Do you hate tipping as much a I do?

Last updated on: March 1, 2015 at 10:21 pm by Jane the Actuary

Do you hate tipping as much a I do? 2015-03-01T22:21:28-06:00 Jane the Actuary

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In today’s Trib: an article on the ins and outs of tipping.

And here’s what bugged me about the article and/or the reality that it describes (assuming that it describes a reality that’s not just limited to upscale restaurants or certain regions or localities):

First, of all, the statistics.

Technomic, the Chicago-based food industry consultancy, released a study in August that showed how diners tip. The company surveyed restaurant customers across the country and found that at full-service, sit-down restaurants:

1%: Don’t tip
16%: 10 percent or less
26%: 11-15 percent
44%: 16-20 percent
13%: 21 percent or more

At fast-casual restaurants (Portillo’s, Panera Bread, etc.), respondents say they’re less likely to tip and/or tip less:

32%: Don’t tip
16%: 10 percent or less
26%: 11-15 percent
24%: 16-20 percent
9%: 21 percent or more

At buffets and cafeterias, nearly half of diners tip 10 percent or less, if at all:

21%: Don’t tip
27%: 10 percent or less
14%: 11-15 percent
12%: 16-20 percent
4%: 21 percent or more

At fast-food restaurants, 81 percent of diners say they don’t tip.

Do you buy these statistics?

There is no tipping at “fast-casual” restaurants. At some such restaurants (Panera), the staff takes your order at a register, and you pick it up at a counter. At others, you order at a counter, staff brings your food and clears the table. There is no “service” — no “how is everything?” or “can I get you another pop?” (or even a first pop, to begin with). Right? This isn’t a strange thing that I’ve missed? Why would you tip?

Sure, at a traditional buffet, it’s expected to tip, just a smaller amount — because they do bring your drinks, clear your plates, and take your payment at the table. But not at a cafeteria, or a cafeteria-type buffet.

And 19% of diners tip at a fast food restaurant? Who? Why? Or are they cooking the data to try to persuade people to tip more frequently and more generously?

Second, the article claims that not even okay to reduce the tip for poor service, because, the reporter says, it’s common for the first 10% of the tip to be allocated to the busboys and other staff — meaning that, in terms of acceptable etiquette, the notion of a tipping system as a motivator for good service has been abandoned.

So what’s the answer? The article suggests moving to a standardized 20% service charge.

How about, instead, just factoring service into the cost of the meal, or maybe a flat cuperto like in Italy?

Of course, that would entail raising the prices by 20%, and would scare away customers who are used to the lower, but only artificially lower, prices without tip. I suppose restaurants could show two columns, with and without service charge, for the math-impaired.

But isn’t it kind of irritating that we’re trapped (in a path-dependency sort of way) in a really stupid tip system? The Germans don’t do it — “tipping” consists mostly of rounding up, and largely because, at least in our experience, and maybe this has changed, the waitress calculates the bill on the spot (doing more math than your typical American) and gets paid in cash.

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