California says restaurants must bake all of their add-on fees into menu prices

Only fees that are entirely optional — like leaving a tip for staff — can be left out of the posted price.

Wrong move. They should have outlawed tipping too. No more hiring for shit wages and leaving adequate compensation up to chance. Bump up the menu price and pay your staff an enticing salary.

Do it like in Europe. Prices are all inclusive, any kind of tip is just a thank you for outstanding service, and not a necessity so the waitress won't starve.

It is a sales business with service, like buying clothes. Can you imagine having to tip the salesperson in a boutique?

We need European pricing where the price is the price. I would go as far as making asking for a tip illegal too. Have restaurants put on their menu that prices include the tip. Raise minimum wage for restaurant workers.

And not just for restaurants, everything, from airline tickets to concert tickets, etc.

The restaurant owner arguments are all super weak as usual.

"Menu prices will rise!"

No shit, but everyone was already paying the prices but now you can't just surprise patrons with the increase.

"There will be pullback. People will lose jobs and hours!"

Doubtful but even if true, that means that they knew they were lying to customers and clawing extra charges that they wouldn't know about already.

"'They' are thinking restaurants will absorb the costs"

Not exactly but they will have to compete with pricing as it should be.

They're just trying to get away with playing the same game Telcos have gotten away with for far too many decades.

One step closer to the fucking common sense of the rest of the world where the price you see for something is the price you actually pay. Nobody cares about a number that's mathematically related to the price they have to pay, just tell me.

I'd really love it if they did like some countries and added the sales tax(es) to the sticker price in stores too

Fees are predatory on people who are swayed by lower advertised cost. Basically, they are extorting the way many people's brains work. It's just another way to keep the not rich from ever catching up. Not just in dollars, but time. If you try to price compare, you have to sink a ton of time into uncovering all the fees. The rich just don't have to worry about that. So it ends up as a time tax.

Great, now do tipping next.

"If it's in the core price of the menu, there will be a pullback" in patrons' spending, she told NPR shortly before the attorney general released the guidelines. "There are some people, I think, that are hoping that the restaurants will just absorb that cost, because we've seen people say, 'Oh, it's too expensive with the service charge.' "

If you add bullshit charges that are not added into the price on the menu, I don't return ever. So you may lose a couple patrons initially but they'll be back once they understand that is the general price. You will also get me back since there is no more possibility of bullshit charges.

This might be a weird question but when people tip for a good service, what exactly is good service?

If I go to a restaurant I expect them to take my order, bring me the food and when I'm done bring me the check. That's it. I want nothing else from them. Should I tip them for not spitting in my food or not stumbling and throwing it all over my clothes?

Minnesota is currently working on a similar law to stop surcharges and just have a final price.

Isn't it fun how "the price should just be the price" makes you a filthy commie in 2024?

I realize when I go out for a special event, like I did Friday night to see Harry Connick, Jr. play with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall that I wasn't going to quibble about costs.

However, after the non-optional 18% "gratuity", they also had an additional "server" tip field. Ha, GFY, bitches!

My new favorite is a hotel tax I just saw today which conveniently isn't included in the room rate.

4oz smashed patty $17

Add bun $1

Add cheese $2-$4

Add $1: lettuce, tomato, onion

Add $3: grilled onion, any sauce

Add $7: sauteed onionz melted cheese, sauce +bechamel, fried egg, kimchi

Add $17: salmon

On the tipping subject... it is just another way the well off designed long ago, to reinforce that the working class worked for them. Originally it was the business owner that they were targeting, to make sure they stayed dependent on the good graces of the elite. After all, back then most businesses were mom and pop shops. Now it is just out of controll, and used to increase profit margins as well as extract more cash from people who have trouble realizing the full cost.

https://ikwyd.com/r/jNOR

Yeah, Cali can shut its mouth. Tourists, look at your resort bill or hotel bill next time you pay. See if everything was baked into advertised price.

Only fees that are entirely optional — like leaving a tip for staff — can be left out of the posted price.

How do you say you’ve never worked as a server without saying you’ve never worked as a server?

Edit: I think there’s a misunderstanding. I’m commenting on describing tips as “entirely optional.” If you can’t afford to tip, don’t eat at a restaurant. Servers are paid below minimum wage because they receive tips.

Second edit: My bad. NY has a tip allowance, and that’s where I waited. I didn’t know it varied so greatly from state to state. California does, in fact, pay their servers $16 per hour minimum.

https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/articles/minimum-wage-tipped-employees-by-state/