Went to a restaurant in LA today and when I got the check I noticed that it was a bit higher than it should be. Then I noticed this 18% service charge. So… We, as customers, need to help pay for their servers instead of the owners paying their servers a living wage. And on top of that they have suggested tip. I called bs on this. I will bet you that the servers do not see a dime of this 18% service charge. [deleted a word so it wasn’t a grammatical horror to read]
There better be a big noticeable sign at the entrance telling you this. Otherwise, this is a bait and switch scam. Advertising one price, giving the service, and then changing the price. You can’t advertise a price and then charge more for it without ensuring that the customer is informed about it. The only exception is tax, since it is something the average person should already expect. Even mandatory gratuity for large parties has to be communicated ahead of time. And this specifically says it’s not gratuity, it’s a charge for the service.
As soon as a customer is served something, it’s too late. You can’t just put it on the bill. Doesn’t matter what they say it’s for either. It’s not your responsibility to pay the servers anymore than it’s your responsibility to separately pay for the ingredients of the food. Unless they want to detail it all out up front. But then you’d see the huge profit margin.
Still seems mad to me that usalanders don’t have tax included in their advertised prices.
That one is annoying but also makes perfect sense when everyone is competing with everyone. The business with honest prices suffers when their nearby competitor doesn’t include it and looks cheaper. The states lose out on revenue if they force businesses to display full prices but the state next door doesn’t, or has better tax rates. They all benefit from confusion.
Where there is not confusion is the border with a state with no sales tax, and all the good shopping is found on one side.
For a real fun US-ism, fuel in the US is charged at fractions of a penny (9/10s). As any Office Space fan can tell you, that adds up.
Fuel in the UK (and most of Europe I believe) is charged in tenths of a penny too.
Is there not a way to make it a nationwide requirement to advertise including tax? I know very little about US economics so there might be a very good reason, I never really thought much about it beyond “huh, that’s weird” to be honest.