William Myers

2116 Introduction to Technical Writing

Feasibility Report
The Abolition of Gratuity

Abstract

This paper will observe the origins of

tipping and how it is perceived in
American societies. We will delve into
why we tip, what a tip actual is, and
what results come from tipping. After
examining all of these points we will

discuss alternatives to tipping, and

from those alternatives we will
propose a solution to a supposed
problem with tipping in American
culture.

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Introduction
Gratuity, or tipping is a small
amount of money paid in addition
to the normal cost of a service that
goes directly to the individual that
provided the service. Tipping is
seen as a way for rewarding good
service from an individual, but
because people that work in the
service industry receive reduced
wages, tipping is also a major
portion of their income. Tipping
originated after the Civil War, when
restaurant owners could not afford
to pay their employees, they had to
reduce wages, and employees
became reliant upon tipping to
survive.

The idea behind tipping is to tip

based of the service received, but
in reality we tip on the normal cost
of our service. With a typical
percentage based tip, an individual
who serves a $100 bottle of wine
gets tipped more that an individual
who serves a $30 bottle of wine. If
we tipped based off of just the
service provided, the two servers
would receive the same tip. It is not
more difficult, nor does it require
more effort to serve a more
expensive meal, the tip was for the
cost and not for the service.
Tipping is optional, but in our
society it is essentially socially
required. If you do not tip, you are
perceived as a bad person.

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Approach / Methodology
Tipping should still be an optional
choice, but not socially required.
We should choose to tip you if you
did indeed provide exceptional
service, but not be socially
required to tip you, even if you
didnt provide exceptional service.
People (myself included), still tip
upon receiving bad service just
because we dont want to be
judged as bad people for not
tipping, and letting the waiter go
hungry because we refused to pay
them.
Why should we be forced to pay
the restaurants employees?
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Proposed Solution
Tipping should be abolished,
employee wages should be
reasonably raised, and food prices
should be raised by 15% (assuming
average tipping of 15%) to
compensate the owners for having
to pay their employees more. In
this situation no one loses money,
and the biggest positive is the
employee receiving an invariant
income. The customer pays the

same price whether they tip or if

the food is more expensive, the
employee makes a reasonable and
consistent wage not dependent
upon customer tips, and owners
have increased costs but equally
increased revenue. Since I myself
could not directly affect this
change, a bill would have to pass
on the government level to force
this course into action.

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Conclusion

In retrospect tipping has been around

for a long time, and maybe there is a
reason for that. However, there is no
reason we cannot be open minded in
exploring alternative options. Most
governmental change that happens in
the country is fought at its birth, then

accepted once its promises are

realized. As long as the proposal is
feasible practical and successfully
implemented, there is no reason it
cannot succeed. That is the goal of
this proposal.

Appendix
(i) Annotated Bibliography
Lynn, Michael. "The Relationship Between Tipping and Service Quality."
Cornell University. Michael Lynn, 1 Jan. 2000. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
<http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1156&context=articles>.

This research article is of a study conducted by Michael Lynn at Cornell

University that shows that there is not direct regular relationship between
quality of service and tipping.
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Surowiecki, James. "Check, Please." The New Yorker. The Financial Page, 5
Sept. 2005. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/09/05/check-please-3>.
This article was written by James Surowiecki at The New Yorker, and it
gives some societal insight as to why we actually tip, and how tipping is
viewed as a custom in America.