Interesting thread. I'll give my two cents worth on this....
I think this topic, whilst relevant to Vegas, is not uncommon in the USA in terms of the long standing For and Against argument for the culture of tipping. For me, I think the idea of it is actually ludicrous. I expect all staff of any company to do their best for their company and for their clientele (if they are in the service business). The notion that good service needs tipping smacks in the face of not doing their best in the first place. The restaurants in New York that have experimented with zero tipping policy has gone down well apparently. People want to know how much the meal is really going to cost, and that includes the service of course. That's part of the experience. If the establishment expect the customer to make up the salary of their employees, then a reduction in this "tips" collection has a massive effect on the staff morale and operational effectiveness.
In the UK, dealers in the casino (to my knowledge) are not allowed to accept any tips. The dealers advise that their pay more than makes up for this, and they are expected to maintain a professional and courteous service to the casino clients at all times. Some say that the level of service will suffer if you take away the tips. If service levels ever fell because of some weak argument that the workers won't try as hard, that doesn't argument doesn't work. As a company, you would issue warnings to personnel that were not performing as they are expected to perform in the role that they play within the company. I personally think the London Craps dealers are top notch in terms of helpfulness and respect for the player.
Singapore and Macau both welcome tips, but I see few people giving such. Again, the median salaries are outpacing the local expectation for salaries in respective territories for similar skilled work.
As a frequent visitor to the USA, and having many USA friends, I understand the requirement to tip. It's actually not for service, but an essential part of the server's salary. It's this that totally annoys me. The establishment simply isn't passing through the true cost of a meal to the customer. Why not just do it, and be done with it? Stop hiding the true cost and make it easy for everyone to understand the cost of the meal. Why should a service based worker suffer from a fall in expected salary just because some people don't tip correctly on a particular night? I think the balance to this is that there may be some customers may occasionally "over-tip" but realistically, how often does this happen? I'd rather have firm expectations of salary/remuneration as a worker, as there is much to plan based on this expectation (bills, mortgage etc..).
The difficulties sit with the dealers in a casino, which brings the relevance back to this thread. It's actually harder to make a judgement call on this. Most would agree that tipping is customary when the player walks from the table having won on that session. Some level of a portion of the winnings or constant wagers on dealers' behalf. However, I would state here that this doesn't quite work! The dealers provide a level of service that is consistent whether you win or lose. Therefore, in order to make the median level of income expected by the dealers in that profession, everyone should theoretically tip whether they win or lose. In practice, I cannot see this happening. More so, because of the negative expectation of casino gaming.
I also read that some believe that overseas visitors to the USA needs educating about tipping culture. I think perhaps this should be balanced by the USA itself educating itself to the notion that everyone should do their best in their jobs and be paid a proper salary without the need to rely on the expectation of tipping (I won't even say generosity, because it goes way beyond the idea that someone did a good job for a tip). This doesn't sit right with many cultures and countries. If you were assisted by a Japanese person in Osaka for example (like leading you to a destination on foot or helping you in their confusing subway system) and you tried to tip them, it would be like smacking them in the face. I learnt this one the hard way....
The idea that a customer is 'cheap' if they don't tip is not correct. It's insulting. It's true that there are those customers that are "cheap" and don't tip, but it's not true for all customers. It's about expectation. For many visitors, they simply don't know how much they should be adding to a bill to cover the expectations of the service being provided. It's actually embarrassing. Take a personal valet or driver - how much to tip for a 200 mile journey? Well, if it was simply included in the price, then there would be no confusion, no embarrassment, no disappointment. If a company loses business as a result of a higher price being advertised, then I would argue that the company misled the customer into the true price of the service in the first place.
I think it would be interesting to see if there would be a casino that introduces higher pay for it's dealer staff and puts up a no tipping policy. I'd like to know how many dealers would ACTUALLY prefer this to the current situation. I mean, the best choice would be the one that pays more, correct?
I think there have been surveys done and I read previously that some waitresses actually preferred tips and low basic salary to a fixed income salary. If that is the case, then you would need to accept times when you don't meet your income expectations.
Tipping isn't a hidden charge in the USA. It's basically an accepted charge without being invoiced. The problem is (as the point of this thread goes) when you introduce overseas cultures to the idea of tipping not actually being voluntary. It's not voluntary in reality. It's a necessity for many who rely on this income.
Here's where it sucks when coming from overseas....You can claim a receipt for goods/services on the invoice amount, but you can't claim back for additional monies paid on that bill. As the tipping is an additional amount, companies do not accept that the tip is actually a requirement to the bill. So, imagine that many business people face the fact that their company expenses may not be met in full. That sucks.
