Delivery Apps Like DoorDash Are Using Your Tips To Pay Workers' Wages (theverge.com) 242
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: When you order food through an app and tip the worker who delivers it, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the money you give goes directly to that person. But in reality, some delivery apps use your tip to make up the worker's base pay -- essentially stealing the money you're trying to give someone to maximize their profits. This isn't a new practice by any means, but a recent report from The New York Times highlights how DoorDash, the most popular food delivery app in the U.S., enforces it.
Here's Times reporter Andy Newman: "DoorDash offers a guaranteed minimum for each job. For my first order, the guarantee was $6.85 and the customer, a woman in Boerum Hill who answered the door in a colorful bathrobe, tipped $3 via the app. But I still received only $6.85. Here's how it works: If the woman in the bathrobe had tipped zero, DoorDash would have paid me the whole $6.85. Because she tipped $3, DoorDash kicked in only $3.85. She was saving DoorDash $3, not tipping me." "DoorDash's policy is the equivalent of a 'tipped wage,' a common practice in America where employers pay workers less than the minimum wage and rely on tips to make up the payments they owe," the report adds. "Apps like DoorDash are essentially just extending established bad labor practices into the world of tech."
Amazon Flex also uses tips to make up pay, even after being heavily criticized for it. Instacart was the same way, but it scrapped the policy and promised to retroactively compensate workers following outcry. Postmades, Grubhub, Seamless, and Uber Eats all confirmed to The Verge that customer tips are not used to subsidize workers' pay.
Here's Times reporter Andy Newman: "DoorDash offers a guaranteed minimum for each job. For my first order, the guarantee was $6.85 and the customer, a woman in Boerum Hill who answered the door in a colorful bathrobe, tipped $3 via the app. But I still received only $6.85. Here's how it works: If the woman in the bathrobe had tipped zero, DoorDash would have paid me the whole $6.85. Because she tipped $3, DoorDash kicked in only $3.85. She was saving DoorDash $3, not tipping me." "DoorDash's policy is the equivalent of a 'tipped wage,' a common practice in America where employers pay workers less than the minimum wage and rely on tips to make up the payments they owe," the report adds. "Apps like DoorDash are essentially just extending established bad labor practices into the world of tech."
Amazon Flex also uses tips to make up pay, even after being heavily criticized for it. Instacart was the same way, but it scrapped the policy and promised to retroactively compensate workers following outcry. Postmades, Grubhub, Seamless, and Uber Eats all confirmed to The Verge that customer tips are not used to subsidize workers' pay.
All I can say is wow (Score:5, Interesting)
Just when I think my opinion of tech "entrepreneurs" can't get any lower, a new story comes out and proves me wrong.
Re:All I can say is wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Pay people what the work is worth.
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So, I've thought a lot about this ... because I dine out a lot, and I tip well for good service ... I consider 20% to be a standard tip unless the service was bad. I do this because I appreciate good service.
I have mostly come to the conclusion that tipping takes mostly 3 forms:
1) Cultural norms
2) Tipping to show off/largesse
3) Tipping out of appreciation for the work
#1 means you come fr
Re:All I can say is wow (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll start off by saying that I live in a country that is generally non-tipping.
Once, a good tip in the US was 10%. Which just goes to show how long it's been since I visited. Now it's 20%?! Given more time, will it then become 30%? 50%? 100%?!
Who sets these levels anyway? How does expectation just double like that?
This is, frankly, why I don't enjoy going to restaurants in some foreign countries. I have no idea of expectation. And then, even if I do think i have an idea, seems like it will change under me.
Tell me beforehand how much I can expect to pay. Then bill me that amount. Nice and simple. I really don't want to stress over whether I've got tipping levels right or not. I don't want to have to figure out bizarre percentages in my head at the end of the night. This is not enjoyable to me.
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Because in comparison, food has gotten cheaper. So to make the same amount, your percentage needs to be higher.
Well that's blatantly wrong. There may be a few more (smaller) items on the value menu at your favorite fastfood restaurant, but that's not the trend. That's just smoke and mirrors to make you think that 4 half-sawdust chicken nuggets for a buck is a good deal.
In real restaurants, with servers, the prices have basically doubled in the last 10 years. Not that long ago If you went out to breakfast at Denny's, IHOP, Cracker Barrel, or any mom and pop shop you could eat like a king for $10 or get out with the
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> Not showing taxes is actually a legal requirement, at least in some places in the US.
I'm not sure how common that is, but I've never seen it. I checked the receipt from the last restaurant I went to. "TAX: 3.83".
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A good tip in the US has never been 10%*, at a normal sit-down restaurant. Table service is a 15-20% tip. Honestly, I think it moved to 20% over 15% because the math was easier. A buffet might be 10%, and counter service is usually round up to the next dollar.
Yes, I wish taxes and tips were baked in to the price.
*At one point there was no tipping culture, and it's possibly you are over 85 and visited as a child when 10% tips were common. But it standardized on 15% a long time ago. That said, it's poss
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Minimum wage has barely changed in decades, and minimum wage for tipped workers is even less than the normal minimum wage.
The cost of living goes up over time, and we seem to have decided on a policy that the restaurant should be contributing minimally toward your server's pay. So if you want people to serve you food, you need to contribute to their pay directly.
Re:All I can say is wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Tech entrepreneurs are not the problem. The problem is the American tipping culture. Pay people what the work is worth.
I don't think the problem is even American tipping culture so much as the fact that american business owners seem to feel themselves entitled to steal money from their employees.
but but JERB CREATORS (Score:2)
american business owners seem to feel themselves entitled to steal money from their employees.
I know it goes without saying, but I'm going to anyway for emphasis-
Jesus Christ what a bunch of ASSHOLES
Not only are they taking money from their employees, they're taking money away from their employees that was SPECIFICALLY INTENDED for those employees.
Reminder: It almost changed (Score:2)
Just a reminder that in December 2017, the Trump administration removed regulations preventing employers pocketing tips, and now there are no federal rules against it. These regulations were most recently strengthened (but already existed) under Obama in 2011.
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Legally speaking, that's not true. The social agreement is between the delivery driver and the customer (and the business is not party to it). The business only agreed to make up the difference to hit a minimum total. If it's in the terms and conditions of the contracting agreement, there's no underpayment. And they're also not legally structured as an employer - so these are not wages.
Re: All I can say is wow (Score:2)
Tech entrepreneurs are not the problem. The problem is the American tipping culture.
So when scumbags steal tips, blame tipping. Right.
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Tech entrepreneurs are not the problem. The problem is the American tipping culture.
Pay people what the work is worth.
You'll make far more money from tips in many places than you'd ever make with minimum wage (or even the much discussed "fight for fifteen").
Unless you aim to mandate a high minimum wage everywhere.. and good luck with THAT political football... you're not going to get the support necessary from waiters/waitresses to eliminate tipping.
If you work in one of the fast casual places... an Applebees, O'Charley's, etc... you'll make more waiting tables and serving drinks than you would in, say, stocking shelves at
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Bullshit. The median wage for waitstaff (counting tips) is $9.61/hr. That includes bartenders.
Sure there are high-end waiters who would hate getting rid of tipping, but the vast majority would be better off with a $15/hr wage.
And that data is the last data before Trump changed the rules and made it legal for managers to pocket 100% of the the tips. Oh, didn't you kn
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If you work in one of the fast casual places... an Applebees, O'Charley's, etc... you'll make more waiting tables and serving drinks than you would in, say, stocking shelves at a Wal Mart. Especially on a weekend.
Except those weekend earnings are dipped into to bring you up to minimum wage the rest of the week when you're only being paid $3/hr. on a Tuesday afternoon.
In this case, it's more of a minimum guaranteed payout. And it's just as bad as Uber and anyone else. Anyone who is not an employee but an independent contractor can make a terrible deal for themselves and aren't guaranteed even minimum wage.
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Aren't they using the same idea restaurant owners have been using for decades?
Re: All I can say is wow (Score:2)
Sandhill Road has become a blight on our nation. They brazenly rob the poor, and have abandoned even the flimsiest pretense of social value. It's time for Uncle Sam to stomp some sociopathic venture capitalists.
Question for the candidates in 2020: who's got the biggest trust-busting stick, and who's gonna swing it the hardest?
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>Just when I think my opinion of tech "entrepreneurs" can't get any lower, a new story comes out and proves me wrong.
I don't see anything wrong with it. All this outrage has it backwards. If a user tips $5 and DoorDash guarantees a minimum $10 on an order, then DoorDash pays $5 extra. I'd rather have a minimum tip than not.
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This is why you tip in cash, to prevent these types of abuses.
So here's the take-home (Score:2, Insightful)
Food delivery service uses same labor practices as restaurants have for many moons, under laws graced by multiple dynasties of both political parties.
But tech, so unfair.
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Other than tipping out to your bussers/bartenders I assume everything I tip staff goes to them.
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I assume everything I tip staff goes to them.
Why would you assume that? Tips are regularly stolen by employers.
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Re:So here's the take-home (Score:5, Insightful)
I never fucking understood this. Servers shouldn't have to help pay other employees with their tips. Fuck that whole stupid system.
You mean the tipping system? Yeah, it's stupid. At least, it's stupid that employers can pay tipped employees less than non-tipped employees. That puts a burden on me, the customer, to pay more than the menu price just so that servers can eat. And for what? To give me some power over them, specifically to give the customer the right to determine whether the employee should get paid the minimum wage? They should have the job or not, and I just won't eat in that restaurant if the service is too poor.
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If they ain't doing their job properly you fire them.
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Re:So here's the take-home (Score:5, Interesting)
Abolish tips. Tipping should not exist. In the UK it actually doesn't exist at all.
Tipping was initially a gesture optionally paid to service staff who offer good service. Then tipping somehow became customary regardless of the quality of service. Now it's become free money for the companies who regularly underpay their staff expecting that we're all going to tip.
There's a new rule in this household: We don't tip anymore - no more tips. If we get good service then I'll take cash out of my wallet and hand it directly to the staff member. I won't even hand it to the establishment at all, because they clearly cannot be trusted. This is wage theft in its normalized form.
If we order from GrubHub then I'll hand the tip in cash directly to the driver.
This is yet another reason why nobody should be considering abolishing cash for digital-only currencies. This just forces all money through corporations, and those corporations are going to pull shitty crap like this. At the end of the day this is abuse of good will and straight up criminal wage theft. Someone should be prosecuting these companies for doing it.
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Tipping *does* exist in the UK - its just that its used properly [www.gov.uk] as a reward and not as a wage top up. All employees have to be paid at least minimum wage, there is no adjustment made for "tipping income" so you know that at least all staff will get their full wages whether or not you tip. There are also moves to make it illegal for the employer to take a cut of tips, but currently thats not illegal.
Its also illegal in the UK to require wait staff to cover the cost of "dine and dash", while I've heard ho
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Its also illegal in the UK to require wait staff to cover the cost of "dine and dash", while I've heard horror stories in the US of staff having to cover huge dining bills.
There have been a couple of well-publicised incidents in the UK recently of employers requiring staff to cover the cost of dine-and-dash. The employers got a lot of negative publicity out of it, but I'm not sure it's actually illegal.
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Tipping should not exist. In the UK it actually doesn't exist at all.
Not true. I went to a restaurant in the UK last week that included an "optional" 18% gratuity on top of the bill, and it wasn't the first time. I seem to be seeing it more and more.
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18% ? Were the waitresses all Supermodels ?
Re:So here's the take-home (Score:5, Informative)
With waiters and waitresses - they have a fixed hourly wage they earn, and any tip you give is added on top of that. Sometimes it goes directly to them, and sometimes it goes into a pot split by everyone on duty that night... but it's extra money they receive above the set wages their employer pays.
What Door Dash is doing would be the equivalent of telling the waitress "we're setting your pay at seven bucks an hour, but if someone gives you a five dollar tip we're holding back five dollars from the total we pay you". It's not the same thing at all.
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With waiters and waitresses - they have a fixed hourly wage they earn, and any tip you give is added on top of that.
That's half true. The fixed hourly wage is a pittance (a couple bucks an hour last I looked), and if that wage plus tips doesn't add up to minimum wage the employer makes up the difference. That's clearly explained in the Wikipedia link in the summary.
That's exactly what's happening here, except DoorDash's pittance base is per delivery rather than per hour as explained here [doordash.com].
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With waiters and waitresses - they have a fixed hourly wage they earn, and any tip you give is added on top of that. Sometimes it goes directly to them, and sometimes it goes into a pot split by everyone on duty that night... but it's extra money they receive above the set wages their employer pays.
What Door Dash is doing would be the equivalent of telling the waitress "we're setting your pay at seven bucks an hour, but if someone gives you a five dollar tip we're holding back five dollars from the total we pay you". It's not the same thing at all.
Seems to me Door Dash feels entitled to confiscate money from the tips their employees get. That is a pretty shitty thing to do given the nature of American tipping culture as you just outlined it. How greedy and pathetic can a business get?
It's exactly the same thing (Score:2)
Except that if the tips aren't enough to raise their hourly wage to the non-tipped minimum wage (examples will use the national $7.25/hr, but it may be more locally), the employer is legally obligated to make up the difference. All tips in restaurants are u
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Wrong. Tipped wages are not legal for delivery drivers.
Baloney [thrivepos.com]:
In most states, delivery drivers are eligible for the tip credit wage, which means you can pay less than minimum wage as long as tips make up the difference.
Tip $0 Online, Tip Cash To The Delivery Person (Score:4, Informative)
I know more and more people don't have any cash anymore, but I make sure to always have a small amount of cash for tipping either from the supermarket or my credit union.
If you care... (Score:5, Informative)
o Tip in CASH ONLY, direct to the worker
o Fight this outrage with *direct responses* to the companies that are doing this. Get it changed in court and enshrined in law if necessary.
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If you're still using the "app" then this won't do shit. If you care, you'll not use the "app" at all.
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o Tip in CASH ONLY, direct to the worker
o Fight this outrage with *direct responses* to the companies that are doing this. Get it changed in court and enshrined in law if necessary.
The "outrage" you want to fight is already enshrined in labor law, and has been for quite a long while. The only effective way to fight it is, as you say, tip in cash directly to the worker. I personally won't even add a tip to a restaurant bill that's going on a credit card. Cash only for tips.
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The companies which collect the tips (gratuities as they're called in accounting) are supposed to be doing it because other people involved in the supply chain may be deserving of the tip, but only the person who directly interacts with the customers gets the cash tips. e.g. In a restaurant, the cooks, busboys, and dishwashers.all contributed to you having a pleasant dining experience. But if you leave a cash tip, it all goes to the waiter/waitress and these other
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The companies which collect the tips (gratuities as they're called in accounting) are supposed to be doing it because other people involved in the supply chain may be deserving of the tip, but only the person who directly interacts with the customers gets the cash tips. e.g. In a restaurant, the cooks, busboys, and dishwashers.all contributed to you having a pleasant dining experience.
Let's just hope that they are not expected to work for tips only, as the waiters are. (And the food drivers are - but is legal and in this crazy system even normal)
I Always Tip (Score:3)
And I always try to tip in cash.
I will admit, it's terribly easy to use that tip button, and I do it more than I should.
But now I'll make sure to keep cash on hand to do it exclusively.
Americans fall for this ALL the time (Score:5, Insightful)
Get rid of tipping (Score:2, Informative)
I was always a big tipper, actually I still am if the situation calls for it. But after living abroad for almost a decade, you realize how fucking stupid tipping is, especially when people feel obligated to do it.
In some other counties tipping is even considered rude because you're almost saying "you probably don't get paid enough, here's a little extra cash."
Tips are fucking stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
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This but I don't mind tipping if it is optional.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Moral of the story? (Score:3)
Always tip cash.
Wage theft (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the most common type of theft and the largest worldwide by dollar amount. It's done on behalf of the rich, by a representative bald-faced and in a suit and tie, and they even keep a paper trail. Why can't we stop this?
Devil's Advocate (Score:5, Interesting)
All these "delivery" and "taxi" companies, like Uber, DoorDash, and others lose money:
https://news.crunchbase.com/ne... [crunchbase.com]
They depend on "venture capital" to stay afloat. They are in fact swimming in cash [or rather burning those large cash piles]:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0... [nytimes.com]
However without opening their financials, we can only speculate. But it seems to reason that they are also losing money on every delivery to build a "network", and trying every trick to stay afloat.
And some of the blame is on us, the customers. If we are asked to pay a "$5 delivery fee", we try to look for a "free" option to avoid that. However if we are asked to "tip $5" for the same delivery, we would gladly accept. Hence the companies change their wording to divert the funds one way or another.
Either the fees will increase across the board, or everyone will go bankrupt in the long run, or maybe we will invent a much more efficient way of (robotic?) delivery.
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Wouldn't optimized be a single driver collecting the orders from multiple close by restaurants going to a single neighborhood? Instead of the - say 5 - restaurants sending out their own drivers?
Tip (Score:2)
A tip from her to you was not why the woman answered the door in a bathrobe, rather, the opposite. Sorry you couldn't close the deal.
1% (Score:2)
Not what I was told (Score:2)
Two Lyft drivers told me they do not see their tips. I don't question this, but that was a few months ago. The delivery services, feh. I don't use them. Oh, sorry, Pizza Hut. And I be they give the tips to the driver.
It isn't a Tip if you pay it ahead of time (Score:2)
Then QUIT! (Score:2)
Literally waiting on a DD delivery right now (Score:2)
They say that 100% of your tip goes to the driver it's plastered all over their. If they're stealing the money I hope they get a class action from it. They have worse customer service than Comcast and are overpriced as fuck. They will also increase menu prices of items at restaurants and lie to you about it while refusing to compensate for discrepancies. I just have few options at the moment.
why are you complaining? (Score:3)
Is all the outrage here SPECIFICALLY at gig-economy businesses only?
If the ONLY thing that is NEWS is "...on the internet" then you need a case of STFU dropped on your ass because you contribute no value...
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You get paid less than the minimum wage, tips make up the difference, if they don't you get minimum, and if you're over you keep the extra.
My understanding is that in this case DoorDash is keeping the extra, not the employee.
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Nope. Per TFS, drivers are paid the same amount regardless of tip amount:
"For my first order, the guarantee was $6.85 and the customer, a woman in Boerum Hill who answered the door in a colorful bathrobe, tipped $3 via the app. But I still received only $6.85. Here's how it works: If the woman in the bathrobe had tipped zero, DoorDash would have paid me the whole $6.85. Because she tipped $3, DoorDash kicked in only $3.85. She was saving DoorDash $3, not tipping me."
Re:Jobs (Score:5, Informative)
Disagree. Tipping artificially deflates prices. Plenty of industries are getting by just fine without required tipping.
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Do they? That's only a virtual price deflation if I'm expected to pay not only the sticker price anyway. $20 paid is $20 paid. No matter if it's 20$ paid including delivery or $15 plus $5 delivery.
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You are *expected* to pay the menu price plus tip but you are only *required* to pay the menu price. Agreed that $20 paid = $15 plus $5 delivery. The problem in the case of the OP is that the $5 tip is supposed to be going to the employee but the employer is taking a cut.
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Great.. so then it would be you instead of the employer underpaying that poor delivery guy.
The question is,,, is it really supposed to to the worker? Or rather... are you supposed to know that the driver works for tips only like the baggers at the supermarket? Then it wouldn't be any different than with a regular waiter where you know that you are supposed to tip because that IS their salary and the company will only compensate for tips lesser than minimum wage.
But no matter how, this whole tipping thing is
Re:Jobs (Score:4, Interesting)
And how often do you follow your philosophy by offering to take a pay cut to help the economy? Remember, if you would work cheaper, the economy would be booming, houses would be cheap and your boss could invest in creating more jobs.
Follow your advice and as a bonus you won't have to pay so much in taxes.
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Not necessarily. Being paid less than what is fair may be the smarter choice if the alternative is being out of work. People don't become these low paid drivers because they have a lot of career opportunities. Sometimes they drive as a part time job to supplement their income, and even if it's a lot of low paid hours it still helps.
This is why you should always use CASH for tipping (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're going to tip someone, be kind and use CASH for tipping instead of just writing in some amount for your credit card to supposedly tip them. The guy (or gal) taking your cash can pocket it directly without the sleazey app/boss stealing it. When you try to tip with credit, then the worker has no option but to let the app/boss handle the transaction, which often ends up like this story where the tip ends up in the employer's profit line instead of in the employee's pocket as you intended.
This is true of many places, not just the doordash app. I took a job as a waiter in a restaurant in Yellowstone National Park. My pay rate was something pitiful like $3.50/hr, well below the federal minimum wage rate of $7.50/hr (or whatever it was at the time). Income from tips was used to claim to the government that I was making more than the minimum wage. If nobody paid me enough tips to meet the lawful minimum wage, then the company would step in and (grudingly) pay the difference to avoid violating the federal minimum wage law.
Re: This is why you should always use CASH for tip (Score:2, Insightful)
They also pocket it without reporting it. Waitstaff complain about their pay and conveniently leave out all of the unreported cash they collect. Pay them with plastic.
Re: This is why you should always use CASH for tip (Score:4, Insightful)
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Wrong. None of those other employees are tipped employees. Only the servers are. They have the OPTION to share tips with other employees, specifically ones who did their jobs well, and directly supported the servers in accomplishing their mission (customer satisfaction.)
Unfortunately, managers don't wanna manage, so they won't fire a successful server for creating ill will in the back of the house by not sharing tips with those who deserve a cut. And this tipping culture has created a race to the bottom of
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From Nolo.com
Under federal law and in most states, employees can be required to pay part of their tips into a tip pool to be shared with other employees.
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Incorrect-- cooks are paid at or above minimum wage. Some restaurants do have tip sharing processes with bartenders and whatnot, but the cooks are almost always straight hourly.
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Another way to look at it is that if the poor can get away with not reporting $1500 of their income then it should be ok for the rich to not report $1500 of their income. This I would be ok with (I don't care if the rich fail to report $1500 a year).
Using the percentages you are using (but converted to actual dollar amounts) I do have a bit of a problem with the rich getting to keep $50000 (5% of $1mil.) when the poor only get to keep $1500 (5% of $30k). I think the rich person in this example could probabl
Re: This is why you should always use CASH for ti (Score:2)
Waitstaff complain about their pay and conveniently leave out all of the unreported cash they collect.
Try claiming nothing but your credit card tips as a waiter and see how far that gets you.
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I've been confronted over a 10% tip. Honest to god confronted.
The moment an employee "confronts" you over your choice to tip: you should ask to speak to a manager immediately.
Get a manager and simply tell them "this person made you uncomfortable" and explain what happened.
If they have good management, then they comp your meal. If you have bad management, then next time you frequent some other place *shrug*
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But in the US, we're now told that only tipping 15% is cheap.
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In countries that don't have tipped minimum wages? Makes sense but not relevant.
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Ever since I got my first credit card more than 50 years ago, I have always paid tips in cash. This is a habit I inherited from my father. It is not merely to block employer attempts to impose "tipped wages" on employees. There is also the fact that the banks charge a fee for processing credit card transactions, and many employers who do not impose "tipped wages" nevertheless subtract a portion of the processing fee from employee tips.
Re:This is why you should always use CASH for tipp (Score:5, Insightful)
Give the wait-staff fair pay and eliminate this tipping nonsense altogether....
Re: This is why you should always use CASH for tip (Score:2)
Otherwise, your idea's complete shit.
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Re: This is why you should always use CASH for tip (Score:5, Insightful)
I suppose that's why every other profession that doesn't rely on tipping has terrible employees.
That's nonsense, of course. If you manage a restaurant, fix or fire the bad employees. If the whole restaurant is bad, you, consumer, quit going there.
Using tipping to solve this problem makes the customer essentially the manager, and quite frankly I don't want to do it. I want to go enjoy a meal or a drink or whatever, not have to do an impromptu performance review and decide if you deserve 15%, 20%, or more. Or nothing, if you're exceptionally bad.
The whole notion of tipping, to use your phrase, is complete shit.
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Are you saying that charging more for the meal and eliminating tips to pay waiters a livable wage (let's say median salary) would actually mean a lower salary for them in fancy restaurants? If so... I'm all for it, it's a great idea. The company (aka the restaurant) should pay fairly, and more for better waiters that provide the level of service they want and charge the consumer through the menu price. I don't tip my plumber for doing his job, why is this so different?
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In many countries tipping is just not done and is seen as an oddity when they visit places that do have tipping, especially parts of Europe and east Asia. On the other hand some countries tip much more than the US, but sometimes small amounts to more people and in some places you might be shouted at for not tipping.
it certainly makes sense to just pay the fair wage and not tip, but this is still driven by culture. If the culture assumes that everyone tips then it is very difficult to change the behavior or
Tip in cash (Score:2)
Exactly.
You shouldn't use DoorDash in the first place, because apparently they are evil, but if you do, tip in cash.
Same for Amazon Flex: don't use it, but if you do, tip in cash.
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the company would step in and (grudingly) pay the difference to avoid violating the federal minimum wage law.
Citation needed. You must have had an above-average employer. Or maybe it has something to do with being in a national park that gets the extra scrutiny. Most employers will short you the money and claim you made plenty in unreported cash tips knowing you can't afford to defend yourself.
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That's exactly what I do. Tip $2 and pay $10 cash.
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You can still tip if you want for great service.
No - you tip because you know this is how they make a living. I don't tip cashiers, baggers, or any other service workers for doing their job well.
I think you would be surprised but most waiters/watresses (car washers) would rather make money from tips than get minimum wage.
Also, just curious, but is there any job you think shouldn't be paid a "livable wage?" You realize that will raise the bar on who gets hired and make it harder for kids or people trying to build a resume to get work.
Re: Why should I care? (Score:5, Informative)
In most countries in Europe (and in all of EU-countries) service charge is included in the bill. It is even usually mentioned on the bill.
There are exceptions, where it is explicitly mentioned (e.g. in the menu) that a service surcharge will be applied to your final bill. You will then see it on your bill ("Service surcharge...") - but it is very, very rare - I probably have seen it only once or twice in Europe.
Still, you can tip - if the service was above expectation. The tip signals that you were above-average happy with the service. But you don't have to...
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Re: Why should I care? (Score:2)
It is even usually mentioned on the bill.
That would be nothing more than a flat-rate tip; you sure about that??
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I traveled to Europe recently and the price of food was pretty comparable to what I'm used to
Huh. Either you go to different parts of Europe than I've been to, or you live in San Francisco (or some other place where restaurants are insanely expensive). Whenever I go to Europe, the cost of restaurant meals seems high.
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Meanwhile, in December 2017, Trump's administration changed DoL regulations so the new national tip policy is "the company can do whatever they want with the tips. Use them all to buy the owner a car if you want."