Tipping Bareboat Charter Company Staff

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by alex_sauvage

You do realise that there are countries outside of USA and in some of them they are paying waiter and bartender real salary so they dont have to rely on tips to make a living?

Yep, it's called a living wage. Prices appear higher BUT all the costs are upfront with no messy add ons.

[Kenomac]

Now that the minimum wage has been increased significantly in parts of the US along with the price of eating out, we eat out less and no longer feel the need to tip. The wait staff doesn’t get to have it both ways. At my job as an RN... no tips AND I need to take the order, deliver the food, cut up the food and shovel it in for my clients. Sorry, no sympathy here, and I don’t have to listen to any of my co-workers complain about how difficult their job is.

Here in the US, the wait staff seems to expect tips just for food delivery while they offer up nothing extra in the way of service. It’s the exact opposite in Italy.

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by tankersteve

17 states only require the federal Fair Labor Standards Act rate ($2.13/hour) for tipped employees. Another 26 or so only pay a set rate above that rate, but below the state's minimum wage. These are occupations where tips are expected.

$2.13/hr? Are you serious? That's less than $100/week!

If any hospitality-related business tried offering such a low wage in Oz they'd be outta business in no time flat. No staff!

Minimum wage here today is about $15 - and that's paid to kids under 16-yrs-old working at chains like McDonalds that have hourly rates lower than the rest of the industry.

I've heard of top-flite baristas taking $30/hr.

Heck, back in the day, I was getting $15/hr waiting tables - and that was 30 years ago.

No wonder they need tips to survive!

FTR, we got tips as well, usually around 10%, but not always, as tipping in Oz is not compulsory, but is usually proffered if people have a good time.

My record tip, back in the day, was $75 from one table - of four gay guys I 'played up to' (i.e. flirted with) and cracked a few jokes with. They thought I was hilarious and/or liked my buns... never did ask which...

[Curryfrog]

Tipping.
When someone goes above and beyond. Small tip to demonstrate appreciation.
When they do their job. No.


Simples.

[les22]

Originally Posted by Iaangus

IF, you know tipping 10% to 20% for good service at a restaurant is normal in USA, (this burns your rear end because you already despise the US and everything about it and you also feel it is the cause of misery in the rest of the world)......

My goodness! What a huge leap to a totally erroneous conclusion! I love the USA but struggle with my tip being based on the value of the wine, just as I would struggle with my tip on a bareboat charter being based on the LOA of the boat. But I'm more than happy to act in accordance with local customs and reward excellent service with a gratuity.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Curryfrog

Tipping.
When someone goes above and beyond. Small tip to demonstrate appreciation.
When they do their job. No. Simples.

Exactly right. That’s what a tip used to mean, and what it is still theoretically intended to mean; for service that goes “above and beyond.” But that is no longer how it IS used in much of the lower-end service areas of North America (Canada is not much better in this regard). And this ‘low end’ keeps expanding all the time. Soon we will be executed to tip our doctor and nurse and lawyer...

We’ve shifted from a tip being a means of appreciating exceptional service, to it now being a necessary part of the worker's wage. Most other developed countries around the world do not follow this model, and somehow their civilizations haven't crumbled, and people still get service. But here in Canada and USA we’ve adopted this model of paying crap wages to low-end service people, so now the customers must make up the difference.

The good news is, as is so often the case here, the USA (and Canada to a lesser extent) is exceptional as compared to the rest of the OECD. In a 2013 study on minimum wages published in The Economist (hardly a left-wing publication), it concluded:

"Yet America as a whole is an outlier among advanced economies. Given the pattern across the rest of the OECD, a group of mostly rich countries, one would expect America, where GDP per person is $53,000, to pay a minimum wage around $12 an hour. That would mean a raise of about 65% for Americans earning the minimum pay rate.”

According to another study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (again, not a lefty org), the USA minimum wage should have reached $21.72 an hour in 2012 if it kept up with increases in worker productivity.

A Pew analysis finds that USA federal minimum wage actually peaked in real value in 1968. It has lost more than 40% of it’s real value (as adjusted for inflation) since then.

I accept what is, but say we should all resist the expansion of this tipping culture. It is creeping well beyond the low-end service sectors now b/c it is great for business owners, and great for rich people. It sucks for most workers, and it sucks for most customers, and more importantly, it sucks for our countries as a whole.

[Iaangus]

Originally Posted by les22

My goodness! What a huge leap to a totally erroneous conclusion! I love the USA but struggle with my tip being based on the value of the wine, just as I would struggle with my tip on a bareboat charter being based on the LOA of the boat. But I'm more than happy to act in accordance with local customs and reward excellent service with a gratuity.

Yes, I agree on all accounts.

[Johnno]

Tipping seems to have become an American disease. Thank goodness here in Australia most staff are paid in accordance with various wages awards and tipping is virtually non existant. I've never heard of tipping in the bareboat industry down here. Lets keep it that way.

[cyan]

Originally Posted by Johnno

Tipping seems to have become an American disease. Thank goodness here in Australia most staff are paid in accordance with various wages awards and tipping is virtually non existant.

Not sure why anyone would be happy that an Australian waiter earning the equivalent of USD $13.71/hr is excluded from the horrible American tradition of throwing in an extra couple of dollars at the end of a meal, more or less depending on the level of service. Seriously? Sounds a little self-serving. (SIC)

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by cyan

Not sure why anyone would be happy that an Australian waiter earning the equivalent of USD $13.71/hr is excluded from the horrible American tradition of throwing in an extra couple of dollars at the end of a meal, more or less depending on the level of service. Seriously? Sounds a little self-serving. (SIC)

Perhaps the real result here in Australia is that a tip, if offered is for very good to exceptional service and offered, not demanded for doing the job one is employed to do. It goes back to the concept of a living wage!

[cyan]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Perhaps the real result here in Australia is that a tip, if offered is for very good to exceptional service and offered, not demanded for doing the job one is employed to do. It goes back to the concept of a living wage!

Living wage seems like a fair idea. However, the google webs indicate that the cost of living is actually a bit lower in the US vs OZ, and the minimum wage is either higher or lower, depending on which US city or state. Seems like a wash EXCEPT that in the US the waiters can often make bank on tips if they give great service.
[insert whistling emoji here that looks snarkier than the default one]

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by cyan

Living wage seems like a fair idea. However, the google webs indicate that the cost of living is actually a bit lower in the US vs OZ, and the minimum wage is either higher or lower, depending on which US city or state. Seems like a wash EXCEPT that in the US the waiters can often make bank on tips if they give great service.
[insert whistling emoji here that looks snarkier than the default one]

Hmmm, a Google search reveals that the poverty rate in the USA is about 15%. In Australia the data shows it to either be less than 5%, or completely negligible, depending on the source.

Aus. just increased their minimum wage to just shy of $19 AUS. It’s on track to increase to $24.

How much does the average American pay for healthcare alone? What do you think the low-wage Australians pay?

Which country is better for low-wage workers?

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Buzzman

$2.13/hr? Are you serious? That's less than $100/week!

This is at best a half truth.

In reality, the law states, that if the base wag plus tips doesn't at least meet minimum wage, the company has to make up the difference...those pushing for more tipping like to trot out this half truth and ignore the reality that most wait staff in anything but the worst restaurants make 2-3 times minimum wage once tips are included and they often hide a significant percentage from the tax man.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Hmmm, a Google search reveals that the poverty rate in the USA is about 15%. In Australia the data shows it to either be less than 5%, or completely negligible, depending on the source.

I would have to dig out the definition but I believe the USA defines poverty as being in the bottom 15%...

So if you double everyone's wages, the poverty line simply doubles as the bottom 15% is making twice as much.

Australia does enjoy the benefit of being an island nation with strict immigration controls. That really does help cut down on the number of people that live on govt assistance, so they can be more generous.

[Seaadventurers]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

Typical. Americans have screwed up the whole world by, not just tipping, but way over tipping in countries and among people who never expected tips in the first place.

I have a very simple way of dealing with this. If the credit card receipt does not have a tip line on it I don't tip. Tipping can create conflict between the staff and with the management in places where tips were never the tradition. They do not have tip regulations placed the like the IRS has in the US where tips are pooled and divided equally which allows the establishment to avoid minimum wage laws. Yes, that great waitperson you wanted to impress by over tipping didn't get the benefit of your magnanimity, it was divvied up between the wait staff, the maître' d, the bus boys and girls, the cooks and dishwashers.

There are lots of places where tipping is not the norm that put a line on your receipt for a tip. Many times I have suspected that is they know you are an American, you get a tip line.