More restaurants embrace trend of putting health care surcharges on diners' checks

[pipedreams]

I always try to be generous with the tip and they can do whatever with it but this seems a bit overboard.

"A few restaurants in Austin, Texas, are the latest to ask diners to chip in a little extra for the sake of their employees’ health and well-being.

Foreign & Domestic, in Austin’s North Loop, and Hoover’s Cooking, in Cherrywood, have recently added surcharges to patrons’ checks to help cover the cost of health insurance and paid sick leave, respectively.

Foreign & Domestic’s optional 3 percent surcharge was added to each bill after co-owners Sarah Heard and Nathan Lemley started providing “great” health insurance for employees as of Jan. 1, but patrons can request to decline the charge — though Heard told Fox News that most diners haven’t."

https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/more-restaurants-embrace-trend-of-putting-healthcare-surcharges-on-diners-checks

Edited April 15, 2019 by pipedreams

[tadbart]

Nope. That's gonna hafta come outta the tip.

 

And I'll probably leave note stating such on the receipt, too.

[Hauptmann6]

As much as people complain about how much waiters make, all of the ones I know do fairly well. Yup they make half of min wage. 2 tables tip $3 an hour makes up for it and the rest is boosting their hourly. Problem is, it's usually cash and just blown without thought. A friend of mine started keeping track of her tips with an app and found out how much she was actually making hourly. Something along the lines of $20 an hour on average. But since it was cash it just got spent on dumb stuff. Once she figured it out she actually had money to save etc.

[BamaBud]

I was interested in this study result:

https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_1959/ShortReport-1959.html

The survey, based on data from two time periods between 2003 and 2012, found that 19.1 percent of workers in food services had used illicit drugs in the past month. The food-services industry also had the highest rate of substance abuse disorder – 16.9 percent – compared to other professions. 

 

One reason I eat out very infrequently. Why support the addicts and chance the contamination of your food? To hell with paying for their healthcare!

[gwalchmai]

Why stop at a healthcare surcharge? Why not one for fuel, and groceries, and taxes, and student loans, and energy bills, and childcare, and recreational drugs, and on and on?

Why do waitfolks feel this is a reasonable thing to do? Because even they don't consider their chosen profession as a grown-up job expected to pay their bills. Yet diners are supposed to consider it as such and pay whatever it takes to make it so. Well, thanks, but no, thanks.

[PeterG7]

I tip 20%+ so if this becomes standard practice I’ll stay home.

I’m a great cook and going out to dinner is our only luxury but the prices have been going up even at our local family owned joints, we don’t eat at fast food chains so maybe this won’t make it out to the sticks.


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[Moshe]

I prefer not to eat out if at all possible.  Being in a crowded noisy place where you can't hear the people with you is not a lot of fun.  That, and I see traffic at regular intervals three and four times a day going to fast food, and turning into huge biomasses.  If I copied the same behavior, I would be dead in a month. 

[Historian]

I've been known to drop big tips at the watering hole.   I like the staff.  Particularly Lora and Tori.

But that is directly related to service provided. 

 

 

[railfancwb]

I wonder how many restaurants are actually required to provide health insurance. There are exemptions - full time vs part time, number of employees - which eliminate the requirement for many small businesses.

If an entity owns/operates half dozen or so McDonald’s franchises it might be required to provide the insurance. A single franchise might be exempt.


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[Paul53]

You may take my word for your bill, or for a fee have a printed copy. Smartass aside, why is it bad to give fellow Americans health insurance?

Edited April 15, 2019 by Paul53

[gwalchmai]

44 minutes ago, Paul53 said:

You may take my word for your bill, or for a fee have a printed copy. Smartass aside, why is it bad to give fellow Americans health insurance?

Is it bad to pay off fellow Americans' student loans? Is it bad to pay for them to have gas in their cars? Is it bad to buy fellow Americans a big screen TV and cable/internet service?

I don't think it's wrong for you to provide any of these things, if you want to.

[janice6]

The cost of the employee should be already considered in the bill for the service provided by the business.  If you as a business, can't include all your overhead costs in your bill, you are only fooling yourself and destined for failure. 

Business provides a service that is charged according to your profit and your costs to provide that product.  Trying to guilt people into paying more than the advertised price is stupidity..  It means that you are worried that your price is not competitive if you include all your costs.  If this is true, your service isn't going to stay in business. 

Tough!  Price it right, or go out of business.  That's the choice. 

[Paul53]

5 hours ago, gwalchmai said:

Is it bad to pay off fellow Americans' student loans? Is it bad to pay for them to have gas in their cars? Is it bad to buy fellow Americans a big screen TV and cable/internet service?

I don't think it's wrong for you to provide any of these things, if you want to.

Unlike the things you mentioned, I feel "The right to life" implies a right to healthcare. I'm guessing the right case will come along and the supremes will feel the same way. But I could use the gas and cable/internet service too, thank you. I know your argument is based on your wallet, but KEEPING people healthy is far cheaper than GETTING them healthy once they are sick.  Now you change the subject to how badly the government runs.....anything. To which I reply "Universal healthcare doesn't automatically mean government run" nor death panels.

[Paul53]

[janice6]

30 minutes ago, Paul53 said:

Said you and everyone else.

[Moshe]

7 hours ago, Paul53 said:

You may take my word for your bill, or for a fee have a printed copy. Smartass aside, why is it bad to give fellow Americans health insurance?

Because that is a responsibility by the business owner and the employee, and not the patron.  I pay over 583.00 a month to cover my family.  I don't go to Donald Trump and ask him to pay for it.

[Dric902]

I worked as a pump jockey at a truck stop through high school. The waitresses were the stereotypical truck stop waitresses.

I remember that they only reported the tips that brought them up to minimum wage, the rest was gravy.

And the minimum wage was $1.90 at the time.

the cost of doing business should not be listed on receipts. 

 

.

[Cougar_ml]

So they want me to voluntarily pay even more money, and claim it's for the employee's healthcare costs.

I hate it when they tack on additional costs.  Either I pay what the listed price is plus tax, or I'm never coming back.  Same with places that automatically add gratuity to the bill.  If I think they did a good job and deserve a tip, they'll get a tip, but don't tell me it's a $12 meal and give me a bill saying I owe $20 whether the service was good or crappy.

 

Not hard to just raise all the prices by 5%.  If the regulars ask why the increase be honest with them, prices increase all the time for all sorts of reasons so it's generally accepted, but trying to trick or guilt me into paying more is definitely a no-go, and I won't be back.

[Paul53]

My impression is that it's a passive aggressive way of making a political statement. Was there any sign or mention on the menu warning of the surcharge? If there wasn't a real warning then it's just trying to bring attention to his obvious view that he shouldn't be mandated to provide insurance. Springing the charge on the customer at the last minute is meant to inspire negative feelings about it.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Paul53

[gwalchmai]

2 hours ago, Paul53 said:

Unlike the things you mentioned, I feel "The right to life" implies a right to healthcare. I'm guessing the right case will come along and the supremes will feel the same way. But I could use the gas and cable/internet service too, thank you. I know your argument is based on your wallet, but KEEPING people healthy is far cheaper than GETTING them healthy once they are sick.  Now you change the subject to how badly the government runs.....anything. To which I reply "Universal healthcare doesn't automatically mean government run" nor death panels.

Maybe so, and I hope we eventually achieve Utopia, but I don't see it happening soon. ?

[Cougar_ml]

2 hours ago, Paul53 said:

My impression is that it's a passive aggressive way of making a political statement. Was there any sign or mention on the menu warning of the surcharge? If there wasn't a real warning then it's just trying to bring attention to his obvious view that he shouldn't be mandated to provide insurance. Springing the charge on the customer at the last minute is meant to inspire negative feelings about it.

Yes, but the negative feelings will more likely be towards the restaurant than anything else is the problem.

[PeterG7]

My impression is that it's a passive aggressive way of making a political statement. Was there any sign or mention on the menu warning of the surcharge? If there wasn't a real warning then it's just trying to bring attention to his obvious view that he shouldn't be mandated to provide insurance. Springing the charge on the customer at the last minute is meant to inspire negative feelings about it.

I agree about making a statement, all these “social warriors” with their phony feel goodisms.

 

hell we’ve become a nation of beggars not workers, with these go fund me pages and scams.

 

The one positive is robots don’t need heath care.

 

 

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[railfancwb]

Unlike the things you mentioned, I feel "The right to life" implies a right to healthcare. I'm guessing the right case will come along and the supremes will feel the same way. But I could use the gas and cable/internet service too, thank you. I know your argument is based on your wallet, but KEEPING people healthy is far cheaper than GETTING them healthy once they are sick.  Now you change the subject to how badly the government runs.....anything. To which I reply "Universal healthcare doesn't automatically mean government run" nor death panels.

We have, and have had for years, government run single payer health care in the States. Part of the Veteran’s Administration. Some may be excellent, much may be mid-range, but there are horror stories.


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[Borg warner]

Only In Austin Texas would they do this. Austin Texas is a subdivision of California.

"A few restaurants in Austin, Texas, are the latest to ask diners to chip in a little extra for the sake of their employees’ health and well-being"

"A little extra for the sake of their employees’ health and well-being" is exactly what a TIP is.

Foreign & Domestic is one of the restaurants in Austin that is doing this. The article said,  Foreign & Domestic’s optional 3 percent surcharge was added to each bill after co-owners Sarah Heard and Nathan Lemley started providing “great” health insurance for employees as of Jan. 1, but patrons can request to decline the charge — though Heard told Fox News that most diners haven’t."

Anyone stupid enough to NOT decline this charge and not complain about it are getting what they deserve.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Borg warner

[holyjohnson]

i`m ok with it as long as they understand that i have to deduct 3% of my overall tip to cover any imposed surcharge.

or i just decline the surcharge and tip my usual 25%

 

either way its unseemly to put all that on a damn receipt.