Hacker News Reader

Comment by adastra22 | Hacker News Reader

Every time there is an initiative to require paying living wages, food and bar service representatives fight to get it killed because they make _more_ money from tips than they would from regular wages. Tip-earning workers in America are well represented.

View on HN

Could always do what we did in Canada: pay living wages but still inexplicably keep tipping culture

Several states do that.

> pay living wages

But have you thought about the poor shareholders? /s

This is a dummiest reason tippers come up with. "require paying living wages."

Except the actual workers don't: very very few consistently earn a higher wage, instead on a "good night" they count the win and ignore the losses when it's not.

Even with reliable good nights the off nights eat away at that margin.

It's a false economy.

Few talk about the Skinnerian mechanics behind tipping. It's the addictive element which keeps gamers gaming, microtransactors microtransacting, pattern day traders day trading, and gig drivers gigging. The excitement of the gamble. The irrational belief that the next customer may be George Soros and they'll leave $10K on the table.

Could ban tipping by law. Businesses where employees are caught accepting tips get fined. The price on the menu or shelf must be the final price at payment (including sales taxes and other fees).

Businesses shouldn't accept tips certainly. They go to people.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com