually gives us a present at Xmas.

Maybe get a better job then.

I don't think it is low. Obviously it is too low. When people working a full time job can't rent a house or pay their bills, there is a glaring issue. I don't have all the answers, but obviously the issue is there.

Of course, the alternative to raising wages is lowering prices so housing, utilities and other essentials are more affordable, but I can't see that happening.
The issue we have is that renting, or buying, a home is currently completely out of the reach of a large number of people, and that isn't OK. It also isn't an answer to say that those people should get better jobs, because all jobs need to be done by someone. We can't all be CEOs in this world. Therefore, people must be better paid, or prices must be lower. Otherwise, the rise in NMW means nothing because it's not keeping pace with the rises in COL.

Some of those places hire apprentices and they are on probably half of minimum wage.

Minimum wage also differs by age.

Here’s the bands

It's still not a living wage despite what this poxy government says.