Busch Gardens Williamsburg Adds 5% Surcharge to In-Park Sales

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deacfan31 said:
It's sketchy but they can do it. In short, with $12 hour minimum wage, if the employee makes tips, the employer can make up the difference to equal $12.

Title 40.1. Labor and Employment

law.lis.virginia.gov law.lis.virginia.gov
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The employers having to pay any shortcoming in tips/commission is normal, but I don't think it's normal for a business to force a customer to tip. If this becomes common, it will be the last time I purchase from a location.
 
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mikes said:
The employers having to pay any shortcoming in tips/commission is normal, but I don't think it's normal for a business to force a customer to tip. If this becomes common, it will be the last time I purchase from a location.
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For sure we're not going to that place again.

I wish we knew more how it works fully with BGW. If they are in a spot where it's structured that base pay is $10/hr with tips, for a guaranteed $15/hr and the tipping is optional - cool. Like, then at least they are committing to a certain pay ($10/hr) and will make you full ($15/hr), and would be best if we knew tipping takes it beyond that (rather than BGW pocketing it).

I also want to know - does my tipping stay specific to where I tipped or does it go to all F&B employees regardless of where they are. Like I want to know that if I avoid Festhaus because the person in line was rude about my allergy request, but went to Trappers and decided to tip because the person was really helpful, does that stay within Trappers? Or does the person at Festhaus get rewarded despite my avoiding them.

If it's the opposite where its shared throughout the park, it's used to build the base and SEAS doesn't put money into paying anyone until they need to cover the shortage - ugh that bothers me a lot. Like I'm just doing some rough math. Let's say it's 25,000 people in the park, 2 meals and a snack a person, averaging $22 a transaction, 15% tip, that pulls in $247,500 in tips. I have no clue how close that would be to covering pay, but if you go with $12/hr that dollar amount covers 20,625 work hours.

Now I know you need to take out that 25% of people might not tip. Likely the percent of people with dining plans (which if they ask for tips for people who have that - that's scummy). But still likely 10,000 work hours worth of pay could end up covered by tips. I would prefer that that money be pushing someone over what they should be earning rather than pushing it to what they should be earning.

Anyways, long story short, if I knew how tipping worked, there's a chance I would do some of it. Without knowing, it's unlikely I do. I don't mind spending money on tips when the person does something above or beyond, takes extra care and I see it, things like that. But I like to know I'm directly benefitting the people who I am tipping because of rather than it just going into a general fund to pay everyone and anyone.
 
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Tipping culture is out of hand. When I tip, I think about what am I tipping for?

Lets take the Festhaus for example. The food is lined up in a grab-and-go style, granted on a tray. From there I carry it to the cashier who checks me out. I then eat, dump my trash, and put my tray away. IMO, at no point in this process is a tip warranted.
 
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In James City County, Virginia, where Busch Gardens is located, all tourist destinations are required to charge a 5% surcharge. It is essentially, a tourist tax.
 
Waxxer69 said:
In James City County, Virginia, where Busch Gardens is located, all tourist destinations are required to charge a 5% surcharge. It is essentially, a tourist tax.
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Then bake it into the price. Don’t sneakily pass it on to the consumer with a fine-print hidden fee.

And, for what it’s worth, every United park has the surcharge, so blaming it on JCC’s requirements isn’t valid IMO.
 
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Waxxer69 said:
In James City County, Virginia, where Busch Gardens is located, all tourist destinations are required to charge a 5% surcharge. It is essentially, a tourist tax.
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The 5% surcharge is on top of the higher sales tax James City County collects. This surcharge has/had nothing to do with tax revenue for James City County. If you're referring to the 5% Transient Occupancy Tax, that applies only to lodgings.
 
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Mushroom said:
Then bake it into the price. Don’t sneakily pass it on to the consumer with a fine-print hidden fee.

And, for what it’s worth, every United park has the surcharge, so blaming it on JCC’s requirements isn’t valid IMO.
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Or, if this was the case (which I doubt because of all parks), at least say “5% JCC surcharge not included”
 
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The surcharge has nothing to do with James City County. James City County has a higher tax rate on tourist-y segments of the economy (BGW included), but that is the tax you're paying on your purchases already. That tax has been in place for ages and is completely unrelated to the 5% surcharge.
 
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I don't know how to feel about this. Do other parks accept tips in this way for employees?

Knowing the company and its focus on profits at the expense of guest or employee satisfaction, the following would not surprise me: I could see a system where tips don't go to employees at all, except in the indirect sense that they go into the pot that's used to pay wages. It's not hard to imagine that this change is just about getting more money. You just need a quarter of people to tip 20% to surpass the 5% you were making from everyone before. This might just be another cash grab, just (mercifully) one I could choose to opt out of.
 
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07WCUSAalum said:
Tipping culture is out of hand. When I tip, I think about what am I tipping for?

Lets take the Festhaus for example. The food is lined up in a grab-and-go style, granted on a tray. From there I carry it to the cashier who checks me out. I then eat, dump my trash, and put my tray away. IMO, at no point in this process is a tip warranted.
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I could see if you went to the park 20 times and really liked a particular location and the people that worked there you might eventually tip once. IF you really think they will get it and not routinely. There is reason to have the ability to tip but purely as an opt-in not a opt-out, more like the old tips bucket.
 
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deacfan31 said:
Looks like there's still a surcharge. This is today at Sea World Orlando. 😡
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Was tipping an option? The recipient looks like it came from the old POS that didn't include the tipping option if so I would guess that the convention hasn't happened at the park yet.
 
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horsesboy said:
Was tipping an option? The recipient looks like it came from the old POS that didn't include the tipping option if so I would guess that the convention hasn't happened at the park yet.
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Tipping was not an option. It was for a popcorn bucket. There was no surcharge at Flamecraft but had the tip option. I always tip there because their bartenders are awesome.
 
deacfan31 said:
Tipping was not an option. It was for a popcorn bucket. There was no surcharge at Flamecraft but had the tip option. I always tip there because their bartenders are awesome.
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Then they are likely still in the switch over prosses.
 
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