Worth noting that in U.S. laws, whenever "the tip" (ie, gratuity) is included, it now becomes a mostly non-negotiable charge which the establishment is required to also charge sales tax on to the customer! Same as a mechanic's hourly labor, etc. So again the consumer benefits more under the present system, but some still abuse the system and cheat the waiters with less than 20% routinely even if service is adequate. But by adding the tip the customer than has to pay tax on top of the 18 or 20% autograt in most states these days. Paying them hourly and abolishing tipping is even more expensive to the guests because of Social Security, Medicaid, Insurance, etc that all has to be covered, so the increase in price to cover the "abolish tipping via hourly labor" argument only benefits government, but hurts the pockets of both servers and consumers ... all that in a future post!