The way minimum wage for servers works these days in most states, it's not really very efficient to pool tips. There are two different minimum wages - one for tip-earners, one for everyone else. In some states, the two have to END UP being the same, or better, for the tip-earners.
Basically if minimum is $10...
then the employer can pool the tips, give each employee only $5/hour and as long as the tips combine with the $5 to equal $10 per hour - the employer doesn't have to pay more. So the employer is only on the hook for a percentage of the actual minimum wage. If the employee doesn't get any tips at all, he is guaranteed that $5/hour from the employer. But he isn't guaranteed more than the standard $10 minimum for the state, after the tip pool has been distributed.
And then some states require that the tipped amount be documented by the employer so that the appropriate state income tax be deducted from their paycheck. So the employer collects all the tip money and divvies it up at the end of the shift.
Being a server who relies on tips is not exactly the same process from one place to another, from one state to another, or even from one country to another.
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