Excerpt from the article:

Schenker says that after his years in the service industry, he has watched tipping evolve into a major part of his pay.

“If there is some means of tipping that’s available to you, that should signal to you that workers there aren’t being paid enough,” says Schenker. “Tipping is sort of an acknowledgment of that fact.”

To Schenker, customers who don’t tip are not understanding that businesses treat tips as a baked-in part of workers’ wages.

“They subsidize lower prices by paying employees less,” he says. “If you aren’t tipping, you are taking advantage of that labor.”

He was so close… Especially for someone who says himself does not make much money.

  • PlanetOfOrd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    With inflation happening across the economy, businesses have been dealing with rising costs for years. At the same time, there’s a lot of pressure to keep prices low for increasingly price-conscious customers.

    Yup, pretty much.

    A business is there to make money. Obviously, businesses that pay employees better have lower turnover and higher employee satisfaction. But what do you do if the price of keeping the lights on goes up? You can either increase prices, which will see fewer customers, but keep in mind that customers will just go to a coffee shop that’s cheaper. So the better option is to keep the prices the same and lower employee wages.

    Business are feeling the pressure of our failing economy. Are some being jerks about it? You bet. I even worked for some. But I believe in a truly wealth-equal economy people are so well off jerk employers are just ignored.

    But most people currently don’t have that choice. Quit an employer and you have a 50/50 chance of getting a job within a few weeks or ending up on the streets.

    But I believe we can get to a more sustainable economy. It might take a lot of effort, but I believe we can get there!