#tipflation is out of control in the US. Where it was normal to tip between 15-20% for good service, I see suggested tips on bills going as high as 25-30%. That is over an absurd quarter of the base bill! Compare that to Europe where the norm is 10% for most countries and the very high end is 15%.
Also, remarkably, tipflation is confined to the food service industry…no other service sector has this behavior. Tipping is most visible to fellow guests in food service settings (vs. other retail services), so is there self-inflicted stigma in being seen as tipping at the lower end of the recommended range? This whole phenomenon seems to be socially engineered…that too just over the past two decades.
Here’s another fun fact- employers in the US are allowed to pay tipped employees less than minimum wage under Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by taking a partial credit for the tips actually received by the employee.
This makes one wonder if tip credit is resulting in food service employers trying to push more of their employee wage commitment to patrons, which somehow is incentivizing higher suggested tip percentages on bills?
bulk of the wages paid to tipped employees are from tips… isn’t that bonkers!?!