Tipping etiquette and Jamaica.

[Blake]

Huh? It IS part of the meal charge. It is not optional or at your discretion like the gratuity/tip. They are in no way the same thing. I suppose you could say it is added AFTER the meal, because it would be impossible to calculate a 10% charge for something that you havent ordered or eaten yet... But when the menu says 10% service charge, you simply add 10% to each item that you order on the menu.

It isn't part of the meal charge if it isn't applied until the end of the meal. Why can't the 10% be calculated as part of the meal?

It is dishonest AND illegal to call it a tax. It is not charged by the government and it is not paid to the government. It is NOT a tax and cannot be called one. And all those costs do allow the restaurant to arrive at a cost for their food items. And the service charge is most certainly a part of the final meal cost. It is an accounting procedure that allows for employees to benefit when times are busy as a wage suppliment.

It's not illegal for me to refer to it as a "tax", given that I don't mean it in the literal term. To me the service charge is like a "tax" on stupidity, except it's geared towards tourists.

It's an accounting process that shouldn't be around in the first place in my opinion.

Just because you dont understand something does not mean there is anyone playing any games. I will use a simple example to illustrate how it works. Lets use a restaurant with 10 employees. In slow season, when times are slow and no meals are sold, the employees get their hour wage and that is all. In busy season, when the restaurant sells jm$100,000 worth of food in a day, the employees each receive an additonal 10% of the 10% service charge, which would increase their daily take home pay by jm$1000 per day (10% of $10,000 service charge collected). For a business that does not have a service charge, the wages may or may not be slightly higher, but there is no guarantee as wages in tourism have to take into account slow season. But the service charge is one way to provide a bit more take home pay for employees who share in the benefit from that practice.

They sure as hell are playing pricing "games", a service charge is nothing more than a way for the business to have "advertised" lower prices with the requirement that customers pay the service charge in addition to the advertised price.

Do you really see nothing wrong with a business having ala cart additiotional charge?

You can talk about it being a bit more as a take home pay for the employees, but at the end of the day the business can just charge 10% more and pay their employees more. It's a net wash in terms of take home pay for the employees.

It cannot be called a tourism tax because it is NOT a tax. It is an accounting procedure that benefits the employees who share in that service charge.

Maybe tax is the wrong word to use, but have you never heard of the term tourism tax? It doesn't HAVE to be a tax, it can be used to refer to any charge or cost generally pointed towards tourists to part them with their cash.

Calling it an accounting procedure that benefits the employees is a bit of a stretch, that implies that the base price of the meal doesn't cover employee wages.

You keep using the buzz word "transparent". How is the service charge that is printed on the menu NOT transparent? It is not being hidden and is being called exactly what it is. It is a service charge, not a tax or gratuity -which it is not. And, are you not aware that as a paying customer that you are the one who is actually paying their wages? The owners dont print their own money and pay wages, they receive it from their paying customers and pay their employees wages accordingly.

They're not transparent given that it's often not clearly stated what the service charge is for. If it's LITERALLY what it's for then why am I paying a gratuity to the server?(Ethics about taking care of the server aside and how poor Jamaica is or isn't) If you say it's a literal charge then the restaurant is charging me for the service provided.

Do you enjoy paying for services rendered twice?

As a paying customer I expect to pay the stated price+gratuity(when in a country that operates on a tipping system), I don't expect to pay for the same service twice.

One cannot explain what they do not understand. You are having problems understanding this concept and you are a business owner. As I have already mentioned, not all employees or even managers understand this perfectly. To demand an employee to understand this and be able to quickly explain it seems a bit unrealistic.

I'm not having a problem understanding why this concept is so favorably looked upon, I understand why businesses think they can get away with nickle and diming the customer, I don't understand why people would support it.

If a MANAGER of an establishment can't explain why a charge exists on a bill for HIS establishment then I don't see why a customer should be forced to pay it.

Have you taken any time at all to research the realities of Jamaica before making this statement? How can a small island, the size of Connecticut with minimal natural resources NOT rely on imports to feed 3 million plus people?

Sure I have, that doesn't mean I agree with the massive amount of importing occurring. The problem is the fact that there are 3 million people on an island the size of Connecticut, we should all strive for a sustainable future that uses minimal importing.

You really do need to research the cost associated to running a business in Jamaica. That is well beyond the scope of this tourism focused message board. But please remember that the service charge does not pay for the labor costs, but adds a bit of bonus when times are busy to that hourly wage that is already being covered by the menu item cost.

Service charge+employee pay+benefits=total compensation. The service charge does affect how much customers "pay" the restaurant for labor.

I understand the service charge, I understand it's supposed to be a "bonus" for the employees, but it is a fee directly paid by customers, and does affect the price of a meal.

To understand the service charge in Jamaica, you have to keep Jamaica in mind when doing so. Trying to understand it from a USA point of view while in the US will only lead to the confusion you seem to be experiencing with this accounting practice.

That's silly, you can understand a service charge and understand a culture without being confused. I'm not confused with this "accounting practice", I'm annoyed by it's existence and annoyed that the restaurants think customers aren't capable of understanding that we're getting hit twice for "service"

You can prefer that, but that doesnt change the fact that service charges exist. Business owners here in Jamaica dont seem to have an problem with competing with this accounting practice.

That's nice that all of the businesses feel that having an additional fee on top of the meal works well for them. That doesn't mean the customers don't have a problem with it.

This is why I am taking the time to explain this as clearly as possible. So that everyones understands that a service charge is not a tax or and optional gratuity/tip. It is part of the cost of the meal that is purchased.

Then why isn't it factored into the price of the meal? It's quite simple, if it isn't optional then it should be automatically rolled into the price of the food.

The government is not mandating the service charge, so it is up to the business to choose to have one or not. You can choose to patronize the businesses or not - that is your right as a customer. I agree that managers should understand the concept, but in reality, not all do.

So it isn't government mandated? Which means it's businesses tacking on additional fees because they want to, not because they "have" to.

A restaurant's goal should be to have happy customers, happy customers shouldn't have to sit there doing math and the prices should be one price, that way customers can make an informed decision.

I'm not sure I can word it any plainer in that service charges just breed resentment and confusion, they don't benefit the customers and in my opinion they don't benefit the restaurant workers because the restaurants will see the service charge and manipulate employee compensation accordingly.