In the United States, tipping is an important issue in the hospitality industry. The best way to tip is in cash. The reason? Quite simply, servers receive the money immediately and without any intermediaries. However, if the tip is included in the bill and paid by card or contactless, the server won’t see that money reflected immediately, but rather until the end of the month.
In the US to earn a decent wage, tips are essential
It’s important to keep in mind that waiters’ salaries in the United States aren’t high. They’re rather low; they’re usually paid by the hour, and that salary isn’t the basis of their income. To earn a decent wage, tips are essential.
In most US cities, it’s legal for businesses to deduct credit card processing fees from tips. That is, the employer can keep a percentage, claiming it’s the cost of the transaction. The Department of Labor confirms that, for example, if the commission is 3%, the employee receives only 97% of the tip. Only in Maine, Massachusetts, and California is this practice prohibited.
This means that even if the customer thinks they’ve left a 100% tip, the waiter may actually receive less without anyone explaining it clearly. For this reason, it’s recommended that if you intend to reward the waiter with a tip, it’s better to give it to them in person.
The government has established various regulations to protect tipped workers
Many citizens also wonder if tipping as we know it will eventually become extinct in the future. With the hectic pace of everyday life and the shift to the digital age, it’s common for citizens to rarely carry cash. This is a reality; everything is paid for by card. It’s almost unthinkable for any establishment not to accept cards; people pay much less in cash.
This practice has also intensified since the pandemic. Due to the virus, many people stopped paying in cash to avoid passing bills and coins around. Not to mention that waiter service obviously couldn’t be provided in the same way, and the way a restaurant or café is run has undergone a complete transformation.
Over time, the government has established various regulations to protect tipped workers. Some of the most recent were implemented during 2020 and 2021, when the Department of Labor prohibited bosses or supervisors from keeping their workers’ pay. However, each business has its own regulations, based on state laws.
“We should make sure we’re tipping so people are getting paid fairly”
Many people still wonder how much they should tip in restaurants. Crystal L. Bailey, director of the Washington Etiquette Institute, explains that for restaurants in large cities, customers should tip between 15% and 20%. “The bottom line is, until there’s a real overhaul of regulations in the U.S., we should make sure we’re tipping so people are getting paid fairly.”
The bottom line is that whenever we want to leave a tip, it’s best to do so in cash and give it directly to the waiter we want to tip. That way, there’s no room for misunderstandings. As a customer we will hace to wait until the Government regulates this issue. Till then, tipping or not, always keep informed about the news so you can take the best decision.
