Summary
Tipping in U.S. restaurants has dropped to 19.3%, the lowest in six years, driven by frustration over rising menu prices and increased prompts for tips in non-traditional settings.
Only 38% of consumers tipped 20% or more in 2024, down from 56% in 2021, reflecting tighter budgets.
Diners are cutting back on outings, spending less, and tipping less. Some restaurants are adding service fees, further reducing tips.
Worker advocacy groups are pushing to eliminate the tipped-wage system, while the restaurant industry warns these shifts hurt business and employees.
Key cities like D.C. and Chicago are phasing in higher minimum wages for tipped workers.
When was a kid in the 90s, tip was 10% of the $20 bill. By the time I was eating out a lot in my 20s we left 15% on the $35 because we liked the servers. Now the check is $50 and the “recommended” is creeping past 30%.
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Because wages didn’t go up
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You can bet there was some more tolerance for it when there was some guilt for office workers staying at home while service roles had to stay on site during the height of covid.
The fact that so many point of sale make it a default thing to put it directly out there for someone to tip before any service is done and with that decision in view of everyone around doesn’t sit well either
And the default options are 20, 25, 30 some places.
Ive been at multiple places stsrting at 30. Fuck that.
Would you like to tip 5000% so I don’t shit in your coffee?
- 2045 barista
I was in SoCal several months back and ended up in a candy shop. Nothing but drawers of candy on the walls and one desk in the middle with a young woman sitting behind the checkout tablet. I had a question or two, but she was neither helpful or knowledgeable (it’s candy. not a difficult topic). She seemed very disinterested in engagement.
Well, I finish my selection, she scans and the tablet shows the totals with the big tip screen (NoTip-15-20-25%). I was taken aback that her job would get tips and wondered if she was paid enough before I smashed the NoTip button to finish up since she hadn’t done a thing to merit one.
I’m so fucking done with it, that I just assume everyone behind me is too. I happily hit that “No tip” button. Unless you provided an active service for me, or went above and beyond to get me something, then why do you deserve a tip? I have to pay you extra money for you to do your job correctly?
I only tip at restaurants and when I get my hair cut. All of this new tipping stuff, I have always assumed was just a generic update to enable it basically everywhere… I’ve always hit no tip… I don’t feel bad for it… You’re not getting paid 2 dollars an hour working at some random place that’s not a restaurant… I’ve heard stories of employees not even getting those tips… It’s a push for greed… That’s it
It’s actually driven moreso by the point-of-sale vendors. They enable it by default, because they make a percentage of the transaction as a processing fee. The merchant has to request that it be disabled.
Not a POS technically but a previous vet had a jar on the front desk to tip the receptionist. They even stuck a QR code on it in case you don’t have cash.
You think you’re tipping the worker, you’re actually tipping Jack Dorsey.
I wonder if all of the places like Subway that are asking for tips and getting $0 because who the hell tips at a Subway, are throwing off this stat at all.
People will judge you more for going to a subway in the first place then not tipping at one.
You can make a sandwich. I believe in you.
You don’t go to subway because you want a sandwich. You go to subway because you know you need to put a food like substance in your food hole and you don’t have the time or mental capacity to do it properly.
Probably not directly, but I think tipping fatigue is definitely affecting things. If you’ve been prompted 10 times already to tip at places you usually wouldn’t tip and then are in a sit down restaurant, you may very well feel inclined to tip less.
Employees at places like Subway and Starbucks could be getting screwed by no one using cash anymore too.
If I’m using a card there’s no change to toss in the jar.
We shouldn’t have to subsidize someone else’s shitty wages. People who rely on tips need to unionize and put that nonsense to bed for good.
Considering the article specifies “full-service restaurants,” Imma go with no
I’ve seen tipping options on websites to pay your landlord
I don’t get the ones for products. I pay for a trendy pillow or whatever, also shipping at a flat rate, but then there’s a tip button? I just know that’s going straight to Shopify or management.
My electric company has a tip line when paying the bill.
I’m totally down with tipping for good service. But it’s backwards. I’m suppose to tip before service. Personally, we have cut back going out with a lot of times thinking that it’s too expensive. The worst is when there’s a line behind you and the lowest tip preset is at %25. You have everybody looking at you while you try to set it lower.
Why are you tipping if there’s a line? The line implies self service.
Fast casual
What they need to do is scale the tips up to 40, 50, and 60%, and get rid of that pesky custom button
Then I’m going to pay in cash if I need to buy it, or else I’ll just walk away.
This is why I upped my tipping on the rare times I do eat out.
I’m pretty well done tipping unless I’m going to a sit down restaurant and the service is really good
You know what tipping is supposed to be used for
You know what tipping is supposed to be used for
Yes, allowing management to pay less than a living wage so that the public can cover the rest.
I get your meaning (and agree), but tipping as a practice should be dead and gone.
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Tips are much better now.
As prices go up and wages stagnate, expect tipping to continue to drop as less people eat out and people tip less.
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It’s going to be hard to undo the tipping culture due to this.
So, because something isn’t easy we shouldn’t even try to improve the situation?
I mean…
2016, I went to a bar and got a 16oz beer, a burger and a basket of fresh fries for $18. I was happy to throw $3-5 on that for decent service, hell even subparbaervice.
Now it’s an 11oz beer being sold as a 12oz beer for $9 and a $22 burger, add fries for $4
If I get 2 beers, it’s $50 with a tip.
The fuck?
Well, I mean, are you going to continue to go out and hand them all that money? Then they’ll continue to feel like they can safely raise prices. If you start making burgers at home and buying beer at the local liquor store, you’ll be paying a small fraction of what you paid even in 2016. If you need some social interaction, just make it a cookout and invite people. I’m sure they’ll be happy to have you at their place in return.
It’s all well and good for him of he stops going, but look at places like McDonald’s which has increased prices 100% in the last couple years. They are getting less business so they raise price to compensate. Now the addicts are getting priced gouged even more, so that the line goes up. Late stage capitalism is a motherfucker.
Making an awful lot of (mostly irrelevant) assumptions here.
I’m simply stating that inflation is a big reason that people don’t tip as much.
Maybe I’m just weird (probably), but the cost of something has absolutely nothing to do with my choice of a tip. If item + what I feel is an acceptable tip = more than I want to spend, I simply don’t purchase that thing, not tip less.
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Inflation and wages not going up.
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Customers shouldn’t be responsible for ensuring a livable wage for a restaurants employees.
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I will tip wait staff because I know they rely on it. Someone at the counter at Starbucks? No. They’re not getting less than minimum wage and expected to make up the difference in tips.
Depends on the state, too. In Washington wait staff get full minimum wage, which is the highest in the country.
So I feel a lot less bad leaving a smaller tip in Washington because they’re being paid the same as everyone else, not artificially paid less with “tips supposed to make up the difference.”
In my experience service industry workers tip the best, so in a city where they are more often flush they probably tip even better.
I wouldn’t say they’re more often flush, though. Olympia is getting as expensive to live in as Seattle and service industry folks can’t live alone in that city, they’re still going to need roommates. The cheapest studios in the area are around $1200 which would require someone making more like $20 an hour to qualify to be able to rent it on their own.
Olympia is the state capitol so service industry jobs are about the only jobs outside of government jobs. It’s probably more likely decently paid government employees being decent people.
To be fair, I don’t think Uber Eats is paying minimum wage hourly anywhere
What are we supposed to to with?
Worker advocacy groups are pushing to eliminate the tipped-wage system, while the restaurant industry warns these shifts hurt business and employees.
Imagine having to pay a living wage, burger prices would explode!
Except, for example, there is a 12.82€ minimum wage in Germany and a hamburger ist still around 2€ at Burger King (about 1:1 in $ atm). Food and work safety are stricter too iirc. Workers also have 20 days of vacation minimum (if your work full-time), 60h weeks maximum @ 40h on average, as well as extra pay for night, weekend and holiday shifts. And health insurance is about 200 a month at that income I think.
Edit: Oh, and of course still 5-20% tipps.
You are getting screwed over completely. Anyone who claims otherwise is your enemy.
We had 150 million people decide to keep things going the way they are. Until a major slice of shit hits the proverbial fan, nothing will change. The American population is too fat, stupid, and lazy to make the change on its own.
I think it’s more of a subsidizing thing. In the UK they get all these things and can’t budge due to pushback and culture, so they subsidize those costs with cuts to other places, like shrinkflation in the US, and other places. Costs went up to ship their foodstuffs all over the world, buuuut they enabled tipping at POS in the US, getting poor suckers to make up the difference (they hope)
Not an excuse, but if the US put in place the same things the UK has, fast food would lose their biggest cost subsidy for more expensive places like the UK, and prices would actually go up (because the corpo suits can’t take a fuckin pay cut obviously!)
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Inflated prices and a lack of disposible income will do that.
I also think it’s unfair to compare the percentage amounts of current tips to those from 2021, a time when the pandemic was still roaring through the country, a lot of people were trying really hard to support service workers, and everyone had received a bunch of extra money.
I refuse to go anywhere I have to tip.
When I go out, I usually tip well. My sister used to be a bartender and waitress and she relied on tips.
That said, tipping is really screwed up now. I went to a stadium for a game once and the employee said that they don’t receive the tips when you tip for buying a beer or whatever unless it’s cash. That’s messed up if true.
I used to think Mr. Pink was an asshole, but he was on to something. I wish tipping was eliminated completely.
she relied on tips.
That’s the real problem.
No employee should rely on the arbitrary generosity of their customers.
Employers need to pay their staff properly for the job they’re doing.
And if some staff member happens to go above and beyond, a customer can optionally choose to reward them for that extra level of service with no societal pressure or guilt…
Mr. Pink was definitely an asshole
