Restaurant Tipping: 15 or 20 Percent?

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

LA Weekly’s Jonathan Gold has some advice about tipping:

Tip 20 percent. Every time. Pre-tax? Post-tax? In practice the difference is no more than a buck or two….Yes, I know your parents still talk about when the recommended percentage used to be 15 percent, and that the practice is considered barbaric in Japan. But it’s not 1973, and you’re probably not in Osaka at the moment. 20 percent.

I figure this is something readers might know something about, so: When did this change? After 1973, apparently, but that’s a little vague. And why? Do food servers make less in ordinary wages than they used to? I don’t think that’s the case, though I might be wrong. And just generally, tipping seems like it’s perfectly designed to keep up with the cost of living. And it has: To geek out about this a bit, the chart on the right shows headline inflation vs. the inflation rate for “food away from home.” There’s a slight divergence during the recent recession, but that’s it. Overall, the rate has been pretty much the same. Restaurant bills have gone up as much as everything else.

Anyway, I’m not trying to campaign for stingier tips for food servers. I’m fine with 20 percent, and it’s certainly easier to calculate. But I’m trying to distract myself from the grim political news of late and just sort of curious about when and why the recommended practice changed. Or is Jonathan Gold wrong?

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate