A debate over tipping comes to South Korea
A debate over tipping comes to South Korea
This week, “Marketplace Morning Report” is looking at tipping, including how norms and practices around that have been changing here in the U.S. But how we do things in the States is not how everyone does things.
Now, a debate over tipping is unfolding for a longtime U.S. ally: South Korea. South Korea is one of many places around the world where you are not expected to leave a tip.
Sunyoung Jeong is a reporter for the BBC based in Seoul. She joined “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio to discuss the culture of tipping in South Korea. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: The U.S. has a tradition of tipping in restaurants is the first place you think of, at least for good service in some settings. Now, this is not true in South Korea. You don’t tip?
Sunyoung Jeong: Well David, Korea has been quite keen on adopting customs from the United States, but tipping is probably the last thing they want from America. When you go out for a meal here, you just head to the counter, settle your bill, and guess what? The bill shows only the meal prices. It’s actually against the law for the restaurant to list extra charges like [Value-Added Tax] or service fees separate from the food prices. In other words, if a meal costs $100, and the owner wants to include let’s say a 10% service charge, they have to give you a final bill for $110 and cannot force you to pay a tip on top of that. Beyond this legal stuff is also a kind of cultural thing as well. Koreans feel that it’s the employer’s responsibility, not the customer’s, to pay their workers fairly. Especially with the recent major improvement of the national minimum wages — which is around $7.5 U.S. dollar — many people here think that restaurant workers are already quite well covered. Also, they benefit from a relatively decent social welfare system, including universal health care, so the public feels that there’s not much urgency to tip restaurant workers.
Brancaccio: Would you say, Sunyoung, that it might even be a little insulting if a U.S. traveler were in South Korea and tried to tip?
Jeong: In general, people feel slightly awkward to receive cash and money for doing their own work here.
Brancaccio: In fact, you’ve been talking to some restaurant workers in South Korea and this is what you found, right?
Jeong: Yes.
Tipping could potentially have a negative impact on customer service culture here. If tipping becomes the norm and isn’t mandatory, customers who don’t tip might be at a disadvantage.
– Restaurateur in Seoul (quote translated to English)
Brancaccio: Sunyoung, any move in South Korea for change from restaurants or maybe other types of companies who wouldn’t mind importing this tradition of allowing customers to tip?
Jeong: Well, last month Korea’s answer to, let’s say Uber — Kakao Mobility — tried something new by asking passengers to give a voluntary tips to their drivers. But quite unexpectedly, this small change has set up quite a big argument with people debating whether Korea should introduce tipping. The result was only about one out of every six people support the tipping. But, when it comes to restaurant, there are some exceptions, as well. For instance, in fancy Japanese restaurants that offer all-you-can-eat style tuna sashimi, tipping between $8 and $40 is normal and expected to incentivize the chef to serve you with a better quality tuna. But I think it’s more about probably unique social stuff here. South Korea is quite big on group dining. So in those fancy establishments, the senior person in the group might throw a tip to show off their authority or generosity.
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