{"id":840,"date":"2021-08-11T21:48:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T01:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/?page_id=840"},"modified":"2021-08-11T23:16:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T03:16:53","slug":"why-initiative-77-does-not-mean-the-end-of-tipping-june-21-2018","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/posts-written-at-ohio-state-univ\/blog-posts-written-at-ohio-state-univ\/why-initiative-77-does-not-mean-the-end-of-tipping-june-21-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Initiative 77 Does Not Mean the End of Tipping (June 21, 2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently voters in Washington D.C. voted for Initiative 77.\u00a0 The vote was not particularly close: 55% voted for the initiative and 45% voted against it<\/a>. \u00a0The initiative changes minimum wage laws<\/a> in the District two ways.\u00a0 First, it increases the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020 and then boosts the minimum wage by inflation after that.\u00a0 Second, the initiative slowly increases the minimum wage for tipped employees so that by 2026 they receive the same minimum wage as any other worker.<\/span><\/p>\n

The initiative still has to be approved by Congress<\/a> and could be derailed by Washington\u2019s City Council, but if it passes both hurdles many opponents<\/a> feel it will dramatically change going out to eat in the nation\u2019s Capital.<\/p>\n

Prior to this law all waiters, waitresses, bar tenders and other employees who received tips could receive less than the minimum wage<\/a> as long as the difference was made up in tips.\u00a0 The current federal minimum wage that a restaurant, bar or hair salon needs to pay tipped employees is just $2.13 per hour.\u00a0 The District of Columbia has a slightly different floor, just $3.33 per hour.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the result is the same.\u00a0 With the current sub-minimum wage, restaurant owners are not responsible for most of the pay of their front-line staff.\u00a0 Instead, patrons are primarily responsible for paying these workers.<\/p>\n

I have written and spoken about getting rid of tipping in the U.S. for a number of years.\u00a0 My thoughts have appeared in pieces in the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, TheConversation<\/a> and other media outlets.\u00a0 I have argued that tipping is both unfair to workers and not very effective at motivating staff.<\/p>\n

It is unfair because some of the most vulnerable workers have no idea how much they will earn in a day, week or month.\u00a0 Tips can be high or low for many reasons that are outside the control of the wait-staff.\u00a0 Poor weather can keep customers away, lowering restaurant workers\u2019 income.\u00a0 Conventions, city-wide celebrations and large events can dramatically boost restaurant worker\u2019s income.\u00a0 Additionally, a large part of the dining experience is based on the food, which the wait staff serves but does not cook.<\/p>\n

Tipping is not effective at improving service since most people tip using a standard percentage or algorithm such as 15% on the entire bill or 20% on the bill excluding tax and drinks. \u00a0Research has shown that within limits good or bad service has little impact on the amount people tip.\u00a0 If most people simply provide the same amount of money, tips won\u2019t motivate better service.<\/p>\n

A more useful system in my mind is adopting the practices used in places like Japan, where workers are paid a good salary, restaurants charge a higher price for food and drink, but the overall bill for diners is roughly the same since no tip is added to the total. no matter how good or bad the service might be.<\/p>\n

While I think initiative 77 is a step in the right direction by eliminating the sub-minimum wage, I believe that people in Washington DC will continue to tip for three reasons.<\/p>\n

First, Washington DC has a large number of visitors and tourists who don\u2019t know or understand Initiative 77.\u00a0 People are conditioned by the customs of where they live.\u00a0 New Yorker\u2019s typically give large tips wherever they are in the world because they are conditioned to leave large tips at home.\u00a0 I have a friend who is a server in downtown Boston.\u00a0 He is always concerned when he gets a large table filled with visitors from a country where tipping is not done because often his hard work gets a small or non-existent tip at the end of the meal.\u00a0 I believe this will have the same impact in Washington.\u00a0 People who don\u2019t live in the District will continue to tip or not tip as they do back home.<\/p>\n

Second, there are many high-end expensive restaurants in DC. \u00a0Many wait-staff at these places currently earn well above minimum wage.\u00a0 When a diplomat or lobbyist finishes an expensive meal they are not going to tell their waiter, \u201cno tip since you are now getting minimum wage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last, the initiative will phase in the higher minimum wage over time.\u00a0 It will take seven years to reach $15 per hour.\u00a0 People will not stop tipping overnight on a policy that is being implemented slowly.<\/p>\n

No matter what the hype, Initiative 77 does not mean the end of tipping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently voters in Washington D.C. voted for Initiative 77.\u00a0 The vote was not particularly close: 55% voted for the initiative and 45% voted against it. \u00a0The initiative changes minimum wage laws in the District two ways.\u00a0 First, it increases the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020 and then boosts the minimum wage by … Continue reading Why Initiative 77 Does Not Mean the End of Tipping (June 21, 2018)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5335,"featured_media":0,"parent":785,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/840\/revisions\/841"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/zagorsky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}