You actually don’t. 
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Every time I see this sweet, naive view of reality I have to pipe up.
(Actually, as @Alcachofa says, I don’t have to, but I will.)
In your fantasy America all the rules are followed and the country is filled with happy workers making 2X minimum wage. Nobody is exploiting anybody.
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Tip pooling within the line of service is legal in California and quite common in restaurants
I would just like to add, this is Hungry Onion, not Chowhound, and this conversation has gotten almost Chowhound ugly.
I feel strongly about this subject too.
But it might be time to let this thread take a rest.
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Yes, I had that wrong. a LEGAL tip pool can be mandated (within line of service not including any management). I’ll stop saying that.
I do not believe it’s naive to push back on the “customary” (20% post tax) level of tips, which elevates servers to the best paid position in the house.
Yes, I know that many owners are… not trustworthy. Tipping servers is not the answer.
Thanks, Ziv. I agree. So I’m going to stop reading this thread now.
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Not tipping in the current system is also not the answer
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It might actually be.
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It would be pretty disruptive and perhaps, yes, a very strong shock to the system might be necessary to break it
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Your initial statement was true. This clearly belonged on a general board, not Boston/New England. Perhaps the moderators could move it there??
As a Canadian, I feel like views on tipping are largely regional. Hyper regional in some states, when the urban, suburban and rural cultures are very different.
I became a good tipper after living in NYC.
One of my relatives who lives in suburban Colorado will not tip more than 10 percent. I top up his tips when he isn’t looking, because I find his level of tipping embarassing, for me, when he is treating me and tipping at 10 percent for good service.
I notice a lot of posters writing in a way where they seem to think this thread is USA-specific, as they get into details about wages and taxes.
I live in a province where Provincial and Federal Sales Tax are 13 percent. I tip around 20 percent after tax at restos with table service.
I round up at coffee shops, and the tip is usually between 5 and 25 percent, depending on how I round up and how much I purchase.
I round up, to leave between 12 and 18 percent on take-out at indie restos and pizzerias. This is a choice and I know many people do not do this.
This is a You Do You decision
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Amen!
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Here’s a real-life example. Local juice bar/cafe/vegetarian-friendly restaurant. Prices have steadily increased since it opened 6+ years ago and just saw another increase recently. You order with a human at a the counter, take a number, get your own utensils, napkins, and water, and bus your own dishes. Someone runs the food out to your table.
POS tip options were 20%, 25%, and 30% – I chose “other” and entered my own.
I’m not saying I did it right. This was just my decision on the fly.
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Seems reasonable to me. And I’ll take a crunch wrap.
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yup. total insanity.
scene: local burger joint (Shake Shack, I think…)
you have to enter your order on a screen.
swipe/tap your credit card.
take a numbered table tag.
enter your numbered table tag.
sit down and shut up.
eventually someone shows up with a tray of stuff (you ordered?)
get up, get your cutlery, napkin, mayo, mustard, ketchup and bring it back to your table.
get up, take the empty cup to the dispensing “row” - get your ice - PRESS to get your drink.
when done, get up - take your tray toward the exit. separate plastic trash from paper trash, put the tray “HERE”
and they want a tip?
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I tip and I tip generously. If I take a bottle of water to the counter and pay for it at the register or self checkout I don’t tip. If someone makes me a coffee or hands me a tray of food, I tip. I don’t think twice. I tip even more after being in hospitality and dealing with customers. Oof, that alone earns a tip.
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Okay, but you think once, right? You’ve described a few scenarios, so for me at least, that takes thinking. And it seems like there are more and more scenarios out there!
I was just standing at the pharmacy checking myself out, and the scanner wouldn’t work on one of my items. Other than self check out, there was no other check out option, at least at the moment. There was an employee at the next self check out, and she helped me! I was very thankful, but I got no tip prompt.
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If you want to drill into it, my one thought was about all the unseen work that people do in the service industry that is taken for granted by people that want any excuse not to tip-- the sidework and cleaning and stocking that goes into being ready before the doors open and before they have to do the really hard work of pretending that customers are all pleasant,.
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I think I understand that perspective, having worked in a service industry myself (medicine 
), but I don’t think it’s as extreme as “don’t want to tip at all” for most.
Personally I’m just trying to understand all the new ways food service is being presented! Added to that is what seems to be the rapidly escalating cost of eating out. I paid $40 for a Round Table Pizza with my CASA kid a few weeks ago!
It’s easy to just stick with 20 percent, but it’s also easy, at least for me most of the time, to just avoid eating out! But I don’t want to see more local businesses fail.
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I wasn’t saying :YOU: don’t tip. But in my experience, the people complain about tipping really resent it. The discussion about getting hospitality to employees up to minimum wage (as if that is not a poverty life) hurts my heart as someone who gave decades to my community in service.
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