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Comment by soperj | Hacker News Reader

I used to work shipping & receiving, where I got minimum wage, and didn't get a tip for anything. That's why I'm happy to let people working retail & food service jobs just do the work for their wage.

See how that works?

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No, I don't. I don't understand that mindset at all.

It wasn't just when I was older that the tips were expected, it was still expected while I was making minimum wage.

People working in restaurants in the US have a lower minimum wage than the rest of the country. So letting them do their work for like $3/hr doesnt really cut it

This is a common misunderstanding. Tipped workers still make at least the full federal minimum wage no matter what, just their employer may not be paying more than $2.13 of it if tips are sufficient. It's still not exactly the same (and minimum wage being enough for anyone is a separate issue) but the fallback is the same minimum wage.

[0] https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/wagestips

No, they do not. The employee is still owed the minimum wage, whether it be via tips or their employer if the tips do not add up to minimum wage.

Also, quite a few jurisdictions do not have tipped minimum wages anymore.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped

I always thought tips was on top of minimum wage but sounds like it is more sponsoring/helping the employer to pay it's employees instead of an extra to the employee.

Money is fungible, so it would always be helping the employer pay an employee.

When a person decides to become a waiter versus a cook or a janitor, they are including potential income due to tips and lack of tips in their calculations. Thereby, the potential of tips always reduces the need for an employer to pay more.

That seems like a problem worth addressing.

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