Should tip-dependent jobs be mandated to have minimum wage in the future?

[lfromnj]

I'm getting really annoyed at how common tips are becoming and how much people expect them at certain places.

The other night I ordered a pizza, drove to the store to pick it up myself, and I placed the order on their website so no one even had to talk to me on the phone.

I walk into the store, tell the cashier my name and that I'm there for pickup, and she goes and grabs the box and hands it to me, I say thanks and start to walk out, and then I hear some guy say "any tip?" and she says obnoxiously loud "Nope! Nothing!" and I'm sure it was planned so that I heard them say that.

Why exactly would I be expected to tip if I'm driving to the store myself?  If I'm going to pay an extra 20% I'll just have them deliver the pizza to my doorstep and at least place the order by phone so I don't have to put up with their buggy website.

Taking a pizza box off a shelf and walking 3 steps away to hand it to me is not a "service" and if I have to tip people to make a product that the companies sells, then where does it end?  Do I have to tip deli workers at a grocery store who cut my turkey slices?  Do I tip the front desk workers at the dentist for checking me in and out?  

If the workers at the business aren't being paid a living wage without tips then take that up with the business owners and management, don't guilt trip consumers about not giving tips.

/end rant.

Thank you for telling this story.

Why don’t we start forcing businesses to drop this nonsense?

Not tipping is how you force such a change.  It might be uncomfortable in certain instances, but eventually it would force employers to raise wages.  

If that caught on, that would be a way of causing weight staff and their families to get evicted or go on food stamps until business owners finally, eventually, caught up to the trend. Terrible idea. Just raise the effing minimum wage

What happens then is waiters keep their tips and the good minimum wage. Oregon waiters can make more than some skilled trades hourly . There is no getting rid of tipping in American culture

One would imagine they would stop swimming in personal debt, which conservatives to cry as some moral failing of modern america, and then use the extra income to buy a car, house, refrigerator, or other consumer goods which is the fundamental staple of our economy, raising wages and employment overall. Gads the horror.

Again even if waiters get a living wage they would still demand tips. It is not going away in American society.  The standard tip has not changed at all in states where the tipped minimum wage has been boosted to match the non tipped minimum wage. Of course every waiter would want a higher base minimum wage but that would only be contingent on keeping tips.

[Del Tachi]

I'm getting really annoyed at how common tips are becoming and how much people expect them at certain places.

The other night I ordered a pizza, drove to the store to pick it up myself, and I placed the order on their website so no one even had to talk to me on the phone.

I walk into the store, tell the cashier my name and that I'm there for pickup, and she goes and grabs the box and hands it to me, I say thanks and start to walk out, and then I hear some guy say "any tip?" and she says obnoxiously loud "Nope! Nothing!" and I'm sure it was planned so that I heard them say that.

Why exactly would I be expected to tip if I'm driving to the store myself?  If I'm going to pay an extra 20% I'll just have them deliver the pizza to my doorstep and at least place the order by phone so I don't have to put up with their buggy website.

Taking a pizza box off a shelf and walking 3 steps away to hand it to me is not a "service" and if I have to tip people to make a product that the companies sells, then where does it end?  Do I have to tip deli workers at a grocery store who cut my turkey slices?  Do I tip the front desk workers at the dentist for checking me in and out? 

If the workers at the business aren't being paid a living wage without tips then take that up with the business owners and management, don't guilt trip consumers about not giving tips.

/end rant.

Does that pizza place only pay its workers $2/hour and require them to get the rest from tips? If so, I think you probably should have left the tip even though it's kinda ridiculous.

That isn't how the tipped minimum wage works.  If you earn more than $30/month in tips, your employer is allowed to pay you only $2.13/hour in direct wages but if that amount plus your actual tips received doesn't add up to the minimum wage then the employer has to make up the difference. 

[emailking]

For food I always tip really well because I want to minimize the chance they did something with my food lol.

[Torie]

If there is no guarantee the entirety of the tip goes to the server, then the answer is utterly obvious: yes.

Yes on steroids is where there is an automatic service fee added to the bill. God knows where that goes.

An advantage of applying the minimum wage, is that a customer is more liberated to tip based on service, and to give a zero tip for indifferent service. That is more problematical if the server's income is limited to tips, or most of it.

[Mercenary]

Yes, minimum wage mandate along with tips being illegal.

[ultraviolet]

I have a couple of thoughts on this.

1. To answer the question, maybe. Having a tipping system, in my experience, almost always ends up paying more than the minimum wage, sometimes far more. It’s also a good way to reward better waiters. But:
2. It seems we have gotten to the point where we’re expected to tip for everything. Like when the employee swings around the ipad and looks at you as you tip. Personally I’ve become able to just say no and I only tip actual waiters. But still, I’m not sure who’s pushing the higher tips agenda but it really seems like it should be an employer problem rather than mine.

I think eliminating the sub minimum wage is probably a good idea, and maybe leave room for a small tipping culture for wait staff only.