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A restaurant deciding to raise its prices is not and should not be illegal; it's their prerogative. Paying below minimum wage should be illegal. Expected/required tipping from the customer in order to make up for the sleight is simply adding insult to injury.
No one is making below minimum wage at the end of the day.
While I'm not a fan of the whole tipping process I certainly don't think it would ever lead to less expense for the customer. Chances of restaurants paying more and not charging more are pretty much zero.
We should get rid of tips entirely, and pay a fair wage to servers instead. That's what most other countries do - most people find it bizarre that Americans tip. Pay a fair wage for the job, and let that be that. Tips can go by the wayside. If someone is a bad server, then they get reported to their manager and given a warning, suspended, or fired, just like it would be at any other job. Notice that there are plenty of customer service jobs that aren't tipped, so it's not as if there will suddenly be a rampant amount of awful servers because they're not getting tipped and earning a fair wage instead.
No one is making below minimum wage at the end of the day.
Do you have data for that conclusion?
In states where the restaurant is required to "make up the difference" between the permitted lower-than-minimum wage and the tips, how does the restaurant determine that at the end of the day? Do they require the waitress to empty her pockets on the counter at the end of the shift? This isn't a rhetorical question--I really don't know. I know some waitstaff are required to share tips with busboys and others, so maybe they do have to empty their pockets at the end of the shift.
In states where the restaurant is required to "make up the difference" between the permitted lower-than-minimum wage and the tips, how does the restaurant determine that at the end of the day? Do they require the waitress to empty her pockets on the counter at the end of the shift? This isn't a rhetorical question--I really don't know. I know some waitstaff are required to share tips with busboys and others, so maybe they do have to empty their pockets at the end of the shift.
I don't really know how they figure it out. Just know what the rules are.
No one is making below minimum wage at the end of the day.
While I'm not a fan of the whole tipping process I certainly don't think it would ever lead to less expense for the customer. Chances of restaurants paying more and not charging more are pretty much zero.
In many states servers are paid $2-3/hour and must make up the difference via tips. Federal minimum wage is $7.25.
$2-3 < $7.25.
Again, restaurants deciding to raise their prices is acceptable. If you can't afford it, don't go out to eat.
If the restaurant cannot afford to pay at least federal minimum wage, they should not be in business, same as any other business.
I was shocked when I heard CO allowed servers to get paid something ridiculous like $2.35 or $3.10 hr plus tips that's slave labor, no thanks. Now I am sure some corporate apologist will come along and says those jobs were never meant to support a family
In Arizona servers were paid $2.17 hour for many years. In the last five years it has gone up to almost $5 hour so it IS getting a bit better. Having worked in food service for over 30 years I was definitely working for tips and, depending on where I worked and what hours, I could make around $20 hour...including tips. NO employer is going to pay servers that much. As a single mom of four I managed to support them just fine but there was never much left over to put into savings.
In many states servers are paid $2-3/hour and must make up the difference via tips. Federal minimum wage is $7.25.
$2-3 < $7.25.
Again, restaurants deciding to raise their prices is acceptable. If you can't afford it, don't go out to eat.
If the restaurant cannot afford to pay at least federal minimum wage, they should not be in business, same as any other business.
And if the salary plus tips don't equal minimum wage the restaurant has to make up the difference. So you are wrong, they are not making minimum wage. For some reason you want to exclude tips as part of the compensation as well. Not sure why. They are part of a servers compensation. They go on their tax return. That money does in fact actually count.
And restaurant owners are just following the law. They aren't doing something illegal. If you really don't like the way it is set up then you should lobby to have it changed. And of course they can afford to pay minimum wage because they would just raise prices to offset it.
I don't think it's a good idea. A better idea would be to mandate minimum wage before tipping and make tipping optional.
Tipping is optional now.
But I get your point.
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