Tipping in the service industry

[Tiberius]

There are good arguments on both sides of the tipping debate, but can we all at least agree that the state of tipping in America is mostly caused by owners not paying their workers adequate wages?

No, of course not.

Because other countries, say Spain and most southern european, pay less for minimum wage and don't have tipping. So how do you explain that?

Those countries more likely than not provide for their citizens in ways which the US does not. When you don't have to pay ridiculous prices for healthcare, then yeah, maybe a smaller minimum wage with no tipping would provide for the basic necessities.

Not to mention in most states they can pay tipped employees less as long as their tips total up more than the minimum. So that's a problem with the government's minimum wage laws, not tipping.

It's a problem with the government's minimum wage laws, but it's also a problem with owners not paying enough. There's no law that states an owner must pay their servers the bare minimum. That they do is on the owners. Tipping allows owners to not pay their staff much, instead pushing that responsibility on the customer.

So obviously tipping is a cultural thing. Also part of the reason you normally get better service in the US.

Yet a few minutes on Google reveals that studies actually say the opposite, or are at least split on the subject. It makes sense if you think about it. Given that tipping is something society expects, people give tips regardless of the service. Sure, they might tip slightly less for bad service, and they might tip slightly more for good service, but when we are talking small percentages on an already cheap meal, it's not actually that much money.