You may not be as stingy as you feel.
Americans have become accustomed to “tip inflation” in recent years: the growing size of tips and the increasing number of businesses where customers are asked to dig into their wallets.
Solid screens in taxis and coffee shops now suggest tips of 20 percent, 25 percent and even more.
Don’t be misled, says A study from Pew Research Center.
The days of tipping 15 percent or less are far from over.
Hairdressers, waiters and couriers who deliver food usually give pocket money
Should you tip servers at a fast food counter? In reality, most Americans don’t
And far fewer customers tip baristas and fast food servers than we are led to believe.
Pew asked nearly 12,000 adults about America’s rapidly changing tipping habits.
Tipflation is real, they learned.
About 72 percent of respondents say more businesses are tipping than in the past.
There is also widespread concern about automatically adding tips to bills.
More than seven in 10 respondents said they were opposed to automatic service charges on bills – including 50 percent who felt strongly about this.
But Pew’s most interesting insights are its revelations about how much and how often people actually tip service staff.
Tipping in restaurants is almost universal, with 92 percent of diners always or usually leaving a tip.
Don’t believe the instructions on the touchscreen: a 15 percent tip in restaurants is still the norm
The rise of digital payments, accelerated in part by the pandemic, has seen more and more businesses using touchscreens solely for tipping
Tips are routinely handed out to hairdressers (by 78 percent of customers), food couriers (76 percent) and taxi drivers (70 percent).
But the culture of tipping has not yet spread to servers at coffee shops and fast-casual restaurants, where customers pay for their checks at the counter.
Only a quarter of customers tip their baristas.
And servers at fast-food restaurants are tipped only 12 percent of the time.
Furthermore, tips are not as generous as is often assumed.
In sit-down restaurants, 57 percent of diners give 15 percent or less.
Less than a quarter of diners spend 20 percent or more.
Anecdotally, Americans have been complaining for months about an apparent increase in tipping.
Where now? Tipping is recommended in more and more companies, according to respondents
A merchant was outraged when a restaurant in Alaska offered him the option of leaving a 100 percent tip
In an extreme example last month, a merchant was outraged when a restaurant in Alaska offered him the option of leaving a 100 percent tip.
Harrison Snowden of Chicago was starting his Anchorage vacation earlier with two friends when the mood turned sour.
After picking up breakfast for himself and his companions, the tilt screen he was shown offered four suggested amounts: 20 percent, 30 percent, 50 percent and – 100 percent.
The tourist was so shocked that he tipped only 8 percent, less than he normally would have, and took a photo of the screen. He then shared the shocking image with friends.
“It was shocking,” he said.
‘It just felt like a huge middle finger. They know no one will tip that much.”