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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Anonymous 0 Comments

There is not a logical reason why this is done. Originally, tips were *not* a component of service wages. It was meant to be a gratuity for exceptional service. As such there was no standard or what to tip and certainly no percent. The fair and equitable way to calculate gratuities now is as a percent of a standard hourly wage and in proportion to actual labor/time/distance/resources. However, while this would greatly benefit the low and middle earners, it would negatively impact the highest earners. Moreover, it would require a great deal of transparency. Therefore, they base the tip on a percentage of sales instead.

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