Ask HN: Why don't restaurants split the check by default?

I think the 'tradition' bit nails it. Restaurants cater to lots of different groups of people and the social norm is that someone invites and others follow. By alternating who invites the balance is maintained. If you're cheap you could probably 'freeload' your way in to a number of invitations but at some point people would start to look at you.

It's not all that trivial by the way, since restaurants book all their orders to a table, not to a seat, it would create at a minimum a twofold, and probably much higher cost for them to maintain their books.

I believe there is a per transaction fee element to what Visa/MasterCard/ American Express charge. So its in their financial interest to split the bill into as few transactions as possible. (source: http://www.businessknowhow.com/money/creditcardprocessing.ht... )

I've never had anyone decline to split a check. Most of the larger lunch restaurants around here usually compute the check independently and will combine it or split it easily. (Dallas, TX)

Isn't that what Squirrel (the major restaurant POS) does automatically or with a keystroke? Most of the casual eateries I go to have staff ask when ordering if separate checks are required . . .

Refusal to split checks irks me every time. So what if they pay a fee per transaction?

If I go grocery shopping with my friend, the cashier at Wal-Mart doesn't see that we came together and force us to combine our orders.

Why are restaurants the only business that gets away with this?

Transaction costs are built into the prices on the menus. Restaurants essentially refuse to give you the convenience that you paid for.

Splitting it by default would be weird, since a lot of people don't want it split. When I go out to eat with my family, we don't want four separate checks, and most couples going out don't want two checks. I don't even want separate checks with friends I go out with regularly, because we just alternate approximately instead of trying to calculate everything accurately to the nearest dollar.

In my experience the main groups who do want splits are college students and coworkers, but I'm not sure what proportion of total restaurant meals those two groups account for. Anecdotally, restaurants near colleges or in college towns are much more likely to ask you if you want a split check, though.

As for logistics, I think the main one is that it requires an extra level of keeping track, especially for larger groups. Instead of just punching in "two beers and a margarita for table 15", the waiter then has to enter in who ordered what, either while punching it in initially (if the system supports it) or afterwards. It's considerably more complicated to track 30 items ordered by 6 separate people than to just track 30 items ordered by a table. And then the waiter additionally has to ask for details on what to do with ambiguous things, like appetizers. People get pretty absurd with that too: they want one appetizer split between 5 of the 6 people (because the 6th person didn't eat any of it), another appetizer split evenly, the pitcher of beer split between a different 4-out-of-6 people. Oh, and they want two of those people on the same check because they're husband-and-wife, while the other four get 1-person checks. Etc., etc.

When the server first comes over we usually politely let them know that we'll be needing our check split. Sometimes it's easier for them to know this ahead of time, especially if they have older POS terminals.

I've also found that individually we tend to tip 20-30% but when there's a large check that has to be paid on one card (with cash and IOU's going to the card holder) the tip tends to be <20%.

Asking the waiter/waitress to split the check is uncouth.

People seem to be talking across wires here. There seem to be three situations:

1) One persons pays for everyone (on the assumption everyone takes turns to pay)

2) The bill gets divided evenly and everyone pays their share (either in cash or by card)

3) Everyone gets their own bill

Maybe it's different in the US, but in the UK (1) seems to be the most common among close friends who see each other regularly and (2) more common among acquaintances, etc. who you see less often.

Number (3) which seems to be what most people are discussing here is pretty uncommon except among students. And places which cater more towards the students market (Nandos, GBK, wetherspoons, etc.) typically have a pay-up-front individually policy.

I don't see what problem people have with (2) - it seems a perfectly reasonable solution. Obviously it fails if someone buys something that's exorbitantly priced compared to everyone else, but in those cases I've found people are generally willing to put a little extra in (lest they no longer be invited out).