Tipping in USA

[hopeishere]

I hate tipping it makes me feel awkward and I think you should just pay people properly but I get it's the norm in America.

Few questions:
Taxis - if you pay by card can you add a tip?
Bars do you need cash? I read it's $1 a drink?
Tour guides - how much should we tip them?
Porter $2 per bag?

Thanks!

It would be better if it stopped being referred to as a 'tip', which is a gratuity and up to the person giving it - and called a 'staff tax' or something like that. It's mandatory so it's nothing like giving an actual tip for excellent service, it's another tax, just one for staff.

Call it by what it is and the confusion would disappear.

Basically, with tax and tip, if the menu outside says a burger and fries is $20, it's going to cost you about $26, which conveniently is close to £20. Just hit the 20% tip button and take the hit on that. Pretend that the sales tax is 28% instead of 8%, or something. I hate the tipping culture too, but when in Rome (Wisconsin) do as the Romies do, and all that.

Also, don't think that you will be helping the staff by tipping in cash, as you might do in countries with less of a tipping culture ("here's some money that the boss/taxman doesn't know about", wink wink). In the US you won't actually be helping. The restaurant will have a system that (a) take the right amount of tip off the card payment and (b) shares that around the staff on agreed percentages (the bus boy/girl and the kitchen staff will also be getting a share). If you leave cash then the server has to handle that, which can cause friction with the other staff because they aren't quite sure whether s/he skimmed some off first.

American here. Yes, tips are part of total renumeration and are expected for proper service. I worked my way through uni waitressing for tips. If you can't respect our culture, don't come back.

Yes, I agree that restaurants are quite expensive. However, I don't take that out on the waitstaff. If I can't afford the tip then I can't afford to eat in that restaurant.

Self catering is a good option, nothing wrong with that.

I have been in the USA many times on holiday, in addition to living there for a time as a child (DH has family in New England and NY, plus we have been to Florida twice; once with DH's family and once as a household). As much as I would rather that servers were properly paid for the work that they do, I reluctantly accept that tipping is a culture in the USA.
As an aside expect to be challenged if you are buying alcohol in the USA. DH and I spent time touring the area where I had grown up and where I had visited as a child. We stopped off at a Walmart on our way to self-catering accommodation and I was asked to produce proof of age to buy a bottle of wine (I am 54).

Yes I've always tipped when in USA as expected but it did used to be a lower percentage which used to be acceptable

The food isn't especially good either. Mainly fast food

One other thing, the US likes to eat early. We were astonished to not being able to get a table at 6.30-7pm or that the kitchen would close at 8pm.

NY and large, expensive restaurants may be different but we found if you don't book a table you may be in for a surprise.

DH had this several times when travelling in major cities, it's not just the small town US.

Tipping culture is bullshit but you just kinda have to do it. In your head add 25-30 percent to everything (tax and tip) and you'll be okay. Don't expect your 10 dollar pizza to cost 10 dollars.

Like so much in America it is exploitative, helps no one, and potentially harms those on the bottom. For some reason Americans are loathe to change it and think they're better off under a tipping culture. Wait staff in very swanky restaurants in NYC probably are. Most aren't though

I leave that to the football hooligans and those that get dead drunk and get into fights on the street s and throw up all over the place!!

can anyone here guantee that all of the tips go to the the staff only and not the owners??

It's a stealth tax, IMO - ie pay it, they give you a smile, do pay it you get snide comments

why not just put the prices up by 25% and pay the staff at least the min wage!!

In my state the wage for servers is 2.13. Not tipping is tantamount to theft.

there was a restaurant that raised prices 20% and did away with tipping. They lost all their top servers and went out of business. People interviewed the staff afterwards and they reported that effective wages dropped precipitously because the owners did not pass the full 20% on to the wait staff. They instead based the wage they paid on an average of what a server could earn in a week and kept the rest of the extra money for their own pockets. top servers only ever worked the most lucrative shifts so it was a huge pay cut

The food isn't especially good either. Mainly fast food

There's plenty of good food, the problem is that in touristy areas there's an overabundance of chain restaurants (Chili's, Ruby Tuesdays, etc) which are fine for a cheap, quick meal (especially with kids) but overall have mediocre fare.

Do a little research, find smaller restaurants that serve local cuisine. Avoid the ubiquitous fast food/chain restaurants.

I went to a restaurant years back now in L.A. where the waiter couldnt have been more disinterested, threw the food on the table and yet my local friends were terrified not to leave a 20% tip.

To me, a tip is a reward for good customer service and I decide the % based on what I feel is appropriate not as a flat % of the bill, even though I can well afford it.

I am not tipping $20 just because you served me a meal!

I hate it too op. It’s even worse here where there is no reason or cultural weight to tip but some people break their neck to do it!!! What I don’t understand is why the Americans don’t find it annoying? Surely a set fixed price for services is far more efficient all round?

Exactly that!!!
We'veleft palces and given them a big fat zero

Sadly, some here are banging on about those that give a tip are wrong on every level

Point of note - the staff in the USA appear to be a bit better than the ones in England - we don't throw our money away and go to flash places but just the chains around the touristy areas or smaller places for a drink and a snack

if they serve us with a smile, appear polite and do a decent job then they get the money, if not no. At times if the service is run of the mill, no tip. Why should I be expected to tip as I was never tipped in my job!!

when I worked, I did not depend on tip as I knew wages were look and not a job for me!!

I live in a major east coast city. We eat out often, get coffee out once a fortnight, take Ubers once a month. My rule of thumb is:

Reataurant sit down meal: approx 15%. It’s a compromise between pre-covid 10% and pandemic-level 20% which was opportunism on the part of the majority (the minority needed it). Mostly we round up to the nearest big number and err towards 20% rather than 10%. Most servers are immigrants, life in the city is tough without solid healthcare.

Coffees: like almost all locals, very definitely laugh in the face of the iPad swung in your face with 18/20/22% tip for someone who has said three words to you and handed you a cup. I put a dollar bill in the jar (which sometimes is 18-20%, but 56c is ridiculous and I’m making a point I like to think)

Ubers: I always forget to tip after the ride 😳 it’s a miracle I still have a good rating. In yellow cabs it’s 12% flat (10% if the math is tricky)

This is a really interesting and fun podcast about tipping in America made by a New Zealander trying to wrap his head around living in the states...

open.spotify.com/episode/38kcfKQYmZOpi3yrEhKCu6?si=AyuFf7WJQ9G3zYmIZ1qwmA

I couldn't agree more. Honestly, it really grinds my gears when British people are completely aware of the local custom, deliberately ignore it and end up shafting the locals. I am British and have lived in the US for 20 years. There's a reason that service in the US is so much better than in the UK. It's simply another form of performance-related pay. If you get decent service, pay for it. Please.

Quote fail!!!

That's the not the point, though, is it? If you can't afford to eat out, don't.

People that do not pay for services rendered are far worse. It is unconscionable and morally reprehensible to take advantage of an exploitative system just because you can.

@Birmingbacon not sure where your table came from but the minimum 'wage' for servers is made up from wage PLUS tips. So if they earn $15/hour that's from tips too, not $15/hour PLUS tips.

www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped

I don't tip for ordering a takeaway coffee/donut/whatever, and just tap 'no'. But sit down table service absolutely.

There seems to be a trend now of, when ordering items online, of asking if you'd like to 'show your appreciation' by adding a tip. Not just US sites. Now that I cannot get behind!

The British culture is that tipping is optional. It's not the same in the US where it's mandatory. Referring to that requirement as 'tipping' is causing the problems.

People pay taxes, they might grumble but they do it. Charge whatever it is but stop, please stop, calling it a 'tip' when it's nothing of the sort.

You need to not think of it being a tip

It's a service charge.
The price you see on a menu is literally just for the food. The service charge covers taking the order, plating up, delivering to table, bringing drinks, clearing up etc.

If you can't afford 30% on top of the menu price to cover tax & service, you can't afford to eat there

It's about respecting the way things are done in the places you choose to visit
If you don't like it, don't go.

This is why I stopped visiting the USA. Fed up of the tipping culture, long immigration queues, unwalkable cities and the poverty. No thanks.

Overall I like the USA. We’ve always met great people. I do not accept service is better there. It’s sometimes pretty average. I’m lucky enough to eat in very good restaurants here and the service is friendly, knowledgeable and timely. As I would expect in the USA. Here the extra is 10-12%. USA - could be 30%. There is virtually no difference in service in the places we go to.