Restaurant Tipping

Here we go again........

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/tipping-mentality

It Italy, it's not required. If you had great service you could round up the bill but nowhere near what is done in the US. That's for both waiters and taxi drivers.

The cover charge, covers the space (and utensils) used by a patron sitting at a table seat. It amounts to just a couple of euro per person, on average. It was banned in the Lazio Region (Rome) but it is still practiced elsewhere. The coperto is a vestige of yesteryear when travelers or workers would use the seat of a tavern to consume their own food (today's brown bag). Since they weren't consuming the food prepared by the host, the host would charge the "rental" of the seat at the table. For whatever reason, that practice has survived.

What you will see in a restaurant bill, however, in addition to the 'coperto' is the so called "service charge". That is usually 10%-12% of the bill, and can be considered the equivalent of the gratuity in America. So in a way you are paying for tipping, but it is just called "Servizio", or service charge. Once you add coperto (which is a fixed amount usually less than €3) plus the 10%-12% service charge, in the end you already pay an extra amount that is equivalent to 15-20% of the bill. It is not an Italian practice to add a gratuity to that, except for maybe rounding up the bill if you pay in cash (so if the total bill for 2 people is 78€, some might leave €80 and leave it at that. As a matter of fact, if you pay with a credit card, the credit card slip won't have the additional line for the gratuity like you'd see in an American credit card paper receipt. The only exception might be some American chain hotels. For example if you eat at the Airport Hilton in Rome, the credit card slip will have that extra line for the gratuity.

Taxi drivers are not tipped either. At most some people might leave the extra change. So if the ride is €24 some might leave €25 cash, but it is not the practice. Considering that the taxi drivers are the most likely to scam you some extra bucks with some excuse or another, and most likely will find an excuse not to accept credit cards, The taxi drivers are the last category of workers I'd be willing to tip. They are all owners of their medallions (medallions cannot be awarded to companies in Italy), and their income is well above average (most of which tax exempt since they do not report their cash earnings), also because they enjoy a quasi monopoly status, having their lobbyists managed to ban Uber nationwide. So to me tipping a taxi driver for his/her services is like tipping my dentist on top of the amount he charges me for my dental work.

You’re more likely to see a ‘coperto’ if you sit a a table in a bar (which in Italy is a coffee shop) rather than drink your coffee at the bar, standing up. In restaurants, it often covers the bread which is placed on your table and is itemized on your bill. You will also see ‘service included’. DON’T LEAVE BIG TIPS AS THEY WILL START TO EXPECT ALL AMERICANS TO TIP IF THEY DON’T ALREADY. The waiters are supposed to be getting a reasonable salary. If you’re taking a guided trip, tips are often expected for the guides and bus drivers.

Neither the cover (coperto) nor the service charges go to waiters. The only money they receive is their monthly wage and the coins customers leave on the table.

Additionally, what is the current standard practice for waiter tipping?

Zero. U.S.-style tipping is an American custom, not a worldwide one.

Taxi driver tipping?

Less than zero. Taxi drivers own both the medallion and the car. By law.

More, the number of licenses is capped. Thanks to a system that lets them cheat on their taxes, Italian taxi drivers make more money than you & me. While enjoying free education and free health care at the same time.

Bus drivers and guides expect tips from English speaking customers. They'd never dare to behave the same way with Italians. Are you willing to endure a double standard? It's your choice, but you are choosing for you and for future american tourists.

Thanks to these tips most of bus drivers and guides are paid under the table. I.e. they cheat on taxes and I have to pay for all the free services they are entitled as citizens.

Dario, it's interesting to read your comments as an Italian. I will do my best to keep unreasonable expectations down in our trip to Italy starting 09/14. No tipping from us.

Last year I noticed a couple of cafes in the Dolomites added a tip line to my CC receipt. I was quite put off. We declined to tip. Despite my having a chipped card, they printed out a receipt to sign everywhere we went.

This year we are tapping our card and not having to sign. The only place I have seen a line for a tip was in a salon where I had a service.

Pay with your CC and tap for efficiency. Drop a couple of Euros on the table if you like, but no obligation.

I didn’t know I needed this post so much! Am I reading all of this correctly, do not tip my servers and drivers in Italy? I live in the US and will be traveling there in October. I want to respect the culture and follow. Thank you!

I’d like to add a comment to segue to Laurel’s comment and also Dario’s.
When I return to the US with an early flight from Rome, I usually stay at the Airport Hilton at Fiumicino. Since I don’t care to go into town for dinner (I just want to go to bed early), my wife and I usually eat at their pricey restaurant. This year, when presented the bill, my wife proceeded to pay with the credit card, and since the Airport Hilton does have a line for gratuity in their credit card slip (like in the US, probably because most patrons there are American), my wife was about to add a tip to the credit card slip. The waiter, who was there waiting for her to finish, immediately stopped her, and asked her to leave the tip in hard cash (which my wife eventually left, although much less of the customary 15% in the US). The reason? The gratuity you add to the credit card in Italy (for those few establishments that have such line), does not actually go to the waiters. It goes to the owner of the establishment (Hilton Corp.). He said, the only gratuity they actually get, is the cash people leave on the table. Otherwise they only get their salary. The gratuity left in the card, in the extra gratuity line, like the service charge in restaurants Dario mentioned, is only an extra profit for the establishment. It doesn’t actually go to the waiters. So if you feel so inclined to leave a tip American style, leave it in cash, or your waiter will see none of it.

Were you a waiter in Italy?

This post was revived by someone posting an ad.