https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/13/us-tipping-restaurants-wages
So I just read this crap article in the gaurdian about how apparently the numbers don't lie and no tipping policies hurts employees. It's the most neo liberal crap I've read in a while.
The summary is basically that no tipping policies hurt waiters because restaurants can't raise wages high enough to pay waiters enough to make up for a lost in tipping. However they then pivot to say that the reason for this is because tipping is entrepreneurial. The reason America has a tipping culture is that we are uniquely entrepreneurial.
It's crap. The reason we have a tipping culture is that it allows businesses to obscure the actual cost of the service, meal or product. These businesses rely on people not taking into account the tip when selecting a service. So when they take away tipping they are forced to be more upfront about the pricing. This causes people to cut back thus lowering sales.
I also love how they point out that tipping facilitates racism, sexism and wage theft. Yeah you know what else does? The false American belief that we live in a meritocracy. That belief is at the heart of our belief that we are a nation of entrepreneurs. Yes getting rid of tipping will be extremely hard. It will feel like inflation to most people because they will suddenly see the actual cost of the services and products they've been paying for. Businesses have been using tipping and to a lesser degree service fees to obscure the cost and thus cajole people into spending more.
Edit: relying on tipping is a horrible practice. It puts way too much power in the hands of customers forcing workers to basically beg for thier pay. No one should have to flirt with customers to pay their bills. No one should have to rely on a customer feeling generous. No one should have to worry that if a customer is late that they'll get paid less because the customer feels they received less (happens in massage all of the time).
Waiters, hair dressers , barbers and massage therapist who worked for others are not entrepreneurs. They are employees. Pay them!