It’s everywhere. Grocery store self-checkout kiosks, gas station pumps and fast-food restaurants are all asking for tips. It’s unavoidable.

Tipping culture within Dallas is incredibly flawed. Initially, tips were asked mostly by restaurants to supplement servers’ unfairly low  paychecks. Being excluded from minimum wage laws and often earning less than $5 an hour, servers are forced to rely upon the tips of customers. This system itself is inherently flawed as it deprives employees of basic secure income.

While the tipping system was itself already incredibly backwards, it has only grown worse. Now nearly every business is asking customers to add tips to support employees. While it may seem considerate to allow their employees to earn more through tips, this system harms the overall stability of workers’ income.

By using tips instead of traditional wage increases, businesses pass off their risk onto their employees. Instead of having to commit to higher base wages, businesses shift the financial responsibility to their employees by relying on tips. This practice allows companies to avoid the fixed costs associated with permanent wage increases and ties employee earnings directly to customer discretion. In doing so, businesses transfer the uncertainty of income from the company to the individual worker, making employees vulnerable to fluctuations in customer behavior and economic downturns.

When you are prompted by a self-checkout kiosk to leave a tip, they are not actually suggesting a gesture of appreciation for service, but rather these prompts are part of a broader trend where businesses seek to externalize labor costs onto the customer. In a time where inflation is rapidly driving up prices for everyone, the burden of fair compensation for workers is increasingly being placed with the customer.

In the face of these widespread tipping expectations, Dallasites must be aware of the broader implications of this practice. As members of the community, we have both the power and responsibility to advocate for fair compensation and challenge the status quo, so that workers in Dallas can enjoy stable incomes.

Conversations and change regarding income stability is the only way to foster the drive for a more sustainable and just economic model.