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

598 views

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.

In: 141

22 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

well in my country tipping is meant as a reward for services, generally the higher customer satisfaction means higher tip. I am pretty sure it started off like that in USA as well, over the time tipping became expected thing and employers adapted it to be part of the regular wage instead of a bonus for customer satisfaction, so i’d say that is the reason why you have to tip % of the bill, it became like a sales commission

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because cost is a numeric value while effort is subjective.

Because cost is a numeric value while effort is subjective.

Further refutations

> Shouldn’t delivery tipping be based on distance

Why? Why is it fair to reduce someone’s tip just because you live next to a pizza place?

> the server’s effort is the same for each of us

Is it? There’s a lot more things the server has to worry about when serving alcoholic beverages. In particular, in most places the server or bartender serving alcohol is responsible to cut off a guest if they are too drunk even if the guest continues ordering alcohol. Plus checking ID, etc