Fewer Americans are tipping, Bankrate survey finds
How tipping etiquette has evolved after the pandemic
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Jared Mitovich
·Writer
Thu, June 8, 2023 at 11:11 AM CDT·3 min read
It may seem like tipping is everywhere – but a smaller number of Americans are handing out gratuities because of economic factors and those annoying tipping screens, a new report says.
According to Bankrate, just 65% of American adults always tip their servers at sit-down restaurants. That's down from 73% a year ago and 77% in 2019. In fact, fewer Americans are tipping for all types of services, measured both this year and before the pandemic. The categories of workers that were surveyed include servers, hair stylists, food delivery people, and coffee shop baristas.
Adult consumers are the least likely to always tip for home services like repairs and picking up takeout. More than half of adults always tip food delivery people, hair stylists, and sit-down restaurant servers.
The Bankrate survey, commissioned by YouGov, was conducted among 2,437 adults from May 3 to May 5.
Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman told Yahoo Finance that high levels of inflation and uncertainty about the economy may be driving Americans to tip less or less often, in addition to the backlash over the proliferation of iPads and other forms of technology that give people pre-entered options to tip.
In fact, 18% of adults said they tip less or not at all when they are given pre-entered options while the clerk is standing behind the screen. This reaction is known as “tipping fatigue,” the Finance Is Cool CEO Haley Sacks
previously told Yahoo Finance.
Rossman said the survey shows that there has indeed been a flip in how people feel about these screens.
"By a factor of about two to one this year, people say that they're tipping less or not at all, rather than tipping more, when they're presented with these [pre-entered] options, which is actually a flip from last year," Rossman said.
Common pre-selected tip options at cafés and restaurants are 15%, 20%, or 25% for a tip. However, only 44% of adults said they usually tip 20% or higher at sit-down restaurants. In
2022, the median tip for servers at sit-down restaurants was 20%.
Overall, 66% of people hold negative views about tipping. 30% of adults believe that tipping has spiraled out of control, increasing to 33% among GenXers and 40% among those who earn more than $100,000 annually. There is no comparison available to previous surveys.
Fewer Americans are leaving a tip amid the proliferation of tipping screens.
There are more differences in tipping habits and beliefs when the numbers are cut by generation or income level. Across nearly all categories, millennials, Gen Z, and men are more likely to tip less or not at all, with 21% of millennials and 18% of Gen Z in favor of getting rid of tipping altogether. These numbers are higher than the 12% of Baby Boomers who share the same sentiment.
Rossman said that younger adults and men are more like "boom or bust tippers," which means that they may tip less frequently, but when they do tip, it's often larger than those given by other groups.
Even though fewer Americans are tipping overall, 14% say their tips have grown larger since the pandemic, rising to 20% among higher-income households. Rossman said that alternatives to tipping have not worked, including previous efforts to substitute tips with built-in higher prices, which have
largely failed.
"I think at the end of the day, we're kind of stuck with tipping, for better or for worse," he said. "Tipping is so commonplace that I think it would take quite a groundswell to make a real change there."
See this is that shyt that you gotta look out for. And fukked up part about it is, you won’t even know it either. And you a regular customer too, so they know what you look like? Play that no tipping shyt if you want to. I used to work at Domino’s and those drivers knew who all the non-tippers was. “Don’t fukk with the people who handle your food” ain’t a saying that just came outta nowhere.
