Mel Nichols, a 37-year-old bartender in Phoenix, Arizona, takes home anywhere from $30 to $50 an hour with tips included. But the uncertainty of how much she’s going to make on a daily basis is a constant source of stress.
“For every good day, there’s three bad days,” said Nichols, who has been in the service industry since she was a teenager. “You have no security when it comes to knowing how much you’re going to make.”
The amount tipped workers make varies by state. Fourteen states pay the federal minimum, or just above $2 an hour for tipped workers and $7 an hour for non-tipped workers.
No one should ever have to work for tips. A living wage should be minimum for all workers, no exceptions. If you get tipped beyond that, great, otherwise, fuck off employers exploiting people.
Just to clarify, since people are confused. No one should ever have to live off sub standard wages and hope to hell they make enough tips to survive. This is an exhausting daily hustle that detracts from your quality of life. A livable minimum wage, enforced in all states and industries for every employee, regardless of age, should exist, no exceptions. $20/hr would be a good start. And if people also earned tip money, that went directly to that employee, no sharing with the employer or other employees, that would be fine. Employers need to pay employees proper wages, not your customers.
You’d rather the person in question make $20 an hour all the time instead of $30-$50?
Because that’s what would happen
This is the bullshit propaganda restaurant owners spread, and unfortunately a lot of tipped workers buy it.
If you’re making $30-50 an hour, why would you stay at the job if they offered you $20? Your job is a skill, and the better you are, the more it is worth to your employer. Employees will go where their skills are appropriately compensated. Setting the minimum ensures that all workers can support themselves, and that will force all wages higher.
So labor is worth market value in the labor market?
I agree, then there’s no need to change minimum wages for tipped employees
Just abolish tipping. Everyone hates it except the restaurant owner. Why are we pandering to the owners when the customers and the staff vastly outnumber them?
Actually a lot of servers and bartenders get really annoyed by the prospect of abolishing tipping. They can make really good money from tips.
I agree it’s a terrible system but you get a lot of push-back from workers if you try to change it.
No they would make the $20 plus the tips instead of $3 plus the tip so if they made $30 in an hour and only $3 was from their hourly rate that would mean with the new rate they would be making $47.
Why would you assume people would stop tipping? As a consumer I would have no idea their hourly pay rate changed so why would I change my tip? Also tips are based on the service provided not the difference between what they are paid and a living wage that’s not my problem as a consumer.
Tipped hourly work wages are just another way that corporations fuck over workers.
It’s funny how they don’t consider raising the minimum wage for those who don’t receive tips, but rather lowering it for those who do. Make clear the type of people who propose this
the correct answer is there should be no tips and those workers should be paid the same amount as every other worker.
I’ve read on other social platforms from wait staff that they would prefer tips to a living wage because they can make so much more with tips than without.
I’ve cut my dining out significantly recently because with the recent hike in restaurant prices, plus the minimum 20% tax tip, dining out is unaffordable.
Also, during covid I became an incredible cook.
If they make more with tips, then they don’t get to complain when somebody doesn’t tip them.
plus the minimum 20% tax tip
Where are you eating that has a 20% minimum tip? I’ve only seen stuff like that for big groups.
I should have specified … minimum “suggested” tip. Like when they specify that 20% is added foe groups or if they calculate it for you on the receipt and it shows 20, 22 and 25% or at the terminals at the table the 3 options start at 20. I feel guilty for doing custom and selecting less.
A tip should be a reward for higher quality work, not asking your customers to subsidize your workers because you’re too cheap.
A higher minimum wage for restaurant staff is going straight onto the menu prices anyway. But then customers weary of expensive restaurant food stop showing up.
Restaurants are pretty much the toughest industry to be in. The vast majority of them fail. And the ones that really succeed (fast food) don’t have tipping anyway.
The ones who are making all the money are the landlords who own the land the restaurants lease from. They don’t care if 7 tenants restaurants go out of business in 5 years. They can always find more.
Thing is, the price is clearly going up whether or not the wages do… so… Moot point
The prices are going up now because all of the following are getting more expensive:
- ingredients
- energy
- rent
- delivery fees (for delivery of ingredients to the restaurant)
- laundry
- maintenance
Raising the wages of staff is another expense to add on. To the list.
Restaurants are not a lucrative business. Most barely break even or lose money. They can’t afford to pay staff more without raising prices.
The McDonald’s business model is to own all the land their restaurants are on. Real estate!
Not so sure, more and more people fed up with greedy price gouging seem to be cutting back on tipping. You see it in business rags trying to sell it as “are consumers getting more stingy?”
Tips go away, tipped workers go away, tip-model businesses then have to adapt or die. (While whining that nobody wants to work, I’m sure.)
