I think the future of restaurant tipping will be to simply do away with tipping all together. We keep hearing of horror stories involving servers being tipped so little, or nothing at all, all because of the way they look, the color of their skin, the way or speak, or something that happened in the kitchen, and it was not their fault. Yep, some people have begun to take advantage of servers by not tipping them properly, and I think we need to move to a system where all servers are paid a good rate, instead of the little $2.13 an hour minimum wage servers make today.
Now, a restaurant in Kentucky has banned all tips! And instead, servers make $10 an hour. But they can also make 20 percent of their sales in commission, which is based on sales volume, the quality of service, and a few other factors. This means, on average, the servers are making up to $15 an hour, with $10 an hour being a safety net. The restaurant is called Packhouse Meats, and I applaud what they are doing. Restaurants should be paying servers the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour if tips don’t come to or pass the $7.25, but many places don’t follow the rules. And servers are struggling to make a decent living when service is slow, or some diners take advantage of them and not tip them properly, even if their service was good.
Packhouse Meats gives each server a 20 percent commission of each bill they do. The servers will make $10 per hour, no matter what. But they can make more as well! This is a better model because the patrons can not take advantage and screw their server anymore. And since Packhouse Meats made this move, employee and server morale has gone up. Now yes, servers and their other employees still has to do a suburb job, and if anything happens, it will still be fixed. But at Packhouse Meats, people have no opportunity to take advantage of the servers, and to prove that, the place has no tipping signs all throughout the restaurant.
The tipping problem has gotten so bad, servers are posting photos of their low or no tips on social media, one restaurant has shamed people who don’t tip on social media, one couple got arrested for not tipping, and one restaurant has actually locked in their customers who don’t properly tip. And while 20 percent is considered a standard tip, three-quarters of customers admit that they leave less and 11 percent don’t leave anything. So something needs to be done so the servers who deserves to be paid get paid! And you know what, most of the world does not have tipping in restaurants.
The no-tipping policy is commonplace internationally. In both China and Japan, tipping is not accepted, and in Japan it can even be considered offensive. And in many places in Europe, restaurants don’t allow tipping as well. The no tipping problem is not just limited to servers. Pizza delivery people, hotel workers, housemaids, and other workers that rely on tips to make a living are sometimes getting stiffed as well. I think the world would be a much better place if tipping became a thing of the past, because it will stop people from taking advantage of the workers. And sadly, it happens more often than you think!
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