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Why Tipping Should Be Banned - Adam Ruins Everything

5 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
4 HN users recommended this explainer4 months2015–2020 score 5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Recommended in tipping threads as a fast, entertaining, sourced case against tipping culture.

An Adam Ruins Everything segment arguing that tipping should be banned. It covers the history of tipping, its weak link to service quality, and why employers should pay a fair wage.

“is worth watching if you are of the school of thought that tipping is bad” (HN, 2017)

2 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · 3 citations · Explainers

7 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@kdamken Mar 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes
Tipping is the worst possible thing for everyone involved. Your employer should be paying you a living wage, not expecting the customers to do so with tips. I highly recommend you check out this video: [this video] Tipping doesn't really say much about a person other than how easily they fall for societal pressure and guilt.
Argues employers should pay a living wage instead of tips
@yesenadam Mar 2020 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Internet Archive responds: Why we released the National Emergency Library
> I'd also like to live in a world where waitstaff didn't rely on tips to make minimum wage, let alone a living wage. I don't. You do, mostly. I believe it's just the USA where obligatory "tipping" is a thing. I learnt a bit about the history of tipping from Adam Ruins Everything S01E05 Adam Ruins Restaurants, highly recommended. Excerpt about tipping, <4mins: [this video] (Yes, his style is a lil in-your-face, but the content is excellent, and often shows onscreen the title and author of papers referenced - how many shows do that?!)
History of tipping, with sources shown on screen
@nayuki Dec 2016 Recommends
on HN thread No tipping means better business
A fast and entertaining take on this topic: "Why Tipping Should Be Banned - Adam Ruins Everything" - [this video]
Fast and entertaining take on banning tipping
@sr2 Jun 2017 Recommends
on HN thread Uber rolls out in-app tipping
"Why Tipping Should Be Banned", by Adam Ruins Everything is worth watching if you are of the school of thought that tipping is bad: [this video] The gist of the video is that if you're tipping, then a waiter/waitress for example is not being paid enough, and tips are deliberately designed to bolster their unfair income.
Explains tipping props up unfair income for servers

Citations, criticism and jokes

@pedalpete Aug 2015 Cites it
on HN thread Why the Restaurant Industry Hates Postmates
Isn't this article really more about the problem with the food service industry relying on tips instead of paying their workers a proper wage. [this video] Postmates isn't intentionally preying on the industry, the industry was set-up this way, with the expectation of tips being paid by customers, but the model is changing. If the restaurants charged the actual price they expect to get for their product, then the issue would become what the couriers get paid, which may be too low, but then the market would/should decide on what is fair.
Tipping culture as root of the food-service wage problem
@FactolSarin Jan 2019 Cites it
on HN thread What Minimum-Wage Foes Got Wrong About Seattle
If the large chain won't adjust, that seems something that would give smaller businesses an advantage, and seems like a positive to my ears. As for tipping, people don't tend to tip based on quality of service (see Adam Ruins Everything) [ [this video] ], and instead tends to be based more on attractiveness and ethnicity. A normal wage is fairer.
Tips don't track service quality
@waffleguy Feb 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Instacart CEO apologizes for tipping debacle
Well it seems you commented without doing research. I’ll start you out: [this video] . Why are you complacent with restaurants taking advantage over employees, but not tech companies?
Research starting point on tipping and employee exploitation

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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