I wonder if that holds true of Europe or only North America? In other words, is that much of a price hike necessary or are they scamming us?
I like the robot idea or pay workers enough so we can get rid of the silly racist tipping idiotsy. It started in the US as a way to tip black almost slave workers as porters and servers on passenger railroads.
Robots are catching on in Asia, from reports. This solves the lack of workers, and they do not take vacations or get upset or moody. I would willingly pay a bit more to not have the silly tipping. When I was in Germany you just rounded up to the next Dollar/Euro so don't need to get small change. That makes a great deal of sense to me.
I love the new ordering system at many of McDonald's at least in the US. They eliminate the order taker they have a very easy to use big display where you can take your time deciding what to order, you get a numbered big sign thing you put at your table and someone delivers the food. Obviously no tipping. Maybe they will take it to the next step to have a robot deliver the food, that would be just fine with me.
At the Toronto airport, I noted a few years ago a big eating area near the end of one of the terminals where you order by a device at the table which also has a phone charger etc. I normally do not eat anything at airports, unless a long layover or delay between flights.
I have never tipped a sexworker since they are not minimum wage slave laborers and have never had a problem Sexworkers tips should be repeat customers and good honest reviews for a job well none, not this silly tipping thing.