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Have feedback on this story or want to add to the discussion? Email us at [email protected] with your comments on tipping – how has it changed locally?
Tipping has changed drastically after Covid, with the computer payment programs that ask for tips before you check out. The range of services and businesses asking for surcharges and tips have also grown. Saliene, the owner of Brewjaelixir, has a tip line for the credit card payment, but if the customer buys a product instead of having a drink made, she tells them to ignore it.
The current low end of tipping is 15%, and some local restaurants have 18% as the bottom line and 30% as excellent. In restaurants (Red Dog, the Dez, Frontier, and Starbucks), the tip jars filled with bills remain for cash customers. Red Dog Saloon in Pioneer Town has a 16% service charge on the bill, and customers are welcome to add more.
Jean Michel Alperin, one of the owners of Red Dog and Copper Room, said 12.5% of the service charge at Red Dog goes directly to staff and is calculated by hours worked. Management labor costs (the increased cost of fair wages for some managerial positions) and healthcare premiums get 3.5% of the service charge. Red Dog also offers a 401K contribution plan.
Alperin said, “Securing stable median wages for our staff is pragmatic. We have less turnover. We can train staff in quality service and food and keep them happy. It works for everyone.” Alperin continues to say; Toxic practices have marred this industry for too long. Why not just make it healthy for those working for you? The food and drink taste better.
Starbucks has now added the tip line to the credit card charge. The tips received are divided between all employees and calculated by hours worked.
A 2019 Washington Post article said millennials tip less and that tipping was distinctly for good service. I am still looking for a poll that breaks up tipping habits by generation post-Covid, but many people say they give as much as they can because they have been in the service industry or want to support minimum-wage earners. One local with three jobs says tips have allowed him to meet his monthly payments. A weekend visitor said she would always give 20%.
The minimum wage won’t cover rent, gas, and food.
There is also a notable phenomenon of guilt tipping-feeling uncomfortable if you don’t pay 20% or better. Recently, a 30 year-old friend was indignant when I left a 15% tip at a local takeout. “I always tip at least 20%,” she said, annoyed that I wouldn’t do the same. Another friend that visits Joshua Tree says when he asks for recommendations at the Bottle Shop, the service is well worth the 20% gratuity.
At the Joshua Tree Music Festival, one vendor told me festivalgoers were very generous about tipping and always left a tip and often left around 20%. Another vendor said it varied between 15% and 20%. The 15% tip has disappeared in one local restaurant and is replaced by 18% at the low end.
Irma, a visitor from Los Angeles that came for her husband’s birthday, said, “I don’t mind tipping at restaurants. I think I’m a little more concerned about when you go to your local coffee shop or juice bar, and they include a service fee.”
For the IRS, there is a distinction between tipping and service charges. From the IRS website: “Charges added to a customer’s check, such as for large parties, by the Employer and distributed to staff should not be added to the daily tip record. These service charges are non-tip wages subject to social security tax, Medicare tax, and federal income tax withholding.”
Any service charge dictated by the Employer is considered auto-gratuities. Also, on the IRS website: a tip is a payment that must be made free from compulsion. The customer must have the unrestricted right to determine the amount, and the price should not be the subject of negotiation or dictated by employer policy. The customer has the right to decide who receives the payment.
Consider the employee receiving your tip and/or the service charge minus taxes. The Employer also has to deal with extra bookkeeping, record keeping, and additional taxes.
It is personal as to what to tip and how much. At this time of high prices, will we be able to continue paying more? How do we ensure everyone receives a living wage? One very positive thing I walked away with after researching this article was that more individuals and businesses were willing to spread the wealth and support others in having what they need for a good life.
