Minimum wages and universal basic income

[ijmorlan]

We always talk about % tips but we don't usually specify if it's 15% of the pre-tax amount or the post-tax amount. Which aren't quite the same.

In theory, the percentage, whatever it is, should be of the pre-tax amount. Anybody who disagrees is saying that tips should go down if the tax rate goes down, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. If somebody thinks the percentage should be higher then they should say so, rather then engage in a distraction.

In practice, I just hit the 15% button, which uses the after-tax amount. It's simpler that way.

Another problem with the automatic calculation is that it doesn’t know the proper base for calculation. If I use a coupon, the suggested 15% is 15% of the amount left over after using the coupon, which is not correct. In the extreme case, the coupon would be for a free meal, leaving 0 left over.

Ideally, the cash register would send the pre-tax, pre-coupon base price to the payment terminal along with the actual amount owing, and it would use the base price to calculate percentage tips.

Or we could just do away with the whole nonsense.

The other thing about tip inflation that is irritating is that because the amount is already a percentage, inflation is automatically taken into account. Where does it stop? 33% tip? 40%? 50%?

Oh, and no tips for counter pickup or takeout (with the possible exception of somebody who is extraordinary). Enough already. We should be reducing, not increasing, the prevalence of tipping. It’s pre-modern, and not in the good way.