I don't claim there's anything interesting about observing that tipping exists; it obviously does, and is a system that has been functioning in America for generations.
The issue is that you're vehemently defending this practice. As far as I can tell the only reason for this is simply because of momentum. None of the arguments you are making really make much sense. There's strong evidence to the contrary in fact. Not only is the practice particularly unique to America (and Canada), but the practice and laws defending it just enable wage theft (employers not paying minimum wages by claiming tip credits that don't exist). The practice was developed during feudalism and was a form of oppression. The current practice also divides the working class and prevents them from working together in a larger coalition advocating for a larger minimum wage. No one here is really against the concept of tipping, but people are upset about its expansion and that the practice is essentially required. You have said that the money is optional, but we all know that this isn't exactly true. Technically/legally yes, but in practice this doesn't work out. People aren't tipping for service, they are tipping to avoid bad service (as many have said here) and to avoid social stigma from their peers. This is not the system you have laid out in your many comments, this is just a convoluted form of class oppression and wage theft. Sometimes we need to reevaluate things we've been doing just for the sake of doing. Momentum is not a reason to continue a harmful practice.
The issue is that we disagree. I don't think vehemence enters into it. The appeal to feudalism isn't persuasive; all sorts of things are traceable back to feudalism (something about feudalism being a pit stop most of our cultures took at some point), and not all of them are bad.
People shouldn't "tip for service". That's not how tips work. Tip mechanically: at a restaurant, divide by 10 and double (keep it simple include the drinks in the tab). If you're sitting there stewing about whether you achieved the requisite level of service, you're the feudalist.
Is it on a good track to continue existing, though?
TFA is specifically describing how the kind and number of situations in which a tip is expected/asked for (if only by a payment terminal interface) is rapidly expanding – and if every service is tipped, no service is tipped.
A tipping decision is a decision in the end, which are drawing from a limited mental resource, according to some research. The way in which our mind typically handles repeatedly having to decide is by developing some simple heuristics and effectively running on autopilot most of the time, following them mechanically.
I could imagine a not too distant future in which tipping evolves into a quasi-fixed-rate quasi-tax, with only exceptional or atrocious service warranting a deviation from a cemented social norm.
What you describe in your last sentence is, I think, exactly how restaurant tipping works. It's best to look at it as a 15% labor tax, with an optional 5-10% upcharge if you're happy (or have a general policy of retaining a reputation as a good tipper).
Another similar example (probably outdated): airport skycaps.
An example of a tipping system in America that doesn't work that way (yet) is hotel housekeeping; a surprising number of people don't even know that there's a tipping custom there at all.
The "quasi tax" thing sounds alarming, but it doesn't bother me at all; it's just another way of expressing costs and prices. Things will cost what they cost one way or the other. If tipping becomes so common that everything has 5-15% tacked onto it (I doubt it'll happen, but we'll stipulate), base prices will fall. Businesses can't simply banish demand curves! There is ultimately a market clearing price.
> [...] a 15% labor tax, with an optional 5-10% upcharge if you're happy [...]
Ah, yes, that is in fact almost exactly my mental model for how to tip in restaurants or cafes (albeit with a conversion factor to the rate I was socialized with).
What always blindsides me is tipping in a place I (or even some locals, apparently?) don't expect it. And generally speaking, I much prefer taking social cues from local friends or other patrons than from a device.
