Excerpt from the article:
Schenker says that after his years in the service industry, he has watched tipping evolve into a major part of his pay.
“If there is some means of tipping that’s available to you, that should signal to you that workers there aren’t being paid enough,” says Schenker. “Tipping is sort of an acknowledgment of that fact.”
To Schenker, customers who don’t tip are not understanding that businesses treat tips as a baked-in part of workers’ wages.
“They subsidize lower prices by paying employees less,” he says. “If you aren’t tipping, you are taking advantage of that labor.”
He was so close… Especially for someone who says himself does not make much money.
I think some of the issues people are having is that it’s not clear where there is a reasonable expectation to tip. Sit down restaurant, yes. Hair dresser, yes. Dunkin donuts? They just turned around and gave me something that was already made. Do I need to tip on that? A pickup order? It seems like yes, but when I get Uber eats, I’m only tipping the driver, and that’s still a pickup order. The convenience store where I bring everything I want up to the counter? Because the tipping prompt comes up there. I’m not sure where there is a reasonable expectation anymore and it’s making me feel less financially able to be generous overall.