All this paying people as a percentage of some bill total -realtor commissions, financial advisors charging a percent of AUM, servers, lawyers shares of civil judgements - rub me the wrong way. And it all seems to make less and less sense with some of the inflation in some of these areas. (realtors!)
Here is a crazy idea- get paid for the work you do -period. Spend a certain amount of time and effort and be paid for that...not based on what others do- but on what YOU contribute. If I order the cheapest entree on the menu and the guy at the next table orders the most expensive item, why should the server earn a different amount of money from each table? If my fixer upper house will sell for $1,000,000 but if I fix it up to turn key beautiful and now it sells for $2,000,000, why does the realtor get paid twice the money?
I can hear the first objections-
1) "that's the way it has always been done!"
That is a description, not a reason. Mentioning this as a reason is usually a sure sign there isn't one. If something actually has a legitimate rationale, tradition never is mentioned.
2) "If you don't like it, (eat at home/don't use a realtor/be your own lawyer, etc)” Again, resorting to this sort of "love it or leave it" defense is proof of the absence of legitimacy. If there were good reasons, this never comes up. If these practices flourished in a truly, free market, their dominance might be legit - but those who benefit from the status quo strive to prevent any changes.