People are a little bit stingier in barber chairs and Ubers than they were just a few years ago.
The shares of adults who say they always tip their hair stylists, servers at sit-down restaurants and food delivery people have each fallen 8 percentage points since 2021, according to a Bankrate survey released Wednesday. That rate slipped 7 percentage points for taxi and ride-hail drivers over the same period.
Three years ago, the economy was reopening from the pandemic and inflation was higher than it is now, but so was concern for front-line workers.
At the time, three-quarters of consumers reported always tipping restaurant servers, but today just two-thirds do. Despite modest upticks since last year, barely more than half of people now count themselves reliable tippers of hairdressers (55%) and food delivery drivers (51%), while only 41% say the same when it comes to ordering a ride.
The survey reflects Americans’ growing ease bypassing ubiquitous tipping prompts, from coffeeshops to airport terminals in the post-Covid economy, especially as sticker prices have risen. While consumer spending has held remarkably steady, many households are feeling the squeeze from persistent inflation and tightening their belts accordingly. Some of that newfound caution may be factoring into when, where and how much people tip.
I don’t know about hairdressers and drivers, but many servers are legally paid less than minimum wage because they are expected to make up the difference in tips.
So this is essentially people being fucked over by not being paid enough fucking over other people who aren’t being paid enough. And if you object to them not being paid enough, the solution isn’t to not tip them, it’s to not go to the restaurant.
% based tips are bullshit and always have been. And moving the scale up to 18,20,22 is insane.
Especially because a 15% tip is almost twice as good as it was 10 years ago due to rising food costs
They are supposed to be paid the difference if tips plus base pay don’t add up to minimum wage. But I’m guessing a lot of places don’t do it.
The minimum wage for tip workers is often lower in most states then minimum wage for non-tipped workers.
New York is the only state that I know of that has a minimum wage equity law where tipped workers have to be paid the same minimum wage as anyone else after tips, and if they aren’t, the employer has to make up the difference.
No, that’s a Federal requirement, too. It only requires them to be brought up to the $7.25/hour Federal minimum wage so it’s pretty useless, but it exists.
Anyone else notice the “essential workers” never got that minimum wage increase?
I get republicans not supporting it, but the moderate Dems not fighting for them is going to hurt in November…
Voters know Republicans obstruct progress, but they need to see that Dems are at least willing to have the fight.
Where I live they got it. While it isn’t law, the local fast food is all starting at $16/hour or more.
…
I mean, wages can go down, and will go down when there’s a larger labor pool.
Which is why we should have taken advantage of the small labor pool during COVID to raise minimum wage.
We had a chance to raise it while workers have leverage, but republicans will always oppose it and moderate Dems didn’t push for it, so nothing happened.
That’s wildly considered the biggest negative of moderate Dems, they don’t act when we have the leverage to get things done. They tell us to be happy with temporary things we can lose tomorrow, like how they refused to modify Roe v Wade while we had the numbers to codify it, now it’s gone.
They don’t actually want to fight for us. They’re controlled opposition to make sure when we do have the opportunity/leverage to fix shit, we waste that time “looking into” if we should really fix it. Then when the opportunity passes, they say they tried.
But they didn’t.
STOP TIPPING. The whole world doesn’t tip, it’s a strange and stupid US thing. Just stop tipping please!
Also, while you’re stopping dumb shit like tipping, may as well switch to the metric system as part of the integration!
https://media.tenor.com/D8tqN5Dc45cAAAAM/puffer-fish-join-us.gif
 to embed your gif in your comment. Important is the exclamation mark at the start, which is what distinguishes it from a regular hyperlink.
This should be the next “movement” the internet gets behind. Everyone stops tipping, and watch people freak out.
Germany does tip sometimes. But mostly we round up to the next thing that feels right. For me it is usually between 1-5€, but I never tip a percentage or use the tip option on a payment terminal. Sometimes I just don’t tip. It is never a problem. It is a bonus not a necessity here.
Ah so that explains why I never tip here in Australia and get shitty service!
Oh wait, the service here is far better than every time I’ve visited North America 🤔
Nah, fuck the tipping policies in the USA. You really need something like a sensible minimum wage to prevent this bullshit. You’re just supporting this bullshit system where capitalists exploit their laborers.
I understand your perspective, but you were a victim of a fucked up system and continue to be. I agree that giving up tipping would require us to also support the workers getting a fair wage. But the whole rest of the world has proven your “shitty service” theory entirely wrong - they are able to pay food service workers properly AND give great service, and I suspect the whole world would chime in with a wealth of experience. And not paying slave labor wages doesn’t drive the cost of goods up as much as the capitalists would lead you to believe. Again, proven by the entirety of Europe.
- Uber’s get $1 - $3 depending on driver/distance
- To-go orders get NOTHING.
- Sit down food gets 15-20%, depending on server
- Drinks at a bar get $1-$2 each drink.
- Barber probably gets the biggest tip at $10-$15, but base price is going up so maybe adjusting down next time.
And I do not do delivery apps.
Nope.
- Pay the Uber driver based on whether they get out of the car and help you with bags. $1 or $2 per bag. I used to do that job. Driving the car is not that hard. Everything else needs a tip.
- To go orders get 5%. They are doing something for you. It’s not fast food.
- Sit down food should be 20% minimum. Adjust based on the service, or the worst employees are getting paid the same as the best.
- The other guy is right. You should tip based on the skill involved. Pouring a beer: $1. Making a mixed drink: $2 to $3.
- You are tipping your barber too much. Avoid the chain and go to the local place where the barber gets 100% of the money, they just rent the chair. Tip 20% like normal.
- Delivery apps are totally fine in areas with lots of delivery drivers.
Basically, tip based on effort. Or you will end up with people who do not put in effort. It’s true they don’t tip in Europe. But it’s much harder to get the attention of a waiter there. “Oh I’m sorry, am I interrupting your coordinated smoke break with all the other waiters? I just wanted to exchange money for food if that’s ok with you.”
- To-go orders get NOTHING.
My comment is entirely scoped to to-go orders; I agree with everything else you say (though I haven’t used a ride share in forever).
I always tip for to-go orders in my hometown. Now my favorite places call out my name as I enter and treat me great. I’ve seen them replace the pizza stacked with my order with a fresh pizza right out of the oven, for example, or they’ve given me an extra pizza or side.
When I’m on the road, I still tip $1 for to-go orders because I know the workers are still getting a shit wage.
Granted, I’m in a financial position where I can afford to do this. But I’d love if we could get rid of the whole tipped-minimum-wage thing and just raise minimum wages across the board/enact UBI to make tipping only for exemplary service.
It’s a genuinely nice thing you’re trying to do, so on the one hand, I don’t want to discourage it, but on the other hand, every tip workers get is an incentive to not raise wages. Hell, if they make enough in tips, they’ll start actively lowering wages for new hires. Someone I know always likes to tip, but I just see management thanking them for covering their labor costs for them.
As a service person, this sounds great. You actually tip your barber more than I do.
The only thing I think you didn’t account for is fancier bars with elaborate cocktails, which tbf most people do not frequent. I’d do 15-20% for those, simply because it’s more involved service and more involved drinks.
I always tip my hair cutting person 100%. I wanted a hair cut, the hair cut cost $x, that person literally does the entire thing often with their own equipment that they paid for. The place will charge me $x because that’s what the haircut is worth to me but I know the person that actually physically cut my hair with their skills and labor won’t get $x and I think that’s bullshit.
In many other kinds of transactions someone can go “oh well the business deserves a cut of the profits because they provided the ingredients, or they stocked the inventory, or yadda yadda yadda”. But the hair cut is the one place where with my own eyes I witness the full body of labor occur and see who does it. That person deserves the value that their labor produced, not some owner sitting off in their beach house doing plenty I’m sure but one thing I’m damn sure they aren’t doing is cutting my fucking hair.
