If you don't like tipping culture, don't screw the worker while inconveniencing the restaurant not at all. Boycott the restaurants unless they pay fair wages. Go to the grocery store. Plenty of good meals to be found there.
this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2026
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But that requires a personal inconvenience instead of feeling good while saving money.
Visitors staying in hotels also don't have the luxury of a stocked kitchen to cook meals
If you can't afford to feed yourself without helping somebody get robbed, then you can't afford the vacation.
I appreciate america-dunking as much as everyone but are we really going to pretend that there is no exploitation in the service industry in Europe?
Any system with an owner vs worker dynamic is exploitative, the US just provides a masterclass example of it.
I detest whataboutism
It might be whataboutism if it were shielding the Americans. It's not.
There's lots to unpack here.
- In at least the west coast states, tipped workers do not make a lower wage.
- I'm not aware of any successful restaurants in the U.S. who have higher prices eliminating tipping and pay their staff a salary. Every instance I've seen of this fails.
- Servers make more money under a tipping culture over a set wage. They'd rather have tipping.
I'm not defending tipping as the way it should be, only that this is the way it is. Any one coming over to the US and not tipping to "make a statement" isn't hurting the restaurants, they're hurting the workers. And while we rightly expect US tourists to respect the customs of countries to which they travel, we should also expect the same of tourists to the US, at least those customs that affect the workers.
These tourists will "make a statement" for these couple of weeks, giving business/money to the restaurants but none to the staff, then leave and nothing will have changed except the bank account balances of the staff. If they wanted to make a statement, they'd seek out restaurants which already more closely aligned with their position.
I’m not aware of any successful restaurants in the U.S. who have higher prices eliminating tipping and pay their staff a salary. Every instance I’ve seen of this fails.
Of course. Practically every other restaurant in USA is charging much lower prices with their much lower wages.
Remove that from the equation (make them all pay actual human wages for people so that they can live in houses and so forth), and no restaurant in USA can do that. Problem solved.
Somehow, restaurants ALL OVER THE EARTH can stay open without tipping.
Figure it out
USA resident here.
The only way it'll work is making tip culture illegal.
Raising minimum wage and undoing the underpaid tippers law.
There's a special law that allows restaurants to pay something like $2/hr and expect them to get tips. Sure there is a clause for owners to cover the rest to match minimum wage but that's still BS.
Again. Tip culture won't go away until it's made to by law.
It started out at bribery for better service at restaurants damnit. Then somehow got morphed into a law to allow owners to pay thier staff less. What. The. Fuck. Capitalism.
What's worse. Carry out places all have tip prompts. A tip for what? Putting my donut in a bag? That's literally your only job.
I never tip anywhere unless I sit down at a place to eat and actually recieve a restaurant experience. Someone cooks a meal and a waiter checks in on me.
Call me cheap or an asshole but I'm not tipping at any takeout spot.
It started out at bribery for better service at restaurants damnit.
Worse, it started out as a way to not pay non-whites a decent wage while ensuring they must act servile to get by.
I too wish we lived in that reality in the US, but we don’t. Any more than we use the metric system or have universal healthcare. Maybe one day.
But today, ask anyone in a tipped position if they’d rather work in a restaurant and get paid a flat “livable” wage and they’d say no. So if they don’t want the system to change and obviously the restaurant owners don’t either, you can’t really advocate for the system to change saying it’s on their behalf.
I'd gladly swap if I got an actually livable wage.
Serving is far from the worst thing i've done for $20/hr. The problem is that 'eliminating tipping' means i'd make $7-12 per hour, which wouldn't even pay rent.
other countries still have tipping. it's just not necessary to survive.
There are quite a few restaurants and breweries around me that pay their staff a living wage and dont have any tips. You can tip if you want but they specifically have signs up saying you dont have to.
And they all seem to be doing great - theyre pricey but not holy shit expensive.
It depends which servers and at what restaurant or bar or place youre working. Not all of them make more on tips, and that always fluctuates.
Also having benefits and vacation time makes a huge difference. The places near me Im speaking of all give their servers and cooks and etc multiple weeks paid vacation and full benefits.
I know this because im friends with a lot of the bar staff and waiters at these restaurants/bars/breweries and I talk to them when im there.
I agree that this is hurting the workers, but what youre suggesting also just keeps the status quo the same and changes nothing. The entire system needs to be torn up, and that requires everyone in this country demanding better.
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A tip is meant to be "Here's an extra $10, I know you're already getting paid a living wage, but you went above and beyond and were the star show the show, you deserve it." That's not what we have in the USA, we have some broken tipped minimum wage that makes it feel like an obligation. It's broken.
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