this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Because a lot of people who live on a fixed income like social security or disability simply don't have the privilege of being able to do so?
They often can't afford to live anywhere but a Food Desert, and often don't own a vehicle in a city with few public transit options. Things like this can severely limit their choices on which company to spend money.
The reality is poor people shop at Walmart because in a lot of cases they really can't afford not to. This is what people fighting against expansion of companies like Walmart twenty years ago said was going to happen. They will dominate with low prices until they've pushed out all other viable businesses, and then you'll be left with no choice but to spend your money with them. This was all on purpose at the corporate level. Not sure why you're blaming 20-30 years of corporate choices with very little pushback from city governments on the people who don't have other places to shop anymore.
In that case if we remove tipping, the prices of everything on the menu goes up 40% (because you know damn well the business owner isn't going to give up that sweet sweet cut of profit) and the poor folks can get nothing and like it.
Please note that I am NOT in support of the tipping culture system. Only pointing out the inevitable backlash of removing it without proper support in place. Prices of all food will increase everywhere to make up the difference and we either reach a point of equilibrium where the price goes back down because nobody can afford a pizza anymore, with the associated lowering of quality to make up for the price lowering; or else a few hundred thousand folks are suddenly out of jobs.
If we just remove the ability to tip and follow it up by telling the business owners "fuck you, figure it out", they will 'figure it out' by firing a bunch of folks and raising base prices. This might even be healthy for the industry, but I doubt it. It'll just end with most folks never going out to eat again.
I mean, McDonald's manages to pay employees in Europe a living wage, and it didn't make the food completely unaffordable.
On the other hand, in the states, for a small meal just to yourself it's more than $10, closer to $15 a lot of the time.
So the prices are going up here and they're still not paying people worth a damn. I wonder what the disconnect here could be?
From what I understand, their sales are down, and so they've jacked up prices to fix the gap.
Fair point. That works for Europe because I think greed is less of an all-consuming force over across the pond, maybe. We've managed to make it something of a way of life here in the States.
Hopefully I'm wrong, and there is a way out of this hellhole that doesn't involve mass unemployment. But given our past record with most things, I'm not holding my breath.