[wirthjason]

I consider myself a fairly good tipper — a trait I picked up from my grandfather. However I feel this is tipping culture is nonsense. The calculated amounts at bottom are on the receipt total, including tax —- why am I tipping 20% on that? Then there’s the misc fees. A random X% Covid, inflation, health insurance cost.

It’s not that I don’t mind paying. I look at the total bill and shocked by the the difference from what it was to what was advertised. That puts a real damper on an otherwise good time.

Consequently I vote with my wallet and stopped going out almost altogether. I much prefer cultures where the price advertised is what you pay. I hope the silver lining to excessive tipping results from backlash and the movement to a non-tip society. My wife is from a non-tip society (Japan) and always asks me why some counties can do it and others don’t. It’s incredibly frustrating.

[marcus0x62]

The way the culture of tipping has changed in the last 25-ish years is really amazing. It used to be that you'd tip 15% of the pre-tax amount, excluding alcohol, for *good service.* Then, it became 20%. Then, you were supposed to tax on the total pre-tax bill. Then on the post-tax bill. Now, 20% is kind of a 'meh' tip and is viewed as some kind of entitlement by the waitstaff industry and everybody and their grandmother is asking for tips.

[themitigating]

"Then there’s the misc fees. A random X% Covid, inflation, health insurance cost."

????

[ZekeSulastin]

A bunch of places in the US have added additional percentage fees in lieu of raising their marked prices (someone in another thread mentioned an “employee wellness fee”, for instance).

[wirthjason]

Here’s some news about it.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/1/25/23570024/restaurants-...

An additional 3% fee (for whatever) is common. You can ask to have to taken off, but then I feel like an asshole. I get that things might cost more — rent, raw materials, staff, etc. The business should build that into the price upfront. It feels like a dirty trick to disclose it at the end and puts me, the customer, in an awkward spot that makes me feel bad.

[scelerat]

As a muted protest to municipal, county or state mandates requiring employers to pay for employees' health insurance, some businesses -- restaurants especially -- have taken to exposing this cost to the customer in the form of an added fee.

[dataflow]

I feel like what's wrong with it isn't the exposure of the price breakdown to customers, but the lack of exposure of the final price until the last moment.

[themitigating]

So they mark how much employee insurance is costing them, do they also breakdown their profit? Since business like restaurants often price based on a margin doesn't inflation sometimes increase profits?

I also don't understand protesting inflation a global phenomenon (in varying amounts) that is difficult to solve.