In one brother.
But the view must be splendid from up on his high horse ;)

There is generally no tipping in Japan and service is good.

You might as well state: "I hate commissioned sales. How can we end it?" You might find a wider audience in agreement with you.

Personally, I like tipping. In high school and college, I worked in restaurants as a waiter and busboy. From personal experience, I can tell you that some people make a very good living from tips and some don't. The reason is some are better at their job and some aren't. I sincerely enjoy acknowledging better service with my wallet. I am less excited about acknowledging poor service with a lesser tip, but do it when I must. I have eaten in other countries where tipping is not part of the culture and have found service to be generally indifferent.

You're going to pay for the cost of the service one way or another, since no one works for free. I prefer one way. You're entitled to prefer another. Maybe there should be a choice; flat 18% service charge or tip what you think the service was worth.

Why an 18% service charge?

How about: "The restaurant pays its staff a wage they can live off of, lists an all-inclusive price and you tip whatever you like if you think the service was worth it." This way everyone's being up-front and honest to everybody else and you don't need an accounting degree to settle your restaurant bill.

As for the waiters, this gives them some degree of financial security (in form of a decent, predictable wage) while still retaining the possibility to super-charge their earnings by going the extra mile for their customers.

Why overcomplicate things unnecessarily?

Just my two cents...
 

Waitstaff are paid $2.01 in Ohio. They exist on their tips. I have never been waitstaff so I do not know what it is like, but I can assume it is difficult work.

I have been in commissioned sales while working for my fathers' company, and that is not easy as well.

It will be strange as I travel to France in two months time, not to tip.

The quality of service does not depend on whether tipping is permitted or not. It is dependent on how the owner or manager runs his/her business and the expectations put on employees.

If you hate tipping, do as I do and just don't tip.

No one has given me a tip in 20 years of working. I served others every day. So I don't see why I should tip someone for carrying some plates to my table.

It is gullible for restaurant patrons to buy into the line that "a 15% tip is standard". Actually in the past few years this has changed to "a 20% tip is standard". In reality, more than 50% of customers do not tip, among those who do tip the average is about 10%. A small gullible few are subsidizing the rest of us by tipping 15% to 20%. As several relatives and friends have worked in restaurants in the past, I found this out during meals when they chided me after I would leave 15% tips. One of them told me she had never received tips, another remembered a tipper because it was the only time she was ever tipped.

The tipping scam works like this: make patrons think a tip is standard and almost required. Make them think they will lose face and look cheap if they don't tip. Make it the expectation that they will tip, and make them anxious about the embarrassment they will feel if they don't tip. If only a fraction of people fall for this, the tipping scam has worked.

I have noticed no decline in service since I have stopped tipping. I encourage the big tippers to continue subsidizing my restaurant meals.

A most sensible principle and one which I always apply.
If someone is deserving of my generosity I give it - if they're rude or incompetent I don't.
However, as you say, there will always be numbskulls who give people money for treating them like dirt because somehow they think it's " classy. " :D

As a Canadian, this has always driven me mad. Our servers all get at least minimum wage ($8-$10), but over the past decade our tipping expectation has gone to match the US.

We have a very nice Starbucks in our local Safeway, the staff is always pleasant and efficient, and there is absolutely no tip jar in sight. Tipping at Starbucks, or in Canada Blenz or 2nd Cup or another coffee house is BS, we don't tip at McDonalds, Burger King, Tim Hortons, or any other fast food place, but for some reason Starbucks and the other coffee houses must think they are above the run of the mill and their service expects something in return, that is a load of garbage and those that tip in these coffee houses just because they think it is "cool" or "in" are fools, no other way for me to say it.

Maybe they expect a tip because of the Bachelor of Arts degree that preceded their job at Starbucks.

If you enjoy a restaurant and return enough to be known - I can almost guarantee that your service will suffer (& maybe even your food). I've seen it so many times. Whether subtly or overtly. As far as your contention that 50% of patrons don't tip - that's pure nonsense. It's more like 5% and most of those are European's who don't know any better. Many restaurants will allow 15% to be added to the bill on any table with an accent. If someone really wants to save $$, you should tip the bartender big at first. He'll find you in the crowd, pour heavy, and may buy you a couple, expecting the bigger tip at the end. Pouring a glass of wine for your waiter works wonders as well. Your corkage (if applicable) is usually waved and the waiter assumes you know how to dine well and will do his best to facilitate that, moving you to the best dishes, ones to avoid, and the best deals on the wine list. Frequently there's a free dessert or after dinner drink offered, once again expecting the big payoff at the end. IMO it's cheaper to tip well. This website is all about earning comps and privileges - tipping well does that. wj

I don't think anyone should expect anything, whether it is in a Starbucks or a restaurant, whether they have a PHD and MBA or whatever in there former job. If people who tip at Starbucks and other coffee houses figured out how much in a year they tip and then instead of giving to people who at least have a job gave this money to organizations that are helping people without jobs then it would make some sense (cents) or knowing a family in need and help there. And while I am venting the same goes for barber shops and hair salons.

You deserve the foreign matter that inevitably makes its way into your food the second or third time you eat in a restaurant after stiffing some poor slob that made $2.00 an hour (before taxes are withheld on $8 an hour), you cheap ........ Why should they make it obvious by degrading your service, when they obtain $6 worth of satisfaction using boogers for condiments on your cheeseburger and watching you eat it so smugly.

I can understand that some would prefer to see restaurant prices rise by 15-20% to enable restaurants to pay salaries and ditch the tip system. I believe the system could be changed by owners who wish to operate that way, although it may be too ingrained in the culture for it to take off and replace the tip system in every restaurant in the US. However, I cannot see what justifies your actions except that you must be extremely cheap and disrespectful of others.

this type of discussion always balloon into a huge argument.

all i have to say is: proof is in the pudding.

been to many countries where tipping is not customary and service has never been appreciably better or worse than it is compared to US. i like it this way (no manual tip).