has tipping tradition gone too far?

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.

“What’s the value of a tip?” That is among the questions being debated within the US and world wide in latest weeks after presidential contenders Donald Trump and Kamala Harris proposed tax breaks on suggestions for service staff, a transfer some view as a method to win votes in swing states.

The act of tipping for service means one thing totally different to People than it does to folks within the UK. In Britain and Northern Eire, gratuity is usually optionally available, seldom exceeding 13 per cent of a complete restaurant invoice. In distinction, the US has seen tipping evolve right into a near-mandatory observe for a a lot wider vary of providers, with really useful quantities rising to as a lot as 25 per cent in latest months.

As Brooke Masters highlights in her column within the Monetary Instances on tipping — which attracted a whole lot of feedback from readers — this development is ingrained within the US employment system, the place decrease wages and subsidised pay for restaurant staff have lengthy been an accepted customary.

What do you assume? Ought to US employers be required to pay service staff a full minimal wage, no matter suggestions? Or is 25 per cent an appropriate customary gratuity? Inform us your views by voting in our ballot or writing within the feedback part under.