Robin Hood takes from the rich and gives to the poor... (and encourages the rich and the poor, both, to not honor their reservations).
@Greenspace I don't doubt your observation; having been in business in South Edmonton for 5 years, I abandoned reservations for the very same reason -- people do not honor the 24-hour cancel rule -- on the first-come-first-served rule I did just fine; line-ups at the door are a good thing from an owner's perspective. Many restaurants in SoCal take a non-refundable deposit for reservations -- tends to keep customers honest.