alt Hacker NewsMaking the tip required isn't a movement against tipping, it reenforces the idea.
Try increasing the posted food prices by 18%, or add a "18% owner boat fund", instead and see what happens. You won't last the week before you are bankrupt. The amount is exactly the same, so from a financial point of view there is absolutely no difference, but the experience of "helping out the little guy" is lost, and that will chase clientele away. For all the huffing and puffing we hear, actions speak louder than words. The reality is that customers like tipping!
Personally, I hate the whole concept of tipping as promoted in the USA.
I see it as a way that owners can avoid paying the relevant taxes for employing their staff and instead offload part of that payment onto the customers. The arbitrariness of it also annoys me - why just waiting staff?
I'm in the UK, so we mainly have service charges added to the bill to take the place of tips which is a much better system. I also like the Japanese culture of non-tipping and that they may get offended by customers leaving tips.