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Tipped over the edge: America's gratuity madness may soon calm
小费将达极限：美国对小费的狂热可能很快就会平息
Why do Americans persist with hefty tips?
美国人为什么坚持要给高额小费呢？
The conventional explanation is that it encourages good service.
传统的解释是，小费能鼓励优质的服务。
Anthony Gill of the American Institute for Economic Research, a think-tank, explains it as a solution to a principal-agent problem.
美国经济研究所（一家智库）的安东尼·吉尔将其解释为解决委托代理问题的一种方法。
Restaurant managers want good waiters, but struggle to monitor performance.
餐厅经理想要优秀的服务员，但很难监督其表现。
Tipping in effect outsources supervision to the customer.
小费实际上是将监督工作外包给了顾客。
Mr Lynn has found that when restaurants have eliminated tipping and instead charged higher prices, online customer ratings have suffered.
林恩发现，当餐厅取消了小费并转而收取更高的价格时，网上的顾客评价会变差。
Yet there is reason to think America is approaching peak tip.
然而有理由认为美国正在接近小费的峰值。
First, consider the sheer numbers. Tipflation is a form of super-inflation.
首先，考虑一下小费金额之高。小费膨胀是一种超级通货膨胀的形式。
If tips were a fixed percentage, they would rise at the rate of general restaurant inflation.
如果小费是固定比例的，它们会随一般餐厅涨价的速度同速增长。
Since the percentage actually increases over time, tipflation is bound to outstrip restaurant inflation.
由于这个百分比实际上是逐渐增加的，所以小费的涨幅必然会超过餐厅的涨价幅度。
This matters because, following the price surge of the past few years, spending on meals out has hit 5.6% of post-tax incomes in America, up from the 4.5-5% typical in the previous half-century.
这一点很重要，因为在过去几年价格飙升之后，美国人外出就餐支出占税后收入的比例已从前50年通常的4.5%至5%上升到了5.6%。
People have long grumbled about tipping. Now complaints are more forceful.
人们长期以来一直对付小费颇有怨言。现在怨气更大了。
The legal landscape is also in flux.
法律环境也在不断变化。
Many restaurants in America pay what is known as a tipped minimum wage, which can be as low as $2.13.
在美国，许多餐馆支付的是小费最低时薪，可能低至2.13美元。
The rest—to get to the state minimum wage—is meant to be derived from tips.
其余部分——要达到州最低时薪标准需要补上的部分——应该来自小费。
In practice many servers earn well above that.
在现实中，许多服务员的收入远远高于此。
Restaurant owners like this system because it gives them flexibility to hire more workers and to keep menu prices down, knowing that customers will directly cover wage costs through tipping. But little by little cities and states are applying their true minimum wages to all workers, whether tipped or not.
餐厅老板喜欢这种制度，因为这让他们可以灵活地雇佣更多员工，并保持菜单价格低廉，因为他们知道顾客会通过给小费直接支付工资成本。但是，许多城市和州正在逐渐将其真正的最低工资标准用于所有工作者，无论他们是否有小费收入。
Higher minimum wages raise labour costs for restaurants.
提高最低工资标准会使餐厅的劳动力成本上升。
Some establishments have responded by cutting staff or shutting during slow hours, while others have added mandatory service charges or raised prices.
一些餐厅的应对措施是裁员或在淡季关门，其他餐厅则增加了强制服务费或提高了价格。
From a broader economic perspective, the impact need not be quite so dramatic: the main effect for customers will be to see some of the cost of their meal migrating from the tip line on their receipts to the upfront food price.
从更广泛的经济角度来看，提高最低工资标准的影响不需要这么夸张：对顾客来说，主要影响是他们会看到部分餐费从账单上的小费栏转移到了预付的饭菜价格上。
This does not mean that gratuities will go away—they are too deeply entrenched in American life.
这并不意味着小费会消失，小费在美国人的生活中根深蒂固。
But the eye-watering amounts may start to recede. The country is at a tipping-point.
但令人肉疼的小费金额可能开始减少。这个国家正处于小费转折点。
