Americans may be grumbling about the new tipping rules — whatever they are — but they’re positing anyway.
Figures provided by payment processor Square to NBC News show that tip frequency at full-service restaurants in the fourth quarter last year increased 17% from the same period in 2021, while tip frequency at quick-service restaurants increased by 16%. Restaurants that are considered quick service, such as coffee shops and fast food chains, typically do not provide wait service, the company said.
Square found that those tip increases for both types of establishments came on top of third-quarter gains.
TJ Horn, a 41-year-old construction worker from Boston, said a 20% tip has been his standard minimum since the lockdown era, even on a $3 cup of coffee.
“It’s just become a normal thing in my head,” said Horn, who added that having friends in the restaurant industry softened his view of tipping. “I see how much abuse they take on a daily basis.”
The jump in tip frequency comes despite a period of record inflation that wiped out many consumers’ discretionary income. And it coincides with a shift to spending on services and experiences, such as travel and dining out, during the recovery from the pandemic recession.
According to consumer experts, the economic changes of recent years may have helped shape attitudes like Horn’s.
“Big disruptive moments change habits,” says Americus Reed, Whitney M. Young Jr. professor of marketing at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“Most of it is just an awareness and appreciation for human contact. When we get really great service and you have a really great relationship with a service provider, it fills you with joy,” he said. “It’s almost like a chemical reaction — that you’re paying for that dopamine hit.”
But that doesn’t mean that all customers who tip more often are just doing so out of the goodness of their hearts.
The point-of-service, or POS, systems that restaurants are increasingly using to process payments have made it easier than ever for customers to offer — and ask for — tips, experts say.
“People don’t like using cognitive resources,” says Deidre Popovich, an associate professor of marketing at Texas Tech University. “These stores have gotten better at providing us with those standard choices to elicit that tipping behavior.”
In a recent survey of restaurant managers according to industry group Hospitality Technology, 71% of respondents said using data to “understand guest preferences and behavior” was their top reason for making POS upgrades. For 57%, enabling new payment options was of the utmost importance.
Those devices and software also give businesses more ways to calibrate tips. For example, managers can set the tip percentages that customers can choose from, and even include a certain selection in the subtotal by default.
Not everyone likes that, and some consumers are complaining about “tipflation” on social media.
‘This is your job. It’s getting out of hand,” he squealed a Twitter user who said they recently refused to tip for a Starbucks order.
“Pressing ‘no tip’ on the little iPad in the cafe while maintaining eye contact with the barista,” another posted, as if expressing their opposition to what is sometimes an awkward social interaction.
So far, the rise in tip frequency suggests resistance fighters remain a minority faction. Even if some find the POS nudges irritating, many will probably tip anyway.
I can help where I can, but you don’t tip the clerk at CVS for taking the aspirin bottle and handing it to you.
Tyler Cooper
Tyler Cooper, 34, who lives in Oakland, Calif., and works as a tech marketer, said he’s noticed that the standard tip choice at quick-service stores is “increasing.” He said he tips for complicated orders but is frustrated by what he sees as a growing expectation to subsidize workers’ wages.
“I make a good living, so I can help out where I can,” he said, “but you don’t tip the clerk at CVS because he took the aspirin bottle and gave it to you.”
However, consumers do not necessarily tip more. POS operator Toast found that the average tip of about 19% on its systems has remained pretty much the same for most of the past 12 months. Even tips for fast food restaurants remained stable, hovering around 17% in the second and third quarters of last year as inflation picked up.
“Tipping is still slightly higher compared to the time just before the 2019 pandemic,” a Toast spokesperson added.
Hannah Mase, a 25-year-old barista at Lobos Coffee Roasters, an Orlando cafe, said a customer recently tipped 14 cents when prompted on the touchpad. Mase said that while she thinks American tipping culture is “a bit ridiculous” in the absence of fairer wagestip often makes up a significant portion of her salary.
Of the $765 she earned over the past two weeks, at a base salary of $10.50 an hour, $263 came from pooled tips.
“We’re making something for you, not out of thin air, but out of all the ingredients we have here,” said Mase, who also studies recording arts at nearby Full Sail University. “It’s not advertised exactly how much someone in a local coffee shop makes each hour, but those tips will go a long way.”
Many consumers described encountering no-wait tipping tips as “inconvenient”. Even customers who are open to additions to their tabs said they’re not sure when to tip and how much.
Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and founder of the Protocol School of Texas, recommends tipping in most situations, but said consumers who want to vent their anxiety at the register may ask themselves: Did they give me a reason to pay a to tip?
“Were they friendly? Do they know your name?” she said. “It’s not required, but I encourage you to be generous whenever possible.”