The new approaches make some sense to servers and customers. As diners, we’d know how much the meal will cost and don’t have to think about whether this server deserves more or less than the usual tip. Among restaurant workers, servers would have the most to lose but their loss would be partly offset by the shared pot from a service charge. And some would welcome the more consistent paycheck.
But it’s not so simple. Restaurant tips are ingrained in our culture, a carryover from a 17th century practice in English taverns that was transported to America in the late 19th century. Small local efforts to eliminate tips have generally failed. Restaurants don’t like to raise prices or impose service charges, and some people insist on tipping.
And the system of tipping is also ingrained in the laws of most states. While Washington and Oregon are among the minority of states that don’t have a lower minimum wage for tipped employees, many states, especially in the South, use the decades-old federal minimum wage for tipped employees of just $2.13 per hour. Only the heartless would wrap up a good meal without leaving a tip in those states.
Those are financial and political issues. But what impact would an end of tipping have on service?
Certainly, servers have a financial incentive to provide good service that could elicit a larger tip. Mark Matthias, owner of Beaches Restaurant, says he sees a correlation between customer satisfaction and service quality in his restaurant’s receipts. On average, he says, Beaches customers leave tips of about 17½ percent. The best servers’ tips top out above 20 percent.
On that day after our long Hood to Coast run, did our meager tip cause our server to do a better job with other diners that day, or any other? Maybe not. But we had our say by leaving a sparse tip, using our dollars as our voice. And that gave me a voice, however modest, I’d hate to lose.