Rethinking the practice of tipping

Tipping is a practice that bugs me. Not because I don’t think that people deserve to get paid - just that it’s so awkward. And I hate having to calculate 15%-20%. Also, while some Free Market champions might argue that tipping results in better service, I certainly haven’t found worse service in places where tipping isn’t practiced.

One memorable experience was when the bellhop the hotel we stayed at in Bangkok delivered our luggage to our room, I tried to tip him - forgetting (due to 23 hrs of traveling) that… well… tipping isn’t generally expected in Thailand. The bellhop looked outright appalled.

This recent WSJ piece has some pretty good thoughts:

The Point of Tipping - WSJ.com

Generous? No. But economically sound. It’s not that we tip waiters because they are paid so little; they are paid so little because they can expect to make up the difference in tips. Starbucks is known for paying relatively well and providing respectable benefits. Yet, without the tip-jar take, the company would have to raise its wages commensurately to maintain the same caliber of employees. Perhaps prices would rise too, but I suspect many would be happy to have the full, unambiguous cost of the transaction up on the board. As things stand, the tip jar subsidizes the company’s payroll costs. So when you toss a dollar into the cup, you’re really making a donation to Starbucks — and I can think of needier beneficiaries.

The piece also had some interesting historical notes on tipping:

When tipping first caught on in the U.S., late in the 19th century, it was the old-world, aristocratic overtones of the practice that drew the most ire. An 1897 editorial in the New York Times declared tipping to be the "vilest of imported vices." The paper lamented not only that "we have men among us servile enough to accept their earnings in this form" but that others were willing "to reward the servility." Joining the chorus against "flunkyism," the Washington Post denounced tipping as "one of the most insidious and one of the most malignant evils" of modern life. Tipping was seen to foster a lord-and-vassal relationship that the prouder professions resisted. Well into the 1910s many bartenders refused gratuities as an insult to their status.

How times have changed. Just check out this next part:

In America, receiving tips long ago lost any stigma; indeed, the "partners" at Starbucks regard their gratuities as an acknowledgment that they are more worthy than their counterparts at McDonalds. But making one’s employees dependent on the kindness of strangers is not without cost. Jim Romenesko, known for his media Web site, also runs the popular Starbucksgossip.com, where baristas and customers post comments and questions about the chain. As Mr. Romenesko has noted, the most heated, vitriolic discussions are those on tipping. Most of the postings are by levelheaded employees who make it clear that they deliver good service tips or no. But there is no shortage of workers angry at the "cheap bastards" who risk getting secretly "decaffed" if they don’t tip. One barista reminds customers: "I control your daily dose of crack!"

I wish we would simply do away with tipping as a society. Cheers to Per Se for getting rid of it!