Hey Big Tipper

[Holly Moore]

In a thread on tipping in the New England Forum, Fat Guy posted:

According to the research conducted by the Zagat organization, released with the 2006 surveys: "Restaurant-goers in Philadelphia (19.2%), Atlanta (19.1%) and Boston (18.9%) are the nation's most generous tippers, while diners in Seattle (18%), Los Angeles and San Francisco (both at 18.3) turn out to be the worst. Nationwide, the average tip has been going up over the last several years from 18% in 2000 to 18.7% today."

While I am loathe to use "research" and "Zagat" in the same sentence, the perception appears to be that Philadelphia leads the way in tipping.

Conventional wisdom and my past restaurant experience maintains that, especially when it comes to gratuities, the old money along the Main Line to this day holds in reverence Benjamin Franklin's observation that "A penny saved is a penny earned." The remainder of Philadelphia must be exceedingly generous, tip-wise, to overcome our miserly heritage.

[DTBarton]

Without knowing anything about the methodology of the Zagat survey, it seems that the range from lowest to highest is pretty small, 18% to 19.2%. Unless the study was particularly large, detailed and comprehensive, I'd bet that you could call that a statistical dead heat.

[rlibkind]

Conventional wisdom and my past restaurant experience maintains that, especially when it comes to gratuities, the old money along the Main Line to this day holds in reverence Benjamin Franklin's observation that "A penny saved is a penny earned."  The remainder of Philadelphia must be exceedingly generous, tip-wise, to overcome our miserly heritage.

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Strictly conjecture, but i would suggest that "old money along the Main Line" was underrepresented in the Zagat sample

[Sfuffy]

Either that, or we're the biggest liars. I seem to recall when this research first came out, it was based on a survey of diners, not restaurant employees. What people say they tip and what they actually tip could be two very different things.

[KatieLoeb]

Either that, or we're the biggest liars. I seem to recall when this research first came out, it was based on a survey of diners, not restaurant employees. What people say they tip and what they actually tip could be two very different things.

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Amen to this, brother! Although I must say that aside from the foreign tourists, about 18-20% seems the norm for the natives, at least. I know I tip at least 20% unless there's an egregious service malfunction, but I'm wearing those well worn shoes myself.

[Fat Guy]

There was a piece in City Paper about this awhile back (http://citypaper.net/dish/dishspring2K5/gratuity.shtml). Certainly, the results of a survey are suspect, but so are other methods. Many restaurant employees, for example, still under-report their cash tips. It's less of a problem now than it used to be, but it still happens. In any event, the thing about the City Paper piece was that, while it pointed out that the survey method was suspect, it also couldn't find a whole lot of evidence to the contrary. Pretty much all the people in the business they interviewed about it said, yeah, we consistently get about that much in tips.

[Holly Moore]

After the dismal performance of Philadelphia area professional and college sports teams, I was just glad to see Philadelphia No. 1 in anything besides taxes on businesses.

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

I think two of my sisters may have affected the results. They used to work together at Pica's on Rte. 3 (W Chester Pike) and since that time have always left whatever money they had still in their purses as the tip. I believe they double-handedly skewed the results in Philly's favor.

Edited to add the word "still".

Edited April 6, 2006 by bob tenaglio (log)

[herbacidal]

Ah, Pica's. The site of my greatest undoing.

I remember feeling like a beached whale after eating there.

Rolling out the door was preferable to walking.