Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave
In a word, the state of tipping in America is a mess.
According to a new study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, Americans are divided and confused about when to tip and how much to tip for all types of services — and many dislike recent trends like additional service fees and Tip recommendations not amounts.
Drew DeSilver, the report’s lead author, says the lack of consensus is not surprising given the ad hoc nature of tipping policy in the United States. “Tipping is one of those things in American society for which there are no clear rules,” he said. “There is no universally accepted approach like there is with traffic lights, where we all know that red means stop.”
If you feel like almost everywhere these days, from cafes to takeaways, is charging an additional service fee, you’re not alone. People are feeling the pinch of “tipflation” – the growing number of workers consumers are expected to tip – and 72 percent say tips are expected in more places today than they were five years ago.
How much should you tip after DC increased the minimum wage for tipped workers?
Most people don’t like the addition of “service fees.” These are amounts that many restaurants and other businesses have charged to their customers’ bills under various names, often to cover the higher costs of things like food and labor – without having to raise prices. An overwhelming 72 percent of people oppose it, with only 10 percent saying they support it.
And they are also more likely to reject a suggested tip amount than to approve it. Businesses have recently taken to putting touchscreens at takeaways or on printed bills – ostensibly to make calculations easier, but often used as an incentive to get customers to shell out the amount of tips. 40 percent of Americans oppose such proposed tips, while 24 percent support them. (About a third neither oppose nor support it.)
But as there are more ways to tip and as some restaurants and other businesses offer prompts, there is still a lot of confusion about whether customers should tip — and if so, how much.
Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults say it is “extremely” or “very” easy to know whether to tip for different types of services these days, and a similar share, 33 percent, say the same about how You should tip a lot.
Interestingly, education and money aren’t always helpful in this regard: People with higher incomes and higher education are more likely to be uncertain about when it’s appropriate to tip and what they should leave, according to the survey.
While these recent and fundamental changes in tipping may be confusing and distasteful, the survey also shows that the practice is broadly divided—Americans don’t even agree on what tipping means. 29 percent of Americans view tipping as an obligation, while 21 percent view it as a choice. However, 49 percent say it depends on the situation. Younger, more educated and wealthier people were more likely to view tipping as an obligation, Pew found.
Advances in technology — like delivery apps and tablets at counters that you can tap to leave a tip — may be convenient, but they add to the uncertainty. “It’s different than having a glass on the counter – people feel like they’re being offered all these opportunities to tip – but does that mean they’re expected to tip?” DeSilver said. “We as a society have not yet agreed on the rules for this.”
When DeSilver looked at what kind of guidance was being offered to people, whether in behavioral guides or in the popular media, the results were mixed, he said.
And when Americans open their wallets, many don’t seem to be big tippers.
Quiz: Do you know how to tip? Take this quiz to find out.
Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about how much you should tip anywhere. The generally recommended standard rate has been steadily increasing – while 15 percent was once the standard, many guides now suggest that 20 percent is the norm.
But apparently not everyone is complying, according to the Pew survey. In a scenario where they experienced “average but not exceptional” food and service at a restaurant, 57 percent of people said they would tip 15 percent or less. Two percent said they would leave nothing to their server. Just under a quarter said they would leave 20 percent or more.
The survey found that wealthier people tend to have better tips, while older people tend to have better tips Tips of 15 percent or less are more likely – perhaps a holdover from previous standards for tipping sufficiency.
It’s not just customers who seem dissatisfied with America’s tipping system, in which workers who receive regular tips earn hourly wages below the standard minimum wage. Some labor activists say the system creates inequalities and makes workers more vulnerable to the whims of their employers. They also argue that reliance on tips makes women – who make up the majority of tips – more likely to be victims of sexual harassment or mistreatment from customers and managers.
The Pew Research Center survey was conducted Aug. 7-27 among 11,945 U.S. adults via Pew’s American Trends Panel and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.