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Americans are confused, frustrated by new tipping culture, study finds
(www.washingtonpost.com)
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this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Next week, Las Vegas is hosting a Formula 1 race. First time since like the early 80s. Recently, the local government's taxi authority has authorized a $15 surcharge for certain trips during that time. Why?
Source.
I have to believe that the majority of attendees will be Americans. Sure, there will be non-Americans from non-tipping cultures, but does that really mean that a $15 surcharge-in-lieu-of-tip is really needed on everyone? Especially as high as $15? For some of these flat-rate trips they range in price from $22-30. The surcharge means the "required tip" is 50-68%!
Insanity.
Vegas has a rich tradition of taking visitors for every dime they have. This absurd charge is no different than the "resort fee" they charge at hotels. And good luck trying to get tickets to a popular concert or sports event at anywhere close to face value.
As a local, all I can say is thank you for my lack of state income tax. :-D
Hey, I think fleecing tourists is A-OK! Why not get some of that sweet tax money? Especially if it alleviates some of the pain for residents. I know you Vegas residents also get like 10% discounts at all sorts of places, too.
My parents moved there 5yrs ago. And my brother moved there over the summer. We're all from the Midwest. They definitely love having no state income tax! My parents keep trying to convince me to join them all, but I'm just not a Vegas person. I like to visit (mainly because of my family), but I don't think the lack of state income tax is enough.
We actually did get tickets to one of the F1 practice sessions. Hoo boy. But I am hearing that the ticket prices on the actual race are starting to fall. So maybe we'll also get to see that!
A lot of taxi and rideshare drivers are saying they are getting the hell out of town for the event so they don't have to deal with it, so you have to incentivize people to stay on and make some cash. My source is just secondhand anecdotes of what cabbies were talking about when friends and family were visiting recently but if it sticks out enough for these people to mention it a lot of people must have said it.
It sucks but for once I think Vegas isn't just being full of shit here.
Whether it's the perception alone of European guests or a real issue is kind of irrelevant because the cabbies don't want to work the event either way.
You couldn't get me to drive a cab in Vegas for a $20 tip with every ride.
I've definitely run into Europeans that are totally clueless about tipping and it sucks. I can absolutely see adding a gratuity during an event with a disproportionate number of Europeans attending.
If you don't like it, you're free to not take a cab.
That goes without saying. That's true of any of this conversation; no one has to go to a restaurant. No one has to use Doordash. No one has to go to a barber shop for a haircut. That doesn't mean tipping and "force tips" are still OK.
Either way, I didn't mean to cause such consternation. I've never taken a cab in Vegas, but having driven on Las Vegas Blvd myself during non-event times...yeah, I could see how that'd be a nightmare. Add on F1, with road closures and more clueless tourists than usual... I'd probably not drive a taxi (or even driving personally) for a week either!
I guess in some ways, the addition of a surcharge here represents a truer cost of the service. It'd be like a restaurant not allowing tipping, but paying workers a much higher wage, while also upping the cost of the food and everything to account for that. And there'd be no "free rider" like we might see with those who don't tip. Every customer has to pay their fair share, so to speak.
Though, like you're saying, it's still probably not enough. I wonder how much a taxi ride in Vegas would have to cost to make it worthwhile for a driver every time. I suppose if there's anywhere in the US where this experiment would work, it'd be Vegas. People pay a lot for the whole experience. Hell, they literally give money away to the casinos. Might as well get a little bit more out of them.
I mean, I can tell you from experience as a cab driver that the customers with shitty attitudes will pass their baggage on to the driver in whatever form it takes. It may be complaining about the fare, it may be failing to tip, it may be trying to weasel their way out of paying some of the fare, or it may be doing their best to make up the difference in emotional labor.
There are some people who won't tip me or will tip me poorly, but will also spend the entire ride making me assuage their guilt about not tipping enough. People with that particular outlook will try to recruit me to feel bad for them when they're putting me out in some way, and will even try to recruit me to feel bad for them about them doing things that literally don't bother me at all. Like literally just driving around or making a stop.
The folks who don't tip aren't going to magically become more cooperative and less dickish if the price is included. Some of them won't take a cab, some of them will take a cab and threaten to take an uber, literally anything to reclaim the power they lose from shorting me.
I'd love it if I got a bigger percentage of my fares or a bigger guaranteed minimum, but the reality is that our market can't really support yet another price increase at the moment. You might say 'well that means your business model isn't profitable and shouldn't exist', but we're literally a vital service in the area. We have deals with hospitals and senior centers and stuff. If we didn't exist, people would be regularly stranded. In some cases us being able to go help someone is literally the reason their lives don't fall apart. My boss has driven four states away to bring a regular home in the middle of a blizzard. Our existence is justified by more than profit.
People need cabs, they're literally essential. But not everyone wants to pay the cost of them. Tipping means I can still give a ride to people who can't or won't tip, while also getting a more reasonable wage from people who do. There are some folks whose regular tips literally keep me afloat.
Hell, when I was younger I waited tables at a local diner for four hours on sundays and I'd walk out of there with $200 in tips easy every time. There's no way that would have been a decent job without tipping.
Tipping for everything is kind of stupid, but tipping culture in general can work really well if people actually participate. Especially in places that need services that they can't always fully support.