We're tipping over a cliff
Americans fed up with automatic gratuities
Americans are fed up with tipping culture, with most diners leaving less than an 18-20% gratuity following a sit-down meal in a restaurant.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center also found that barely half of US adults always tip their bartender for a drink.
The company polled 11,945 adults across the country , saying their research “comes at a time when tipping . . . is undergoing significant structural and technological changes.”
We’re now confused over where we should tip.
Per the survey, just 65% said they tipped their hairdresser or barber, while only 53% said they always tipped their bartender.
A small 12% said they always tipped a barista for a take-out coffee, while an additional 12% said they “often” did.
Still, that means less than a quarter of consumers are tipping their baristas — despite many coffee shops’ displaying a tip screen during payment for purchase.
We aren’t that generous when dining at a restaurant.
While 81% of those surveyed said they “always” left a gratuity for their server following a dine-in meal, and another 11% said the “often” do, a majority of respondents admitted to not being all that generous.
While an 18-20% tip has been pushed as the standard at eateries across America, most of those polled said they do not tip that much.
A whopping 57% said they usually tipped 15% or less, while just 2% of diners said they left a gratuity larger than 20%.
The survey found wealthier Americans are likely to leave larger tips, while senior citizens are likely to leave 15% or less on their checks.
Americans still see tipping as strongly linked to the quality of service they’re provided, suggesting that 20% is for extraordinary service not just for a standard experience. In fact, 77% of respondents said that how well they were served remains a “major factor” in deciding how much to tip — or whether to include a gratuity at all.
So it’s no surprise that . . .
We hate automatic service charges.
In recent years, it’s become increasingly common for businesses to include an automatic gratuity on a check, particularly for large groups of diners at restaurants.
Sometimes those automatic service charges can be in excess of 25% — and Americans can’t stand it.
Of those polled, 72% say they are against the inclusion of an automatic service charge, while only 10% of respondents said they approved of the practice.
We’re getting fed up with “tipflation.”
It’s no surprise that a majority of Americans say they feel they’re being asked to tip at more and more places, with the trend known as “tipflation.”
Even some self-serve airport kiosks ask customers to leave a tip, prompting anger from many.
Of the respondents, 72% said it felt like they were being asked to leave a gratuity at more places than they had been back in 2018, with over a third of young Americans saying they felt pressured to do so everywhere they went.
Some 38% of adults under 30 say it’s more of an obligation than a choice, particularly given they’re confronted with tip screens on payment tablets.