U.S. TIP-FLATION SUPERCHARGING COST OF GIVING
Inflation crisis now hitting tipping point as higher gratuity trends bite Aussies abroad
Australian travellers have always needed to factor tips into the budget when visiting the United States, but a sharp upswing in the amount expected and the places you will be asked have left many scratching their heads and clutching their wallets.
Giving a few extra dollars to your cab driver, waiters and the guy hauling your luggage goes without saying.
But buying a chocolate bar, grabbing a takeaway coffee and even shopping for clothes are some of the circumstances which could now see you asked to give a tip – often via an automatic prompt on the Eftpos payment screen. As overwhelming as that may seem, not tipping can be an egregious faux pax so it is important to be discerning. When it comes to service industry workers, tipping is never viewed as optional in the US – and for good reason. While the exact amounts vary state to state, these employees are paid notoriously badly and often lack benefits including health insurance. In some places they can be paid as little as $A3.26 an hour – although employers are required to make up the difference if the employee doesn’t make the additional $7.83 in tips to reach a takehome pay equivalent to federal minimum wage.
Former Perth resident Kenneth Hart has lived in the US long enough to be well across the practice of gratuity. But he reached his tipping point at a recent sports game in his new home of Texas when in the absence of any human interaction, he was asked to tip a machine.
“The thing that gets me is when a tip is requested and there isn’t actually any kind of service,” Mr Hart said. “For example, the stadium in Austin has selfserve bars
It asks for a tip defaulted to 25 per cent now. Madness
Kenneth Hart Aussie living in Texas
Given the cost of living, without tips I wouldn’t be able to survive
Nicole Brettle in New York City Australian living and working
where you put your drinks on a scanner and it gives you a total and you pay it and walk away.
“It asks for a tip defaulted to 25 per cent now. Madness.”
Hart is not the only one taken aback, with a new survey of 2000 Americans by Talker Research showing 31 per cent of respondents had been asked to tip for a service they would never have considered tipping for in recent weeks.
America Josh CEO and founder Josh Pugh is from Adelaide but now calls Manhattan’s trendy Upper East Side home.
Mr Pugh spends his days welcoming and educating the Australian ex-pat community on the intricacies of life in the US through his popular website and social media platforms.
Since making the move from Australia in 2017, Mr Pugh has witnessed significant “tipflation” in New York City.
“The standard tip here has risen. Most people used to expect 15 per cent but now the standard is around 18 to 20 per cent – especially in places like restaurants,” he said.
Despite technically being at the customer’s discretion, Mr Pugh said tipping was a must at sit-down restaurants and for anyone performing a service, such as cutting your hair.
I have friends who are cutting down on eating out
Josh Pugh
“When you go to a restaurant and you see the prices on the board, in your head you need to add an extra 10 per cent for tax and an extra 20 per cent for tip. If you can’t afford that, then you can’t afford to eat there,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m very understanding of how much that hurts.”
Mr Pugh said tipping was a frequent talking point among members of the Aussie ex-pat communities he hosts.
“I absolutely have friends and people in the America Josh community who tell me they are cutting down on eating out because they can’t afford that tip, which is something they know they want to give to the people serving them,” he said.
Brisbane’s Nicole Brettle, 35, moved to New York to pursue a career in acting, but given how difficult it is to crack into the industry, she also holds down a day job as a server.
“Given the cost of living in New York City, without tips I wouldn’t be able to survive,” she said.
Ms Brettle said not only did servers often have to pool tips with other tables to ensure they all took home a similar amount at the end of the night, servers also often “tip out” other staff, including those working out the back, on a per table basis.
“This doesn’t change if someone doesn’t tip,” she said.
“So essentially it’s costing a server money to serve you if you don’t tip.”
On the other side of the coin, Ms Brettle too is frustrated at the increasing number of situations where tips are now requested – including at her local delicatessen.
“I will often find myself with a payment machine in my face with predetermined tip selections and often the suggestions are insane,” Ms Brettle said.
“I think counter staff deserve tips because of how hard they have to work.
“Do I think they deserve 25 per cent? Absolutely not.”
It’s not just in the US where tipping has become a hotbutton issue, with fears cafes and brasseries in the French capital are already trying to get tourists to cough up extra euros ahead of the Paris Olympics later this year.
Despite a legally mandated 15 per cent surchage – which is often already factored into menu prices – and a customary 5 per cent tip on top, The Times of London is reporting that some owners are hoping to cash in on tourists’ lack of tipping knowledge by getting them to cough up more.
But the masthead reports restauranters are not differentiating between locals and tourists – meaning
Parisians are also left paying more.
“With the waiter watching while you make your card payment, you feel very uncomfortable if you don’t add a tip,” The Times quoted one local as saying.