Tip-reliant workers say slowdown cuts into tips

[Pale Blue Dot]

CINCINNATI - At the Corner Pub on Cincinnati’s west side, bartender Melissa Metz can count the cost of the economic hangover in the stack of bills she has at the end of a shift.

Those tips make up the majority of her income, but they’ve been dwindling for months amid rising gas prices and other economic woes. Right now, her weekly income from tips is down about 25 percent.

“Some people are coming in less and maybe not staying as long when they do come in,” Metz said. “And normal customers who would normally tip $5 are tipping about $2 now.”

Bartenders, waiters, hair stylists, cab drivers and other workers who depend on tips for much of their income are among those who say they are seeing decreases as customers feeling the economic pinch trim their gratuities — or sometimes omit them entirely.

The pinch can come from many sides, as customers are also cutting down on how often they eat out, have their nails done and get other services that typically involve tipping — or spend less each time, meaning a lower total to tip on.

How much it’s hurting is hard to tell, since agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Census Bureau that collect employment information don’t break out tip data. While the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics includes tips in its wage estimates for professions that involve tipping, the information supplied by employers is not broken out separately. Because the government surveys only every six months and publishes the data just once a year, even the statistics it released last month are from before the economy hit the skids.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25332240/