Automatic tip or service charge? New state law requires restaurants to tell diners before they order

  New law covers credit card surcharges, delivery fees and automatic tips, requiring disclosure before customers order  --  https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/automatic-tip-service-charge-state-law-requires-restaurants-tell-diners-before-order

Can't they just 'disclose' it in the menu, or a handout from the hostess/seater, or on the first menu page or something? 

I don't want to have to listen to a server recite a litany of possible charges. 

Make it a news headline, PSAs, for several weeks.  Take the onus off of the servers, for heaven's sake.

Candy

The vast majority of restaurants that impose an automatic service charge indicate it prominently on their menus. They're not inclined to surprise their guests with an unexpected additional charge.

You seen such an announcement usually referring to parties of eight, ten, etc. or more. I have never seen an automatic service charge imposed regardless of party size. So this bill, cobbled together in whatever state (I never actually look at David's posts), is a nothingburger. It would only address a situation wherein a restaurant imposes an automatic service charge but the guests don't know about it, and those guests weren't intending to leave a tip. 

Was this something that was an issue before? Personally I've never eaten at a restaurant and not had those fees disclosed ahead of time.

Maybe a lot of restaurants in Florida were hiding it? I don't know.  

Oh. Florida. So, not Planet Earth as we know it.

I'm suspecting that some crotchety old diners didn't see the AUTOMATIC SERVICE CHARGE OF 18% notice at the bottom of a menu, tried to leave without tipping the server (as was their habit), and were surprised to find out that their cost-saving tactic had been thwarted. Then they wrote their congressman, and that guy needed votes rather badly, so...new legislation.

A handful of restaurants in my area have started automatic gratuity regardless of party size. 

It is clearly stated on the menu. The menu also states you can remove our adjust it if you want. 

Most default to 18%

  I do not and will not frequant any eating establishment that has mandatory and/or any other "fees"that have nothing to do with a food purchase. I go to eat - not to pay the rent, someone's salary, medical or any of the other bullshit fees these places can come up with. Don't give me the "thin margin" bullshit either. I only tip for the service rendered - not for a percentage of the total bill. 

You may not have the mental ability to comprehend this, but I'll give it a try: when you patronize a restaurant, you're not just purchasing food--you're purchasing the food's preparation, the place where you eat it, and the service. You are in fact paying the rent, someone's salary, etc. because those expenses are part of the overhead that the establishment incurs in order to serve you and provide a place to eat the food you purchase.

Those expenses are passed on to the customer, either in the form of fees or as part of the menu prices. Either way, you'll be paying them--don't kid yourself that you're not. And if you don't like that? Don't eat in a restaurant. Buy food and cook it at home.

  Apparently you are the one missing something - I am there to buy something to eat - period - not to pay their rent, or pay their employees nd/or their employee's medical insurance. If what they charge for food I find aceptable, then I will eat there. If they expect for me to pay all of the additional fees - then I won't eat there. Simple. Got it? Now spend YOUR money any way you want. I will spend MY money like I want.

No, you are buying a meal prepared by a chef, presented and brought to you by a server, to eat at a table cleaned and prepared for you, using dishes and utensils provided for you. All that is over and above the cost of the food itself. Dining involves more than just eating.

But hey, we get it. When you eat at a restaurant, you stiff the server. If there's an automatic service charge, you can't do that. Makes you mad.