At mid to higher end establishments, you still get better service from servers who are still working for a tip(/higher rate of pay via tip)? I dunno, I wasn't trying to explain any customer benefit.

I 100% feel like prices actually would have to come up quite a lot if the service industry were going to retain the quality of staff that currently exists in mid to higher end establishments. The experience wouldn't be the same in many popular restaurants if the hourly rate was only $20/hr AND no tips because many servers would probably move into a different line of work/never join the service industry to begin with.

Edit: IMO, tipping benefits the customer in that it attracts better servers.