Tipping in Restaurants

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/opinion/tipping-restaurants.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Tip-Sharing Plan Faulted for Omitting Cost Analysis” (Business Day, Feb. 5):

The 2011 Obama administration directive to limit the freedom of employers to distribute tips to anyone other than employees, and now the Trump administration proposal to amend that rule, demonstrate the immaturity of restaurant employee compensation practices in the United States versus Europe.

In Europe, waiters and “back of the house” workers like cooks and dishwashers work for — and are paid by — restaurant owners, not diners. Their remuneration is a cost of doing business. Service — like taxes — should be included in the bill as part of the cost of the meal in the United States as well.

That said, as always, restaurant patrons can still top off the cost of their meal by tipping their server, or anyone else they wish, in order to acknowledge their positive dining experience.

IRA SOHN, UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J.

The writer is a professor of economics and finance at Montclair State University.