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Why can’t businesses just charge enough to pay their employees adequately and eliminate tipping altogether? Tipping adds unnecessary ambiguity and degrades the customer experience.

I have no problem paying higher prices, if that’s the solution to the problem, but I find the (seemingly) increasing pervasiveness of tipping across US industries annoying and feel no obligation to tip in situations where it was not traditionally expected.

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And with a structure like Uber, you could easily let drivers set their own "tip" by setting a riser to pay for in-ride amenities (WiFi, water, etc, etc).

Because that's the common argument against tips: nobody will go out of their way to provide above average service. If you think you're a better waiter, driver, experience, allow your prices to show as higher and you get the difference.

The risk you run is nobody wanting your extras, but I think that's far better than providing them and panhandling for a tip.

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