Should You Be Required by Idaho Law to Tip Your Server?

If you’ve ever worked in the service industry, you know how rewarding and taxing the job can be. Whether it’s in a restaurant, bar, or both, most service industry workers bust their tail to keep your drinks filled, your stomach happy, and to make you feel at home. The keyword there is “most”. There are rare instances where customers may catch someone on a bad day or maybe someone who just decided they don’t enjoy working in the service industry anymore. It happens.

This is where the customer assumes control of the entire situation with what they decide to tip. If you get an experience that’s amazing and out of this world, you tip well. On the other side of things, if it’s horrible, your tipping might reflect that.

At least that’s how it all should go...

Unfortunately, according to data from QuickBooks, Idaho ranks as the 13^th worst tipping state in the U.S. with an average tipping rate of 16.51%., just under 1% more than the worst tipping state in the country in Montana who tips at a rate of 15.53%. Idaho’s neighboring states didn’t fare much better either. According to QuickBooks, Oregon is the second-worst tipping state, tipping an average of 15.53%; Washington is the sixth-worst tipping state at 16.23% and Utah comes in at number 11 with a tipping average of 16.49%.

Who has the best tipping average?

That would be Maine, which according to QuickBooks has an average tipping rate of 19.36%.

Now, you may or may not be reading this thinking “well at least people are tipping above 15%!” That would be fantastic maybe 20 some odd years ago, but the fact of the matter is that things have changed and prices have gone up. This isn’t intended to be political either, it’s just the way things are. Look around!

So how can we use all of this data? Well for starters, we’re not suggesting everyone needs to tip $1,000. We even understand that Idaho laws protect servers who don’t meet minimum wage if their tips fall short. But what if the law went a bit further? What if tipping was mandatory and a standard rate of gratuity were to be added to every restaurant bill or bar tab? Let’s explore the pros and cons if Idaho were to ever, in some hypothetical situation, make tipping mandatory by law.