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.
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!)
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.
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.
Inflation and wages not going up.
They did if you got tips…
Customers shouldn’t be responsible for ensuring a livable wage for a restaurants employees.
And those employees for the most part don’t want a liveable wage, they don’t want the pay cut.
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.
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 starting 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.
Tipping was essentially an American invention to not pay black people. (Who were the majority of service industry workers in the late 1800s/1900s?)
Also keeps that servant/master power dynamic.
This is why I upped my tipping on the rare times I do eat out.
Edit: yeah, how fucking dare I?
Blame the companies, not the customers. I bought a $12 water at a concert and the attendant acted offended I didn’t tip. Don’t get mad at me.
Yea, we’re getting exhausted from being constantly barraged by demands for tips.
You’re fine with getting overcharged for the concert and the water, but paying the worker for their time is where you draw the line?
Most people going to concerts can’t exactly leave the building, find a different store selling water, buy it, then bring it back in through the concert venue. (Nor are they capable of magically knowing the prices inside beforehand) The reason the price was so high was likely because the venue knew they had a captive audience, and when people need water, they need water. If someone is just forced to pay $12 for water, asking them to subsidize your worker’s wages on top is a shitty move, and if nobody tips, then maybe that company will realize that they can’t subsidize the wages they pay with tips, and stop relying on them.
Then the attendant gets paid fairly from the get go, and they don’t need to be offended if someone doesn’t tip, because why the hell should anybody have to subsidize a corporation’s wages? If they want workers, charge what’s required in the price to pay those workers, no tip required.
I’ve been tipping more, but that’s mostly because I live in a relatively low-income area and I know people around here are cheap/frugal. I’ve also worked in food service before (though not deliveries) and I know just how awful it can be. I hope I can be the one delivery that allows the person to call it an early night and spend time with their family. Shit like that.
That being said, I don’t know what kind of notes the drivers get when they see my order pop up, but I will say that 99% of the time, my service has been impeccable. They know.
HOWEVER, don’t take this as approval for tipping culture. I hate it and would love to do away with it. Unfortunately, I understand that these people depend on my tips for a living wage and that sucks.
Make sure you’re tipping cashiers too then
The worst part is when you go to a place you need to pay before service is rendered.
If I go to the bagel shop and get a dozen I pay before I pick them out. TIP? Are you kidding me, what what, you have not served me yet.
A tip is to reward good service at a sit down place. I still think it shouldn’t be and if we have it, it should be back to the 5-10% like most countries that have tipping.
But if you ask for a tip before you render service i get a little angry.
Tipping culture and systems need to die off. Sadly, because they often get paid more via tips than they would by increased hourly wages, tipped employees are often against such reforms.
And, to be fair, for most restaurants, it would be really hard for them to pay their wait staff appropriate wages in many cities where rent is extremely high and the cost of the food products they use to create their meals is rising as well. It’s not a simple matter of “the employer should pay their employees’ wages, not the customer.” The industry is built around tipping, and that’s not something that can be changed overnight.
Still, I firmly believe it needs to happen. And if that means increasing the price of restaurant meals, so be it. I suspect people eat out too much these days anyway and should learn to cook themselves. I used to eat out a lot until I did some calculations and realized I was spending way too much on it. Since learning to cook, I’ve saved a lot of money and now prefer my own cooking to a lot of restaurant fare out there (although not the really good stuff—I’m no professional chef).
I’d rather we just eliminate wait staff in most places. There’s almost zero value to a person over a tablet.
I don’t really agree that restaurants couldn’t make it work. It’s just going to have to take all or nothing.
Getting away from tipped wages is the real problem. Give all restaurant workers fair livable wages, they won’t be on tighter budgets on would spend more going out.
Workers can’t live paycheck to paycheck just for the profits to sit in some CEO or owners back account. The economy is heathy with an exchange of money. More money in the pockets of the people the more they will spend.
Of course it won’t work if one restaurant (or any single company) does it differently when everyone is still on tight budgets. You won’t get the business from your own employees but need others to have the means to come to you too.
This is only going to get worse as late-stage capitalism continues to wring every last penny it can out of the working class.
I’m not in the best health so I do a lot of order at home.
GrubHub/DoorDash/etc. all calculate the tip based on the order + their fees, not the order itself.
If I order a $60 dinner, I’m tipping 20% of $60. Not 20% of $60 + your delivery fee and your service fee.
Tipping has always been a stupidly arbitrary thing to base tips on anyway, especially for delivery drivers.
As a driver, I accept runs based on dollar per mile because that’s what actually factors into my income. I don’t care what you ordered unless it’s 100 items at the grocery store with cases of water bottles. The price is always irrelevant
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.
Yet no server will want to increase that wage because tips are much better.
This argument is always put out there but any server at a decent place would complain if you asked them to take a higher wage instead. Which we have seen over and over again. It’s going to be hard to undo the tipping culture due to this.
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?
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.
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.
Considering the article specifies “full-service restaurants,” Imma go with no
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.
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.
American tip culture is fucked, and it has been for a very long time. Once gas stations started begging for a tip on my soft drinks I figured it was about time to rip the band aid off.
Unfortunately tipping less means wait staff are gonna get fucked – no way to soften that. We need to get to a place where their livelihoods aren’t dependent on generosity.
I still tip wait staff 20% I just don’t tip at the grocery store. The most egregious I’ve seen was a tip at a full self-service counter. Like who am I even tipping? The cash register?
I still tip wait staff 20%….
Why? Did your salary increase with inflation these last several years vs food pricing that’s unhinged from reality?
15% is the new normal.
I’m eating out less instead of tipping less
at one point they need to learn that to protect their livelihood unionize is the answer, not asking customers to subsidize what the employers are not giving.
