Tipping vs. bribing your bartender
Question: A friend who goes out a lot tells me he tips 25-30 percent in bars, so bartenders are always giving him free drinks. Jake says everyone knows to do this. Even if they do, isn’t this cheating the bar owner?
Answer: A penguin goes into a bar and says to the bartender “Have you seen my father?” The bartender says “I don’t know. What’s he look like?”
Don’t bartenders put up with enough as perennial straight men without catching flak for pouring the occasional free drink? Seriously, a happy customer is a return customer. And while Jake may not know it, the hospitality industry has a long tradition of offering perks to regulars and big spenders — a cocktail here, a room upgrade there — to keep them coming back.
So if Jake’s getting those complimentary drinks because his fanny’s frequently on a bar stool, there’s no problem. And there’s no problem either with bartenders accepting Jake’s fat tips, whatever his motives may be.
But is there a dark side to this practice? Absolutely. It’s if, in exchange for Jake’s largess, bartenders are serving him more free drinks than the bar owners — the folks who are actually paying for the alcohol — would approve of. In that case, you’re right: the bartenders are stealing and so is your pal. And what Jake’s leaving isn’t a tip, it’s a bribe.
Questions? Email Money Magazine’s ethicists – authors of “Isn’t It Their Turn to Pick Up the Check?” (Free Press) – at FlemingandSchwarz@right-thing.net.
selling booze brings so much profit
that the owners dont care
they let the bartender offer a freebee
Whoa: "In that case, you’re right: the bartenders are stealing and so is your pal."
Your pal is stealing for tipping and getting a free drink? What, is he saying, I'll tip you more if you give me another free one? And if you don;t I have a gun that says you will. Come on.
I've worked as a bartender, and if I was feeding anyone free drinks and pocketing the big tip… Hey, great mug shot Kojak!
But then again, you get the knowledgeable telling people about the 1000% markup. You then have 1000% stupid people paying, don't you? I'd sell anything at that markup, wouldn't you?
The story line: If you tip and get free drinks, is it stealing? On the patient side, only if you have a gun…
This is utterly normal in the bar, restaurant, or hospitality business as the respondents point out.
Free drinks – i.e. beer on tap or hard liquor – are virtually free to the owner of the bar, as well.
Consider cheap nozzle vodka – $5 a shot (or setup), with a nominal cost of $10 a fifth (which is 20 shots). Thus a free drink costs the owner $0.50, + the ice, cranberry juice (or whatever), cleaning of the glass, etc.
The liquor business – at a hot spot especially – is by FAR the most profitable part of the hospitality industry (something like a 1000% markup for cheap booze; probably 500% for the good stuff). This rivals a McD cola, which costs you $1.75 and them perhaps $0.18.
None of this holds true for BOTTLED beverages or wine, where the markups are "merely," 300% or so.
My bar hosts, therefore, are instructed to provide a free drink – one – to every regular (typically their 3rd, not their 1st, drink). This doesn't hold for bottled beer drinkers, who get free appetizers (as does everyone else) instead.
That the bartender makes a bit of a rakeoff on such deals bothers me not at all. If they win, I am winning – they bust their bums, are attractive, attentive to my customers; I get happy consumers who come back again and again.
I do have the occasional barkeep who does the "one for you, three for me," bit – and my honest CUSTOMERS typically alert me to this (needless to say, I keep tight, tight, tight, inventory control). That guy gets a warning….and not once has the offense been repeated. Good bartenders understand the old maxim of killing the Golden Goose.
If it's stealing, it's the bartender doing it. If you give him/her a $10 bill for a beer, he can put $5 in the register and $5 in his jar, or he can put $0 in the register and $10 in his jar. Same thing if you don't tip at all, he can put it in the till or in his jar – it's entirely up to him.
The real answer is that it is a fairly simple calculation. It's an end #'s game. You know how much liquor you purchase, how much revenue/sales your bar is taking in. Therefore, with a proper POS, you have gross totals of how many ounces of liquor were sold and how many were given away. Weekly staff meetings and oversight maintain the proper proportions of keeping customers happy thinking they are getting a great experience, and not losing money by over-indulging the free drinks deal.
If I "sell" you 20 dollars worth of drinks, but "comp" you an equal number I cut your bill and my tip in half. Does this make sense to a bartender? They aren't dumb, they keep the math running in their head…
A restaurant with bar in my town went out of business because of too many free drinks from bartenders. Much of this is the fault of the owner, for failing to notice what was going on, but still, the practice can easily get out of hand.
Whether it is stealing from the bar owner or not, it may just not make economic sense. How much extra are you tipping in order to get a free drink? How many free drinks are you geting? You may be spending more than you are saving.
Who cares. Men have been paying to get into clubs/bars while women get in free. That is gender discrimination. Women are bribing society with their tears.
I have been a bartender for a long time (second job). The fact is, a good bartender brings the customers and keeps the customers. It is a good business decision on the part of the owner of the establishment to allow this to happen. Put it this way, it is always going to happen. If the owner is not going to allow it, you can be dang sure the owner at the next corner bar is going to reap the rewards of his ignorance. People are bartenders for the following reasons: they know the money that there is to be made, they have a great personality and they are attentive people. But most of all, people are always going to drink in good times and bad. The bartender is there with your poison in hand 
I was a bartender and was allowed to give free drinks to good patrons. I tip well when I go out for food or drink. It is a two way street. Unless you have worked in this type of business, you may not be familiar with "comping" good clients drinks.
Free drinks do add up quite fast. For example I just caught a bartender giving out 52 free drinks in a 9 hour shift. These drinks are bottle beer $1.50 per bottle = $78.00. When it accounts to basically buy one get one free it is stealing.