Grocery Delivery in the Boonies...

[amdx]

On 11/24/2020 9:36 AM, jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

On Tue, 24 Nov 2020 10:48:13 +0100, David Brown
david.brown@hesbynett.no> wrote:

On 24/11/2020 08:02, Rickster C wrote:
It\'s nice living on a lake. Pretty view, fun activities. It\'s a bit
remote though. They did put in a grocery store a while back, so no
more 20 mile drives to stock up. But it\'s just one store and if they
don\'t have what you like, tough. Then there is the pandemic where so
many people around here think it\'s fake and don\'t bother with masks,
although they do mostly respect distance.

There was no delivery of pretty much anything other than UPS, Fedex
and USPS. Until now. Instacart seems to be delivering to the area
now. It\'s the same supermarket that\'s nearby, but now it comes to me
instead of me going to it.

I had $100 order delivered tonight and they brought it in not much
more than an hour after sending an apology saying it would be over
two hours. They texted me about shortages and I had opportunities
to substitute. I know now to keep the phone handy because they don\'t
waste time and want me to respond quickly. I didn\'t get some canned
tomatoes because I didn\'t select a repacement quickly enough. But
now I know. They did deliver nearly 100 lbs of stuff for free with a
$5 charge for the ordering and a suggested $5 tip. Next time I\'ll
tip more, it\'s not so easy to find my place. It\'s pretty cool
getting stuff delivered in an hour!!!

That sounds like good service.

But I always find it strange that the USA is still stuck in a medieval
barter system for some parts of its economy - the \"tip\". If it costs
$10 dollars to handle the order and delivery, then they should charge
$10. If it costs more for big loads, or for more distant customers,
then they should either charge more to such customers, or have a
slightly larger charge for everyone so that it evens out.

When you sell electronics, you don\'t tell customers that the board costs
$100 and suggest a $20 dollar tip to the guy that soldered it.

Rare and occasional tips for exceptional service are fair enough. But
\"suggested\" tips, or tips that are virtually obligatory, are nothing
more than a way for an employer to cheat on taxes, underpay employees,
and skip on whatever payments an employer is supposed to make on behalf
of the employees. (I don\'t know what these are in the USA - typically
it is for things like pensions, social security contributions, etc.) It
means customers can\'t properly judge the real costs of services, and
feel pressured into paying more than the service is worth. It means the
system takes advantage of kind and generous people and rewards the
greedy and selfish. It means honest tax payers pay more, and the state
can do less, because you have a large unregulated black market of
cash-in-hand payments.

An honest and open economy works better for all parts, as far as I can see.
What\'s dishonest or secretive about a tip?

Unlike a lot of europe, the worker-guys actually get the tip. And it\'s
tax-free. It means \"thank you for the personal service\" and is an
effective incentive.

It\'s socialism one-on-one.

Maybe you prefer surly French waiters.

Tipping in the US is not tax free and to make it worse the employer is
supposed to have the tip report and subtract SS, Medicare and Federal taxes.

Seems to me this makes a lot of people criminals.

*Report tips to an employer.* If employees receive $20 or more in any
month, they must report their tips for that month to their employer by
the 10th day of the next month.                            Include cash,
check and credit card tips received. The employer must withhold federal
income, Social Security and Medicare taxes on the reported tips.

 I\'ll bet less than 20% of employers do this. Especially nail salons,
but bars and restaurants also.

*All tips are taxable.* Pay tax on all tips received during the year.
This includes tips directly from customers and tips added to credit
cards. This also includes  tips received from a tip-splitting agreement
with other employees.

*Show all tips on a tax return.* Use Form 4137, Social Security and
Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income
<https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4137>, to report the amount
of any unreported tip income to include as additional wages. This
includes the value of non-cash tips such as tickets, passes or other items.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/are-tips-taxable-irs-offers-tips-on-tips

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[Tom Gardner]

On 25/11/20 22:38, Rick C wrote:

On Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at 3:45:12 PM UTC-5, David Brown wrote:
On 25/11/2020 19:07, Rick C wrote:
On Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at 3:59:20 AM UTC-5, David Brown
wrote:
On 25/11/2020 00:49, Tom Gardner wrote:
On 24/11/20 23:19, John Larkin wrote:
Service compris is theft of tips by the restaurant owners, and
guilt reduction for the patrons.

Yup. Exploitation of the workers by those with capital.

But then \"underpaying\" staff is the same.

Paying a fair wage for a fair day\'s work is preferable.

That\'s it, yes. If you have a system where the money staff take
home /depends/ on tips - however they are distributed - you do not
have a fair wage for fair day\'s work. You get different people
doing the same job, and getting different pay, or the same people
doing the same job on different days and getting different pay.
Staff no longer have predictability or reliability.

I guess it is an example of a more deep-seated cultural difference
between the USA and Scandinavian countries. (The UK is, as usual,
kind of in the middle - with Scotland trying desperately to be more
like Scandinavia, and England moving towards the USA or just down
the drain, whichever is least effort for them at the time.)

Here, when you get a job, you can rely on it. You know you have the
job - you have a contract, you have rights, you have guarantees
about your position, your responsibilities, and your pay. The
employer can\'t take that away without due notice (typically 3
months at least). You have stability and predictability in life.

In parts of the USA (as always, laws vary) you can be a loyal,
hard-working employee for years and then get fired on the spot for
talking too loud when the boss has a hangover. And then you no
longer have an income, or health care, and shortly afterwards you
have no home.

Working for tips is just bringing this random variance from
something that might happen at any time, to something that happens
all the time.

As much David likes to think there is something remotely like
uniformity in jobs in the US
Did you miss the part where I said explicitly \"as always, laws vary\" ?

Ah, so an explicit acknowledgement that the statement was faulty? Ok, got it!

You really do have two notable abilities:
1) to bizarrely mis-comprehend other people\'s statements in a
way that supports your preconceptions
2) to ignore the points other people are making, which allows
you to continue to repeat your point.