What is your opinion on tipping?

I have never had an issue with tipping in the past. I normally tip around 20% at restaurants because it is easy to calculate and sometimes tip a bit more or less depending on service. What I am having difficulties with is the number of places now that prompt you for a tip when you purchase something. You buy a coffee and the card machine has a tip option. Places like food fairs, fast foods, take out, supermarket deliveries etc... It is not just that people expect a tip they expect a certain amount. Food delivery drivers will not accept orders if the tip amount is too low. There are tons of videos of food that sits at restaurants and eventually get thrown out because no driver is willing to pick it up.

It seems like tipping culture has gotten out of hand. To be honest I would prefer it if they just raise prices and got rid of tipping altogether like in some other countries.

 

Tipping encourages good service in some industries. The trouble is, it becomes expected. If you get lousy service, you should leave a very low tip. That sends a message. Not tipping might seem that you forgot. Leaving very little says, “I was not happy.” No one should get 20% automatically.

 

I do not have an issue with tipping in and of itself. What I don't agree with is figuring in tipping when it comes to determining pay. Guaranteed work should have a guaranteed compensation. The customer's opinion should never be part of the calculation of a person's compensation for work provided. A server can provide excellent service, but if the food is bad, it is the server who loses out on the pay, not the cook.

 

I tip regularly but it is not a system I particularly like. Sometimes I don't know if I should tip or not---like when an appliance or something is being delivered by a big box store, so I don't in those instances. Wait staff I tip whether the food or service was good or bad. The amount just depends on the price of what I ordered. I am more likely to way overtip for a small price ticket than I am for a big price ticket but it is usually at least 20% or better either way. I tip the lady who cuts my hair. I gave her $100 tip after she first opened back up after COVID. I need to find someone new though, She is having health issues and just is in a pissy mood. No matter what you say to her, she finds a way to be offended.

 

I tip 20% at restaurants unless I have a really good reason not to. For example, I don't penalize a server for a mistake that was obviously made in the kitchen, and I don't hold back on my tip when a server is obviously being overworked. They've got enough to deal with. If I don't feel like tipping, I don't go out to eat.

 

Yeah I remember from working in restaurants in high school that they would assume you're tipped at 8% in your taxes, and so if you weren't tipped you would actually make less than minimum wage since the standard payment was a base minimum wage plus tips. I don't know if they still use that rule, but it was unfair. Things usually evened out over time, but when a big table didn't tip, one would lose more than the value of the tip.

 

I tend to tip very well. My wife was once a server and the lady I dated before I met my wife was too. My general practice is 25-30% My barber I tip higher than that.

 

I always try to tip the best I can relative to the service and food I get, which is to say a pretty decent tip. And plus I don't mind making someone else's day just because.

 

As a rule, 15% tip in restaurants and bars. Nothing else. And, I haven't been in a taxi in many years.

People should probably tip the poor bastards who have to gather up their groceries and haul them out to the parking lot, but I have never needed that kind of service.

 

We live in a culture, in which we are constantly encouraged, by electronic sources, to give people money, out of our own generosity, whether that be for a tip, for some charity, or for a "go fund me" account. Not much that can be done, other than to decline, in cases in which one does not see a reasonable cause for one's contribution.

I do agree with you, that the food delivery service is faulty, if there is no guarantee of delivery, if one cannot entice a driver, with an advance tip. That said, I would think that food delivery drivers are entitled to some tip. One would think that a minimal tip would be included in the price (maybe the lower of several dollars, or 10%), which the patron, of course, would be free to increase. Restaurants usually do something like this, for large parties, of requiring a 17% or 18% minimum tip, included on the party's check.


Tips for a coffee barista, seem a charitable way to supplement the income of those who are possibly being underpaid, by their employer (thereby lowering the price, charged for your drink). I don't generally frequent coffee bars but, if it were me, for plain coffee, I would probably not regularly tip, unless those tips amounted to loose change, or I thought the coffee was worth more than was charged for it (which seems doubtful), or I shared a good rapport, with a cheery counter person. If I were ordering lattes or the like, I could more see showing my appreciation for the work involved, provided they did a good job.

This, BTW, @Pollycy, is why bartenders usually get more than the conventional 15% tip of a food server: because they can actually be "making" your drink, as opposed to only delivering it. That said, they usually get at least a buck just for drawing a beer on tap, pouring a neat drink of some spirit, or glass of wine, or grabbing a bottle or two of beer; so they generally clean up, provided there are a sufficient customers ordering straight from the bar. Though it is a form of stealing, some might tip a bartender well, in hopes of encouraging him or her, to give them a more generous pour.

I don't see us going to the European system, for food servers, as most waiters in the U.S., are not especially well trained, and so are not as professional as, I hear, are the more career oriented waiters, in Europe. So, our system accounts for that, by allowing customers to adjust the fee they pay, depending on their assessment of the service. In this regard, I agree with @John Hamilton. Fifteen percent is for adequate service, of which my expectations are fairly low. A ten percent tip, says that the service was notably unsatisfactory. A twenty percent tip, or more, says "thank you," for much better than average service. But, as these thread responses show, there are many people who habitually tip well, regardless of whether the service really warrants it, as well as those who customarily tip on the light side.

Lastly, just as a side note, tip percentage is supposed to be calculated, AFAIK, on the check subtotal, prior to tax. This is something to keep in mind, as a way to temper your gratuity, to any given dining occasion. If you feel that your waiter was especially helpful, and went beyond what you would expect, you could always include the tax, when calculating your tip percentage, while, if the service was very much substandard, one would be justified in excluding tax, in calculating the tip.


P.S.-- Wine is also an item for which tipping practices vary. If one orders an expensive bottle of wine, to go along with their hamburger, for example, some will tip on the bottle, the same percentage as the rest of the meal, while others could, understandably, tip a lower percentage on the bottle, especially if the server did not steer the patron to find a pleasing wine, and did little more than open it, leaving the patron to do most of his own pouring.

 

As someone who waited tables for ten years, I have to disagree with your opinion, here. I have heard servers make that complaint, about some single table, which more or less stiffed them. But that is a myopic viewpoint, of excluding all the other tips one received during the shift, which far exceeded 8%. If you are only averaging around 8% in tips, it is hard to imagine your even being kept on, by an employer, as the dissatisfaction of diners could hardly not come to the owner's attention; but that would be a good thing, as it would be clear that waiting tables, was not the line of work, for you.

 

That's why I said it usually evened out over time. My feeling was this. Waiting tables was way too much work for minimum wage, so they deserve to earn more than minimum wage. If you spend a lot of time on a big table and they stiff you, you may earn less than minimum wage (due to taxes) for that time. So that feels unfair. Frankly, they should just count the tips on the credit card receipts. I know most people won't actually report their cash tips, but whatever.

 

You make excellent points, @DEFinning , and yes, in those few occasions anymore that I even get involved with areas in which tipping is expected or 'the norm', I always tip on the pre-tax amount.

 

I always tip, I like the practice, it's a way of honoring the other person. I've also noticed that we get WAY better service here than some part of Europe where a tip is not expected and the food is practically thrown at you by a snarling waiter.

I think the practice is only being question now because of the Biden/Dem economy where folks have had declining real wages for 21 months, and we're out of money.

BUT NO MEAN TWEETS:

• 3 years ago today gas was $2 a gallon
• Eggs were $1 a dozen
• Mortgage rates were 3%
• Inflation was less than 1%
• We had full employment, economic growth, and World Peace
• What happened?

 

Tipping is very much in American culture, no so in British culture.

The only times I've tipped is paying by cash, if the restaurant bill was £68.79, I would leave £70, just to avoid the change piling up in my pocket. If I paid by card, I pay £68.79.

 

Many European countries have 10%-18% tip added automatically at bars and restaurants, and it makes things easier. When you pay, you just touch the terminal with the chip card, and that's it. No need to wait for them to take your card and come back with a slip of people where you then figure out the tip.

 

I am an Aussie and we are notorious for not tipping - it just is not part of the culture here. Yes you can do it if you get exceptional service but the people receiving the tip are almost embarrassed to do so. Bottom line is we believe in a “living wage” so tips are not required or expected

 

I just do not believe this idea that “tips” should be calculated as part of the wage. That offends my socialist soul

 

Well if you visit America, keep in mind they need them here!

 

Few years ago we rented a charter boat and paid about $600 for 4 hours, and in the end they literally demanded by brother in law pay then 20% tip. So, that was $120 tip for something we paid a lot of money for in the first place. Its almost as if airline pilots wanted a tip after landing a plane.

 

Here that would be considered “false advertising” as once a price is set that is it.

 

Here prices are advertised without tax or tips added. IMO a charter boat thing is a grey area, where people are not sure if they should tip or not, and if it should be 20% or maybe just a flat $20.

 

When I'm waited on, I tip according to the following equation- round up to the nearest number easily divisible by four, add 25% +$1. So a bill of $36.85 would round up to $40, so the tip would be $15+1=$16. I do it that way regardless of quality of service because I'm incapable of objectively distinctifying good service from bad service and I'm incapable of doing quick math. Generally, I prefer to serve myself and gtfout. That is the best service. But also I realize many people depend on tips to survive, so I contribute.

...but when its just a cashier whose 'service' is inputting my order into a machine, and the receipt pops out with a 'tip' section, I get a little miffed and tend to tip low.

edit: lol, see how bad I am at quick math? Lets try that again. $40/4=$10 +$1, so $11. So I guess sometimes I prolly tip really good ;D

 

So, you tip about 45%. Very generous.

Quick math is easier. My "more or less 20%" formula: 10% of $36 is $3.6 (just move the decimal). Multiple by 2 = $7 (more or less). Total = $43.85. Exact tip = 18.9%, which is more or less 20%.

 

Only professionals, such as waiters, who are paid below the minimum wage need to be tipped, according to their service