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Your statistics include ALL RESTAURANTS, which include streetside stands (where tipping isn't the norm) and buffets (where $1-2 tips, regardless of the bill are the norm)
The Quartz/Square survey doesn't state it clearly, but from the way they phrase things, I believe the "nationwide average of 16.1%" means an average of 16.1% when a tip was given; they excluded instances of zero tips when calculating the average.
Given the high prices charged by fine dining restaurants, I see no reason why the percentage given as tips should be higher than the nationwide average. If anything, percentage-wise I tip much better on a $50 lunch than on a $300 dinner.
The Quartz/Square survey doesn't state it clearly, but from the way they phrase things, I believe the "nationwide average of 16.1%" means an average of 16.1% when a tip was given; they excluded instances of zero tips when calculating the average.
Given the high prices charged by fine dining restaurants, I see no reason why the percentage given as tips should be higher than the nationwide average. If anything, percentage-wise I tip much better on a $50 lunch than on a $300 dinner.
To repeat myself yet again, 'when a tip was given' includes buffets and streetside stands. How don't you understand that?
We aren't talking about WHY the percentage for an average tip has increased, we are talking about the fact that it has. Do you understand what social norms are?
Likening firemen to waiters is relevant here. Their benefits and pensions are identical.
And firemen go through a very long, rigorous certification process in most places to become firemen. How many colleges or universities have a major in waiting tables? A firemen DESERVES their pay and pension, because they have put a lot of time, planning, and effort into their career. Can that be said of waiters?
It is not the customer's fault of anyone's chosen path in life, so why should it be the onus of the customer to "make sure" that wait staff are provided a good living? I don't know any waiter that was forced to do that job at gunpoint - so if they feel the need to continuously "remind" people to tip - maybe they should consider a different career choice that requires an education or vocation.
And incidentally, in Washington state, waiters are paid minimum wage at least, plus any tips. I made my way through college working at Arby's - and never saw a tip. So the "most waiters are struggling college kids" bit doesn't work here.
It varies per situation... whether or no I'm working, if I'm still within my outside food budget, social calls, using up coupons/taking advantage of other discounts, but given all variables equal, I found myself eating out much less (gradually) ever since the new tipping norm went from 15% to 20%. Anybody else find themselves doing the same thing?
Some people say to eat out as much as I did and to just tip at/around 15% then, as if you eat out less, that's still less tip they're getting in the end. However, I'd rather do it the other way... go out less and tip at the new 20% instead. I figured those it affects would appreciate this more. I know an "old timer" who still remembers when a 10% was the norm and he had a similar reaction as I did.
I don't eat out very much.
In the restaurant industry, they say that tripling the cost of food to account for overhead and prep work is the norm. Thus, here's what happens to food which would cost $3.00 at the store:
$3.00 x 3 = $9.00 menu price
Add tax at 7% ($0.63): $9.63
Add 15% tip ($1.35): $10.98
So that $3 food product becomes $11. Get up to a $55.00 tab, and you can divide out to find that it would cost you $15 to buy the food. Sure, you have to cook it up yourself, but in so doing, it can be a lot of fun, it can taste better, and you don't have to leave home. I find very little to enjoy in paying ~4 times what it would cost to buy the food at the store, driving to and from a restaurant, waiting to be served, and eating in a noisy atmosphere while sitting in seats that were engineered to be uncomfortable.
How do I know the tipping rate hasn't gone up? Here's how - it's easy. Dine in any restaurant that adds a tip automatically to the bill. What percentage are they adding? Answer: the same 15% that they added 20 years ago.
Tipping rates haven't gone up. Some tippers have become overzealous in their tipping, partly because they want to feel, or appear, superior to everyone else. And some tippers customarily UNDERtip - Floridians are notorious for that, especially older retired transplants to Florida, who grew up when a $1 tip was a lot of money, and don't feel the need to tip more than that even though the cost of food has risen since the 1950's.
For waiters at sit-down restaurants, bartenders, barbers/hairdressers/attendants at beauty salons, taxi drivers, tour guides, and food delivery folks, the tip should be calculated as a percentage of your total bill as follows: 10% usually means you aren't totally happy, 15% usually means all was acceptable, 20% for excellent, over 20% for outstanding. 15-20 percent is considered standard in most communities.
and even their survey has shown that most people tip 15% on average - 20% if the service is excellent.
Tipping standards also vary depending on location. In NYC, it's common to leave 20% tip. In rural areas, 15% is more common as a starting standard. It also varies by the type of establishment. In a place where "everybody is somebody" and people go to see and be seen, a 20% minimum is common, because you wouldn't want to be singled out as "that guy" who only tipped a "common" amount. In places like that, the higher the point of the nose, the higher the expected tip. In country diners, there are still regular customers who tip a buck a plate, and the servers are happy to accept it even if the meal was $10. That's because they know that when JimBob shows up the next week for just a $3 slice of apple pie, he'll be tipping $1 then, too. He's not concerned about the percentage. He leaves a buck a plate whether that turns out to be 5% or 45%.
I tip based on what service and quality of food I receive. I have walked away with no tip and I dropped 30% tips too. Your attitude, service and quality of food dictates the tip.
If you think that graphic is too busy, I also found an interactive version. The article goes on to say "At restaurants, the national average tip is 16.5% of the bill", and also mentions that if anything, using data from square overestimates average tips, both because credit card users tend to tip more, and because the square UI nudges people towards a 20% gratuity.
You keep using the word "fact", but I'm not seeing a lot of support for this claim of a new social norm.
Do you understand what "forced memes" are, and why workers and owners in tipped industries going around the internet pretending that 20% is the new standard aren't fooling anybody?
And yet again, you miss the point. You are using square (a service catering to low priced, casual places to eat) as your 'fact'. Did you even bother to read the links I read?
Obviously not. I will say it yet again, in a typical, sit-down restaurant (read, more expensive than the cheap places that use square), 20% if average. If you want to ignore that fact so that you can get away with being cheap, go right ahead.
For me, average service = 15%, good service = 20%, crappy service / buffet = 10%.
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and he had a similar reaction as I did.
