What is the reason (historical or other)for why we tip based on cost rather than effort?

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I was originally thinking about delivery (isn’t it basically the same effort to deliver 1 or 2 pizzas?). Shouldn’t delivery tipping be based on distance/effort rather than cost of food?

The same goes for restaurants, of course. If I go with a friend and we have the same meal but I have three glasses of wine, and she has three cokes, I am expected to tip more, but the server’s effort is the same for each of us.

Was it always like this or did it change with time?

Note: I’m only trying to understand this aspect of Us tipping culture. I know that tipping isn’t the norm everywhere.

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22 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Where I live, servers tip out 6% based on their sales.

If your bill is 100$, then I owe the house 6$.

If your bill is 1000$, then I owe the house 60$.

I tip out almost double what they pay me hourly.

It is similar to commissioned sales, only I work for the customer and the food and drink is the product I sell. Would I prefer the restaurant pay my commission instead of me paying them? Absolutely.

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