I want to spend some time today telling my fellow Australians why you need to push back on the tipping culture that is starting to make its way into Australia,

I've lived in Canada since 2012. This is what I've learnt in the last ten years:

1. History and Tipping Amounts: Tipping here used to be only part of the service you would receive at restaurants and such. Contrary to Australia, almost every restaurant in North America is table service. You get seated by a hostess, then a waiter or "server" takes care of you for your meal. When you pay for your meal the waiter hands you a machine which has preloaded options for a percentage of the tip you want to give. In 2012, 15% was the standard tipping amount listed under "Good" on the machine. In the last five years that for some reason has changed, now 18% is the standard "Good" amount. Servers in North America used to be paid under the minimum wage, they could do this because of the money they made on tips.

2. Where we are today: Servers no longer get paid under the minimum wage, they get paid the standard minimum wage because of new wage laws that have been introduced over the years. However, the tipping you are expected to give your server has stayed exactly the same. Thus, it has created an entirely unfair system.
   Example: I used to work at a regular old tourist attraction in the Rockies. This attraction had a bunch of positions that were all pretty standard and even in terms of skill level such as ticket agent, interpretive guide, line cook and cafeteria staff. Everyone got paid the same basic hourly wage because they were all essentially entry-level jobs. The staff in one of these positions however were able to bank their entire paycheck without ever needing to touch it for day-to-day living. This was the cafeteria position, these colleagues lived 100% on the tips they "made". What did they do to earn said tips? Well, when the customers paid for their meal at the counter the machine prompted them with how much they would like to tip. That's it. Tipping has created an unfair system in the country.

3. Tipping is spreading like a disease: It's everywhere now. Businesses have realized that if you put a machine in front of someone when they're paying and it prompts for a tip, THEY WILL TIP. In my local town, I am now prompted to tip at my hairdresser, fast food (Subway and Freshi) as well as almost every coffee shop in town. At a local coffee shop in town, they have drip coffee that you pour yourself, the counter staff give you a cup. That's right, you are handed an empty cup and then prompted for a tip on the machine. It's completely out of control.

4. How tipping weakens industries: I used to work at a luxury hotel. Inside this hotel, there was a standard hotel lounge. I saw colleagues people leave good departmental positions (Accountant, Night Manager and others) to go and work entry-level serving jobs simply because of the tips. Thus the lure of tipping prevented these people from pursuing actual career positions. Tipping sucks people out of career pathways.

5. It makes service worse: Every time you tip when you're prompted on a machine, you are creating a culture of giving people tips for doing the job they are already paid for. It's completely different than when you provide a surprise tip for someone who went out of their way because they were awesome. Instead, servers just expect tips and the effort/service is inferior because of it. I've moved back and forth between Oz and Canada for the last ten years, I can assure you that customer service is better in Australia.

I was home in Australia over Xmas. I was prompted to tip a few times at the end of my meal, I see tipping culture coming to Australia and there needs to be pushback. Unless you want to be prompted for tips at Subway in ten years, for the love of god, tip 0% if you are ever given a machine and it asks how much you want to tip.

If anyone else has lived in Canada/USA and feels the same, feel free to share your thoughts.